The Spectator

In a major new work including over forty never-before-published interviews, the Pulitzer Prize-winning oral historian talks to masters of stage and screen. Few of Studs Terkel's millions of readers around the world know that over the last forty-five years, as part of his nationally syndicated radio show, Terkel has interviewed some of the greatest luminaries of film and theater. In The Spectator those interviews appear in print for the first time. In these pages, Buster Keaton explains the wonders of unscripted silent comedy. Federico Fellini reflects on honesty in art. Carol Channing reveals that she is far more serious than she lets on--Marlon Brando turns the tables and wants to interview Studs. We learn about some of the crucial artistic decisions in the lives of Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Edward Albee, and hear from a range of film directors, from Vittorio De Sica and King Vidor to Satyajit Ray. We even get to witness Terkel playing straight man to a wildly inventive Zero Mostel. The Spectator gives a firsthand look at the actors, directors, playwrights, dancers, lyricists, and others who have created the dramatic arts of the past half-century. And, because Studs knows his subjects' work intimately, he asks precisely the questions that elicit the most revealing responses. These are frank, funny, often moving, always surprising conversations. Only such a passionate and knowledgeable interviewer as Studs Terkel could achieve them. With: Buster Keaton Lillian Gish King Vidor Vittorio De Sica Eubie Blake Agnes DeMille Carol Channing Arthur Miller Eva Le Galliene E.Y. (Yip) Harburg Harold Clurman James Cagney Pauline Kael Tennessee Williams Marlon Brando Federico Fellini Rene Clair Satyajit Ray Ruth Gordon Simone Signoret Ian McKellen Jonathan Miller Sybil Thorndike Robert Morley Kenneth Tynan Lotte Lenya Joan Littlewood Alan Schneider Ruth Draper Emlyn Williams Moms Mabley Lorraine Hansberry James Baldwin August Wilson William Saroyan Jose Quintero Jason Robards Edward Albee Uta Hagen Marcel Marceau Jacques Tati Zero Mostel Eugene Ionesco and more....