Terry Gross

Journalist and former anchor of the CBS News, Walter Cronkite. Cronkite worked at CBS News for 31 years. This interview took place in 1993 after his documentary "The Faltering Dream," in which he interviewed notable black leaders including Reverend Jesse Jackson and Spike Lee about race relations. (REBROADCAST from 10/12/93)

Television anchor and author Robert MacNeil. He steps down tonight as co-anchor of the PBS news show The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour. Terry talked with him this week. We'll hear that interview and one from 1989. His books include, Wordstruck, a memoir that explores the roots of MacNeil's fascination with language and the best-selling The Story of English. (Contains excerpt of MacNeil's March 14, 1989 interview).

South African playwright and actor Athol Fugard. For years Fugard fought apartheid on the stage in his plays including "My Children! My Children," "The Blood Knot," (in which he put a black actor alongside a white actor on the same stage) and "Sizwe Banzi is Dead." For his efforts Fugard's passport was revoked, and he was put under virtual house arrest from 1967-1971. His new play "Valley Song" is his first play in the post-apartheid Africa.

Political and social comic, Jimmy Tingle. He was featured on the album of political humor "Strange Bedfellows." He's also appeared on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," "HBO's One Night Stand," and in Showtime's documentary "But Seriously" about American social satirists. Tingle has a new one-man show, "Jimmy Tingle's Uncommon Sense," which had an off-Broadway run last year. It's just been held over through November 4th at the Hasty Pudding Theatre in Cambridge.

International investor and philanthropist George Soros and one of the world's wealthiest men. He's been called the "world's greatest investor." As head of the Soros Foundation, (a philanthropic organization) he's given away millions internationally, funding such things as a water-treatment plant for Sarajevo, low-income housing units for South Africa's urban townships, and a University for Central Europe in Budapest.

Lead singer and songwriter for The Kinks, Ray Davies. He's just written his "unauthorized autobiography." The book is written in the third, nameless person, and takes place in a corporation-run future. It's called, Ray Davies: X-Ray. (The Overlook Press). Ray started The Kinks in 1964 with his brother. They are said to be the pioneers of the rowdy garage band genre of rock music. Their many hits included: "You Really Got Me," "Lola," "All Day and All of the Night," and "Tired of Waiting for You."

Co-founders of Brooklyn's Bedford Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corp. James "Rocky" Robinson and Joe Perez. They began the corp in 1988, after watching people die because the Ambulances responded too slowly to calls. (There are 39 volunteer ambulance corps in New York City). They are the focus of a new "The American Promise" PBS documentary. (The program premiered October 1).

Broadcast journalist John Merrow. He's the anchor and Executive Editor of "The Merrow Report" a quarterly series of documentaries on PBS that examines education and surrounding issues. Their latest documentary is "Attention Deficit Disorder: A Dubious Diagnosis?" In the documentary Merrow disputes the widely held belief that Ritalin, the drug given to children with Attention Deficit Disorder, is not "dangerous and addictive." Merrow also found that the drug has been overprescribed, and that some kids have begun to abuse it.

Professor Richard Foulds. He teaches at the University of Delaware. He's the father of a child with A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Disorder) and a member of C.H.A.D.D. a non-profit organization directed by parents of children with ADD.

Playwright, novelist and essayist Arthur Miller. His plays include "All My Sons," "The Crucible," "After the Fall" and "Death of a Salesman," for which he won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and lasting fame in American theater. He has written an autobiography titled Timebends. (Rebroadcast of 11/25/1987)