Terry Gross

Comedian Damon Wayans. Wayans was one of the stars on the TV sketch comedy show In Living Color. On the program, he created such characters as Homey the Clown and Handyman. He has starred in the movies Mo Money, Blankman, Major Payne, and Celtic Pride. Wayans has also done stand up comedy throughout his career. His recent book Bootleg includes some excerpts of his routines. (REBROADCAST from 6/14/99)

Actor and comedian David Alan Grier. Grier got his start on the TV sketch comedy show In Living Color. He's featured with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver in the forthcoming film Return to Me. (REBROADCAST from 4/01/91)

British mystery writer P.D. James, the 78-year-old grandmother known as the queen of crime. Her most recent bestselling novel, just released in paperback, is "A Certain Justice" (Mass Paperbacks). Several of her earlier novels including "A Taste for Death" and "Shroud for a Nightingale" have been adapted for PBS. Terry spoke with her at the publication of "A Taste for Death". (REBROADCAST from 11/19/86)

Detective writer Mickey Spillane ("Spill-AIN). One of the world's most popular writers of the hardboiled private investigator genre. His most famous character is Mike Hammer. He's began writing about Hammer in 1947. (REBROADCAST from 11/22/89)

Artist Chuck Close. He's 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. In 1989 Close suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed from the neck down, gaining partial use of his hand with a brace, he learned to paint all over again.

Guitarist Les Paul. He's often been called the “Thomas Edison of music.” PAUL invented the solid body electric guitar, overdubbing, reverb, and multi-tracking inventions that helped make rock n roll possible. He himself has stuck to jazz, and a more middle of the road pop.

Sun Studios founder Sam Phillips. He is revered as one of the leading catalysts in post WW II American music. As a record producer in the 1950s and 60s his recordings launched the careers of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis and that’s just to name a few. Phillips is now in his 70s. (REBROADCAST from 9/15/97)

Singer Tony Bennett. His newest CD is "Tony Bennett Sings Ellington Hot & Cool" (RPM Records/Columbia). Last year he published his autobiography "The Good Life: The Autobiography of Tony Bennett". A grocer's son, Anthony Dominick Benedetto was born in Astoria Queens in 1926. After working as a singing waiter in his teens and then following service in the U.S.

Journalist Bill Minutaglio writes for The Dallas Morning News. He's also just written a biography of presidential hopeful and Texas Governor George W. Bush. It's called "First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty" (Times Books).