He is a songwriter who’s won an Oscar, 3 Grammies and 2 Golden Globes for hits like “We’ve only Just Begun” and “Rainy Days and Mondays.” Her TV and film scripts include Confessions of a Shopaholic for Jerry Bruckheimer. They are the co-authors of Gratitude and Trust: Six Affirmations that will Change Your Life. We spoke at Glenn … Continue reading »
He joined the Times in 2000 and is now a chief movie critic. It’s tough to write about critics; they generally do not have lives teeming with event. And movie critics? They sit in the dark and watch something then sit at a desk and write about it. And in Scott’s case, talk about it … Continue reading »
The voice of every Simpsons character – OK, many Simpsons characters: Moe, Apu, Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Carl Carlson and more – he is admired as an actor in movies (Night at the Museum), television (Mad About You) and theater (Spamalot). PERSON: Roy London PLACE: the NICU THING: his first TV RANDY’S PLACE: concert hall, … Continue reading »
He is the creator of Boardwalk Empire, who this year was nominated for an Oscar for writing Wolf of Wall Street. She was Oscar-nominated for producing Dallas Buyers Club, and she won. Pretty impressive couple. Pretty good year. We spoke on Shakespeare’s birthday on stage at the JCC in Manhattan. PERSON:Barry Manilow PLACE: Mammoth, CA … Continue reading »
He is the son of the the writer Dominick Dunne and the nephew of two more writers, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion. That’s not really an accomplishment; it’s an accident of birth, like being French, only better, but it would have seemed coy, somehow, not to mention it. I first became aware of him … Continue reading »
Many of us got to like him in Do the Right Thing and got to like him even more as he became part of the rep company of Spike Lee then of the Coen Brothers. And that represents just a few of his more than 60 films. His latest is Fading Gigolo: he wrote it, … Continue reading »
She began by working in movies she was too young to attend then later appeared on stage in musicals (Pal Joey) and straight plays (The Coast of Utopia). Now she stars in “Raising Hope” on Fox Television. Also impressive: how she uses her copious free time. The advocacy organization “A Is For…” is an expression … Continue reading »
Walter Bernstein was born in Brooklyn in 1919. For the next 94 years he wrote and co-wrote terrific movies for big stars: Fail Safe with Henry Fonda, The Train with Burt Lancaster, The Magnificent Seven with everybody—Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson. The Front, with Woody Allen and Zero Mostel, is … Continue reading »
Celebrated for her emotional clarity as well as her impressive range—from soap opera to Chekhov to The Kids are All Right—Julianne Moore is also the author of four children’s books, including My Mom is a Foreigner, But Not to Me, her latest. Not all actors or novelists, athletes or surgeons can speak with insight about … Continue reading »
Rachel Dratch isn’t just from Massachusetts, she is the voice of Massachusetts, at least for fans of Saturday Night Live from 1999 to 2006. These days, she appears often on Inside Amy Schumer and Broad City. This episode, recorded in 2013, was posted as a podcast but never broadcasted. Here it is, recut and … Continue reading »