Terry Gross

We remember record producer Milt Gabler, who died July 20 at the age of 90. Gabler founded America's first independent record label, Commodore Records. He was the first to record Billie Holiday's anti-lynching song, Strange Fruit, after major record companies refused. He was also the first to pair Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Later, he produced records for Bill Haley and the Comets, Peggy Lee, the Weavers, the Ink Spots and many others. His record store Commodore Music was legendary and a hangout for musicians and music lovers.

We remember actor Jason Robards. He died yesterday at the age of 78, after a long battle with cancer. He was an actor for over 50 years. He won Oscars for his performances as Ben Bradlee in "All the President's Men," and Dashiell Hammett in "Julia." In 1956 Robards first came to the attention of the critics with his performance in Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh." His performance helped define the role for a generation. It also began Robards collaboration with director Jose Quintero, resurrecting the works of O'Neill.

We remember actor Werner Klemperer, who played Colonel Klink on the T-V show Hogan’s Heroes. He died on December 7th at the age of 80. He was the son of the conductor Otto Klemperer. He started his career in theater, and moved on to Hollywood. He won two Emmys during his 6 year stint as Klink (he was nominated all six years). In 1987 he returned to Broadway to play a Jewish shopkeeper in a revival of Cabaret. His work earned him a Tony nomination. (5/25/87)

We remember Lea Rabin, the widow of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. She died on Sunday at the age of 72. She had cancer. (REBRAODCAST from 4/9/97)

We remember dancer Gwen Verdon. She died today at the age of 75. She became an overnight Broadway sensation in 1953 as a dancer in Can Can, for which she won her first Tony Award. Later she created her most memorable roles in Bob Fosse's "Damn Yankees" as the seductress Lola, "Sweet Charity" as the taxi dancer Charity, and "Chicago" as the chorus girl Roxie. Verdon was also Fosse's third wife. (ORIGINAL BROADCAST from 5/5/93)

Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai (ya-HOO-da AH-muh-kye, rhymes with pie) died Friday at the age of 76, and we feature a 1991 interview from the archives. Amichai was a celebrated poet whose subjects were love and loss, and more recently, aging and mortality. The New York Times wrote that he had a “gift for poeticizing the particular: the localized object or image in everyday life.” (originally aired 2/27/91)

We remember British actor Sir Alec Guinness who died Saturday at the age of 86. He’s known to older audiences for his roles in films like “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” and to younger audiences as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. (REBROADCAST from 2/27/1986)

We listen to rebroadcast of a 1995 interview with William Maxwell. Maxwell was fiction editor of the New Yorker from 1936-1976 and worked with such authors as J.D. Salinger, John Cheever, John Updike, Eudora Welty and scores of others. Maxwell was the author of a number of novels, including "Time Will Darken It," and "So Long, See You Tomorrow," as well as several short story collections.

Earlier this week, Harold Nicolas, the younger member of the famous tap-dancing duo, The Nicholas Brothers, died in Manhattan. The Nicholas Brothers danced in vaudeville, on Broadway, in night clubs and on TV, but may be best known for their appearances in movie musicals of the 1930s and 40s. We’ll listen back to a 1985 interview with Nicolas.

George Segal died last Friday. In this interview, Segal talks about his work which is being featured through October at The Jewish Museum in New York City. It is his first major exhibition in North America in 20 years. He is best known for his free standing sculptures depicting everyday people in urban settings. (REBROADCAST from 7/23/98)