Showing results by narrator "Terry Gross" in All Categories

Actor Matt Damon on this edition of Fresh Air. He's touring the country promoting his new film, The Bourne Identity, a thriller about a man with amnesia flushed out of the Mediterranean Sea, riddled with bullet holes. Damon has been in many hit films, including The Talented Mr. Ripley, Saving Private Ryan and Good Will Hunting, which he co-wrote with close friend Ben Affleck.

Author Edna Gurewitsch and singer Eric Burdon on this edition of Fresh Air. Edna Gurewitsch is the wife of the late Dr. David Gurewitsch, who was Eleanor Roosevelt's personal physician from 1945 to her death in 1962. Gurewitsch has written a new book about the close personal relationship that developed between her husband and the former first lady, Kindred Souls: Eleanor Roosevelt and David Gurewitsch, 1945-1962.

Novelist Pat Conroy on this edition of Fresh Air. Pat Conroy wrote The Great Santini and The Prince of Tides, which were both made into feature films. Conroy's book, My Losing Season, is now out in paperback.

Writer David Sedaris and actor Alan Cumming, on this edition of Fresh Air. Sedaris is best known for his contributing work with public radio's This American Life. He's written three books of essays, Barrel Fever, Naked, and his newest Me Talk Pretty One Day which was just released in paperback. Scottish actor Alan Cumming co-wrote, co-directed, and is co-starring in the new film The Anniversary Party, along with Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Hear film director Paul Thomas Anderson, film director David Cronenberg, actor Viggo Mortensen, writer/director Brad Bird, comedian/actor Patton Oswalt, writer/director Tamara Jenkins, director Jason Reitman, screenwriter Diablo Cody, and film critic David Edelstein on this edition of Fresh Air.

Hear columnist Bob Sullivan and rock historian Ed Ward on this edition of Fresh Air. Bob Sullivan covers Internet scams and consumer fraud for MSNBC.com and appears regularly on NBC Nightly News. His new book is about the hidden fees found in many phone, cable, credit card, and other bills. It is Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day - And What You Can Do About It.

Hear British singer/songwriter Nick Lowe and rock critic Ken Tucker, on this edition of Fresh Air. Nick Lowe performs and has a conversation. His best known songs include "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding", "Cruel to be Kind", and "The Beast in Me" (which Johnny Cash recorded). Lowe's new album is At My Age. In the early 1970s, Lowe played London's pub rock scene in the band Brinsley Schwarz.

Fresh Air continues its Holiday Week of Songs from Broadway and Hollywood with an interview with singer-songwriter Randy Newman and comedian and filmmaker Mel Brooks. Randy Newman is best known for his hit songs "Short People," and "I Love L-A." He's written for a number of films including, Ragtime, Avalon, The Natural, Toy Story, Babe and Seabiscuit. He's received fourteen Oscar nominations and was given the Academy Award in 2002.

Hear actor and director Clark Johnson and jazz critic Kevin Whitehead on this edition of Fresh Air. Johnson directed the pilot and several episodes of the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire. He also appears on camera this season. Johnson directed episodes of the cop shows The Shield and Homicide: Life on the Street. He got his start in 1981, appearing in feature films, including Wild Thing, Adventures in Babysitting, and Nowhere to Hide.

Hear Pulitzer prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston and TV critic David Bianculli on this edition of Fresh Air. David Cay Johnston is an investigative reporter for The New York Times. In his new book, Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill), Cay Johnston explores how government subsidies and new regulations have quietly funneled money from the poor and middle class to the rich and politically connected.

Pop star Boy George and photographer Marion Ettlinger on this archive edition of Fresh Air. In 1982, Boy George and his band Culture Club first hit the charts with "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" and that was the beginning of his rise to gender-bending pop icon.

Robert Ludlum's string of best sellers, such as The Bourne Identity, The Osterman Weekend, and The Icarus Agenda established him as one of literature's most successful espionage novelists. Terry Gross interviewed Ludlum on March 10, 1988.

Hear business columnist Gretchen Morgenson, TV producer Adam Fierro, intelligence expert (retired) Colonel Stuart Herrington, and human-rights advocate David Danzig on this edition of Fresh Air. Morgenson has covered the financial markets for The New York Times since 1988. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for her "trenchant and incisive" coverage of Wall Street. She is also assistant business and financial editor for the Times.

Journalist James Fallows on this edition of Fresh Air. Fallows is the National Correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, a regular commentator on NPR, and a licensed pilot. In his new book Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel, he looks into the technological innovations which will change airline travel.

Hear TV writer and producer Ed Burns, and film critic David Edelstein, on this edition of Fresh Air. Ed Burns drew on his experience as a former Baltimore detective and teacher to create the acclaimed HBO series The Wire, now in its fifth and final season. It's a crime drama with a central theme of surveillance technology used to capture drug dealers. In 2003 the show won a Peabody Award.

Journalist Keith Bradsher and novelist Rohinton Mistry on this edition of Fresh Air. Keith Bradsher is the former Detroit bureau chief of The New York Times and the author of the book High and Mighty: SUVs: the World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got that Way. Bradsher finds that sport utility vehicles are dangerous not only for their occupants but for those who share the road with them. Novelist Rohinton Mistry was born in Bombay and now lives in Canada.

Hear film director David Cronenberg, actor Viggo Mortensen, jazz critic Kevin Whitehead, Grammy winning record producer Joel Dorn, and film critic David Edelstein, on this edition of Fresh Air. David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen teamed up again for the thriller Eastern Promises. It is released on DVD on December 23rd. The film takes place in London and is about the underworld sex-trafficking industry.

Artistic director for the Houston Ballet, Ben Stevenson, dancer Lauren Anderson, and Dr. Zahi Hawass on this edition of Fresh Air. Stevenson has been with the ballet for over 25 years, turning it into a premiere dance company. The New York Times' dance critic said of Stevenson, "[he] is one of the most original figures in the development of regional ballet in America."

Ravi Shankar and his 18-year-old daughter Anoushka on this edition of Fresh Air. Ravi Shankar, the world's leading sitar player, is celebrating his 80th birthday with a "Full Circle" tour of performances across the U.S. Host Barbara Bogave talks with Ravi Shankhar and later she's joined by his daughter. Anoushka Shankhar has a new CD which includes duets with her father, Anourag (Angel).

Hear artist Chuck Close, actor Richard Gere, rock historian Ed Ward, and film critic David Edelstein on this edition of Fresh Air. Chuck Close has been called "the most methodical artist that has ever lived in America" and the "reigning portraitist of the Information Age". He creates jumbo-size faces on canvas (8 or 9 feet high), copying them from photographs. They are painted in a dotted faux-pointillist style.