Tributes

Tom Wolfe, the iconic bestselling writer – and one of the best-dressed! – just died at the age of 87 from pneumonia. He was known for his satirical light touch over the course of many novels, ranging from The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, to The Right Stuff and The Bonfire of the Vanities. He was a guest on this show back in 2012 for The Bonfire of the Vanities. Listen to the interview here.

In 2005, Nobel Prize-winning poet Derek Walcott came on The Leonard Lopate Show to discuss an exhibit of his paintings at the June Kelly Gallery in Soho. He had been providing the illustrations for his poetry collections for years, but this was his first NYC Gallery Show. You can listen to the interview above. Derek Walcott, a Nobel-prize winning poet known for capturing the essence of his native Caribbean, has died on the island of St. Lucia. He was 87. Walcott's death in the eastern Caribbean nation was first confirmed early Friday by his son, Peter. "Derek Alton Walcott, poet, playwright, and painter died peacefully today, Friday 17th March, 2017, at his home in Cap Estate, Saint Lucia," read a family statement released later in the morning. It said the funeral would be held in St. Lucia and details would be announced shortly. The prolific and versatile poet received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1992 after being shortlisted for the honor for many years. In selecting Walcott, the academy cited the great luminosity" of his writings including the 1990 "Omeros," a 64-chapter Caribbean epic it praised as "majestic." "In him, West Indian culture has found its great poet," said the Swedish academy in awarding the $1.2 million prize to Walcott. Walcott, who was of African, Dutch and English ancestry, said his writing reflected the "very rich and complicated experience" of life in the Caribbean. His dazzling, painterly work earned him a reputation as one of the greatest writers of the second half of the 20th century. With passions ranging from watercolor painting to teaching to theater, Walcott's work was widely praised for its depth and bold use of metaphor, and its mix of sensuousness and technical prowess. He compared his feeling for poetry to a religious avocation. Soviet exile poet Joseph Brodsky, who won the Nobel literature prize in 1987, once complained that some critics relegated Walcott to regional status because of "an unwillingness ... to admit that the great poet of the English language is a black man." Walcott himself proudly celebrated his role as a Caribbean writer. "I am primarily, absolutely a Caribbean writer," he once said during a 1985 interview published in The Paris Review. "The English language is nobody's special property. It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself. I have never felt inhibited in trying to write as well as the greatest English poets." Walcott was born in St. Lucia's capital of Castries on Jan. 23, 1930 to a Methodist schoolteacher mother and a civil servant father, an aspiring artist who died when Walcott and his twin brother, Roderick, were babies. His mother, Alix, instilled the love of language in her children, often reciting Shakespeare and reading aloud other classics of English literature. In his autobiographical essay, "What the Twilight Says," he wrote: "Both the patois of the street and the language of the classroom hid the elation of discovery. If there was nothing, there was everything to be made. With this prodigious ambition one began." Walcott once described straddling "two worlds" during his childhood in St. Lucia, then a sleepy outpost of the British empire. "Colonials, we began with this malarial enervation: that nothing could ever be built among these rotting shacks, barefooted backyards and moulting shingles; that being poor, we already had the theater of our lives. In that simple schizophrenic boyhood one could lead two lives: the interior life of poetry, and the outward life of action and dialect," he wrote. Early on, he struggled with questions of race and his passion for British poetry, describing it as a "wrestling contradiction of being white in mind and black in body, as if the flesh were coal from which the spirit like tormented smoke writhed to escape." But he overcame that inner struggle, writing: "Once we have lost our wish to be white, we develop a longing to become black." At the age of 14, he...

Maggie Roche was known especially with her sisters, Terre and Suzzy. She was the alto in the trio known as The Roches, and released more than a dozen records either with the Roches, or in duos with her sisters, building a big fan base in the process. They had started out singing in Roman Catholic church choirs. She and Terre formed a duo first, and got a break when Paul Simon had them sing backup on his 1973 album, “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon.” You can hear her perform with Suzzy on our show, from their recording, “Zero Church” back in April of 2002. She just died at the age of 65 from breast cancer.

Wayne Barrett was an old-fashioned muckracker, who relentlessly pursued the misdeeds of abusers of power in New York City over his four decades with the Village Voice. Among his targets were mayors, and our now-president, Donald Trump. He was acknowledged to be perhaps the first reporter to have probed Trump’s life, his business dealings, and even his potential national importance. His book, "Trump: The Deals and the Downfall" came out in 1992, and he lamented that, “Nobody took him seriously when the book came out, so nobody was interested in reading it.” It would be re-released in 2016 as "Trump: The Greatest Show on Earth." He died this week at the age of 71, but you can hear Leonard’s interview with him about his book in May of 1992.

Debbie Reynolds died Wednesday at age 84, and we are revisiting our interview with her from 1988. It's a fascinating discussion, because she opens up about the way women are treated in Hollywood, and how they expect to be treated when they pursue a career in acting. Leonard spoke to her about some of her most iconic roles, her personal and professional trials, and exactly how much she got paid for the film ‘Singing in the Rain’. She talked about the dark side of making some of her more iconic, and lighthearted, films, back when studio executives would give actors and actresses amphetamines. She talked about the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault in the movie industry. She also discussed her conflicted feelings about seeing her daughter, Carrie Fisher, entering the film industry.

We were saddened to learn of Edward Albee’s death last week. For many years he was one of our country’s most influential playwrights. In our Bonus Weekend Podcast, we’re revisiting an interview with Mr. Albee from 2003, with actors Marian Seldes and Brian Murray to discuss their production of “Beckett/Albee.” We also want to pay tribute to other icons of 20th century Theater. In 1995, Leonard spoke to Arthur Miller about "Homely Girl," a collection of short stories he’d written. And in 2000, Bill Irwin spoke to Leonard about his fascination with Samuel Beckett.

Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor – aka Toots Thielemans, was a jazz harmonica player, guitarist – and whistler! Originally, he never thought he could make a living as a musician – much less, playing the harmonica! And so he’d tried for a degree in mathematics. As he told Marian McPartland once: “Being a musician was not really a profession, so you needed to try to get a diploma. But Louis Armstrong changed all that.” And Toots would prove the harmonica to be far more than the toy it had been considered by many. He died in his sleep at the age of 94. Leonard spoke with him about his craft in March of 2006.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez described Gregory Rabassa as “the best Latin American writer in the English language.” And he should know, as Gregory Rabassa brought the sinuous world of magical realism in One Hundred Years of Solitude to vivid life for English speakers through his masterful translations – along with many other Spanish and Portuguese novels. Gregory Rabassa had never intended to become a translator, expecting to spend his life on the faculty at Queens College. But once he was enlisted for Julio Cortázar’s Hopscotch, his finesse became much in demand. He died at the age of 94. But you can hear him discuss the literary contributions that Clarice Lispector made to Brazilian writing with Leonard, back in March of 2005.

Ronit Elkabetz was an Israeli director, writer, and star who has been compared to Meryl Streep, Maria Callas, and Anna Magnani -- in terms of her versatility, beauty, and magnetism. She died at the age of 51 in Tel Aviv. Leonard spoke with her last February for her film, “Gett: the Trial of Viviane Amsalem.”

Father Daniel Berrigan had a rap sheet full of arrests and convictions, from protests at a variety of weapons laboratories and the Pentagon. The Jesuit priest would also be known with his brother (then fellow priest) Philip as one of “The Catonsville Nine,” for having burned hundreds of draft files with 7 others, outside a Selective Service office in Maryland in May of 1968. Actor Martin Sheen said, “Mother Teresa drove me back to Catholicism, but Daniel Berrigan keeps me there.” A poet and teacher (as well as author of over 40 books), he noted once in an interview that “The good is to be done because it is good, not because it goes somewhere. I believe if it is done in that spirit it will go somewhere, but I don’t know where. . . I have never been seriously interested in the outcome. I was interested in trying to do it humanely and carefully and nonviolently and let it go.” He died at the age of 94, nine days before his birthday. You can hear his 2002 interview with guest host Marty Goldensohn about a BAM film series on the Vietnam War.

Actress Doris Roberts won 5 Emmy Awards – four of them for her portrayal of Marie, the archetypal, overbearing mother at the center of the family in the hit sitcom, “Everybody Loves Raymond.” She would always ask her sons, “Are You Hungry, Dear?” – which was the title of the memoir she wrote about her long life and career – a career she started in the 1950s. She died at the age of 90. But you can hear Leonard’s interview with her from April 15, 2003.

Merle Haggard had a voice of honey that belied his hardscrabble background. It was when he was in San Quentin prison and heard Johnny Cash perform in 1958 that he decided to pursue music as a career. He said in a PBS documentary “I would’ve become a lifetime criminal if music hadn’t saved my ass. I’m living proof that things go wrong in America and I’m also living proof that things can go right.” His many memorable songs include “Mama Tried,” “If We Make It Through December,” “Sing Me Back Home,” and “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink.” His son Ben, who played lead guitar in Haggard’s band, wrote on Facebook “A week ago, Dad told us he was gonna pass on his birthday, and he wasn’t wrong. An hour ago he took his last breath surrounded by family and friends.” He died on his 79th birthday, on April 6th. You can hear his interview with Leonard from 2005.

It would have been easy to predict that Boutros Boutros-Ghali would enter Egyptian politics: he was born into the world of diplomacy. His grandfather, Boutros Ghali, had been Egypt's foreign minister and finance minister, and would become its prime minister in 1908. As Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Boutros Boutros-Ghali would play a major role in the peace agreements between President Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. He would later serve as the United Nation’s Secretary-General during a tumultuous time of the Rwandan genocide, the Angolan civil war, and the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. He died at the age of 93. But you can hear his interview with Leonard from 1999, when he discussed his years at the United Nations.

In the course of a six-decade career, British actor Brian Bedford received the most Tony nominations – 7 – of any male actor, but for one person: Jason Robards, who received 8! The Tony he did win was for his role as Amolphe in Moliere’s “The School for Wives.” He would admit that “I’m most alive when I’m acting. I can’t deny it, it’s where I belong.” He had escaped abject poverty in Yorkshire; once he discovered the stage, he would bring countless classic characters to life, from Shakespeare to Chekhov. He died at the age of 80. You can hear his interview with us from 1998, when he discussed his role in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival’s production of “Much Ado About Nothing.”

The award-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler died at the age of 93. We interviewed him last year, along with New York Film Festival director Kent Jones and the director Pamela Yates. Her film "Rebel Citizen" profiled Wexler, her mentor and longtime collaborator.

Wes Craven earned a master's degree in philosophy and writing at John Hopkins University and began a career in teaching. But Craven was drawn to film, and left his short career in teaching to pursue film. He directed his first feature film, The Last House on the Left, in 1972. He quickly became known as the King of Horror with genre-defining films like A Nightmare on Elm Street. After a battle with brain cancer, he died on Sunday at age 76. Hear his conversation with Leonard in 1996 where they talk about his film Scream.

Many people consider themselves disciples of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but only a small group had the privilege of studying with him. Julian Bond was one of 8 students in a class co-taught by Dr. King at Morehouse College. The subject of the course was philosophy, but as Bond described on our show when we spoke with him in March, the conversation often turned to discussions of race. "All of us wanted to talk to him about Montgomery and the bus boycott, which was fresh in our minds then," he remembered. Born Horace Julian Bond in 1940 in Nashville, he went on to become a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement, serving as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and chairman of the N.A.A.C.P. He died Saturday at the age of 75. When we spoke with him a few months ago, he expressed his concern about the state of the Voting Rights Act, the piece of legislation he called the "legacy of Selma." But still he was hopeful, saying, "Luckily the people in the Civil Rights Movement tend to be people who are optimistic, and who think good things can happen, have happened, and will happen if you work hard enough and if you fight hard enough." You can listen to that conversation above.

Frank Gifford was born the son of an oil-field worker during the Great Depression. By the time he was in high school, the family had moved 47 times. Gifford played for the New York Giants for his entire NFL career. In 1960, his playing days nearly ended after a brutal injury. A decade later, he was a television star, appearing in ads for Lucky Strike cigarettes and Vitalis hair tonic. His television career skyrocketed as the play-by-play man of ABC's "Monday Night Football." He was on our show on on November 10th, 2008, to discuss his book about the dramatic 1958 NFL Championship game between the Giants and the Baltimore Colts, The Glory Game. We bring you that interview here. He died Sunday, August 9, 2015 at age 84.

Before he was cast in “The Defiant Ones,” with Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis – a role for which he would be nominated for an Academy Award, the Austrian-born Theodore Bikel told director Stanley Kramer that he was neither an American, nor Southern. “A good actor is a good actor,” Kramer answered. Bikel, who could speak nine languages and sing in 21, had a parallel career as a folk singer and social advocate. In 1959, he helped found the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island. Plus, he created the role of Captain von Trapp in the original Broadway production of “The Sound of Music,” and played Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof” more than 2,000 times. He died at the age of 91. You can hear his interview with Leonard from 1999, when he discussed his role in “The Gathering.”

Marlene Sanders was a woman of many “firsts” – the first network newswoman to report from Vietnam, the first woman to anchor a network evening newscast in 1964, and the first woman to become a vice president at ABC News. As Bill Moyers noted recently, "That women are finally recognized as first-rate professionals is due in no small part to the path-breaking courage of Marlene Sanders." Her son, CNN senior legal analyst and New Yorker staff writer Jeffrey Toobin acknowledged, “Above all, though, she was a great mom.” She died at age 84. We were very lucky to have been able to speak with this formidable trailblazing woman when she came on our show last February to discuss the life of Pauline Frederick, the first woman to become a network news correspondent.