Terry Gross

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new movie "Born on the Fourth of July," directed by Oliver Stone and starring Tom Cruise. It's based on the autobiography of the same name by Vietnam vet and anti-war activist Ron Kovic.

Film director Jim Jarmusch. After his first feature, "Permanent Vacation," gained a cult as well as a critical following in Europe, Jarmusch made "Stranger Than Paradise," which won the Camera d'Or at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival. Jarmusch's third feature was "Down By Law." His new film is called "Mystery Train." It's set in a seedy hotel in Memphis, Tennessee and tells the story of two young Japanese tourists.

Consumer electronics expert Howard Blumenthal. He writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column called "The Hi-Tech Home," and has also written "The Electronic Home Advisor," a guide to consumer electronics products. In his books and columns, Blumenthal writes about new developments like HDTV, and gives advice on buying everything from VCR's to laptop computers.

Critic Laurie Stone reviews the film "The War of the Roses," starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner as a divorcing couple, and directed by Danny de Vito, who also plays a divorce lawyer.

Denis Hayes, the chairman of Earth Day 1990, a one day world-wide demonstration calling attention to the planet's environmental problems. Hayes organized the first Earth Day back in 1970. That event is credited with launching the environmental movement in the U.S. Since that first Earth Day, Hayes founded Environmental Action, was a senior fellow at the Worldwatch Institute, and did extensive work on solar energy. More recently, he's been a visiting professor at Stanford University. Earth Day 1990 is scheduled for April 22, 1990, 20 years to the day after the first Earth Day.

Actor Charles Grodin. Unlike his contemporaries - and friends - like Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford, Grodin achieved the great success that every actor strives for only recently. He starred with Robert De Niro in last year's "Midnight Run," his first major success in a long, twisted journey through the acting profession. Grodin has written a memoir about his passage; it's titled It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here.

Poet Li-Young Lee. He was born into a family of political refugees from China. They traveled throughout Asia for years to escape persecution. In the mid-60's his family moved to Pennsylvania. Lee's poems reflect his struggle with his Chinese heritage - a heritage to which he is bound but in which he never lived. His poems also reflect Lee's attempt to come to terms with the powerful and mythic figure of his father, who was alternately imprisoned and revered for his beliefs.

Arranger and baritone saxophonist, Gerry (pronounced "jerry") Mulligan. He's been an innovator in modern jazz orchestration. Early in his career he was staff arranger for Gene Krupa's big band. In 1949 he collaborated with Gil Evans and Miles Davis in the Nonet. The nine-piece band shook up jazz arrangers and launched the era of so-called cool jazz. He achieved international acclaim when he started a "pianoless" quartet with trumpeter Chet Baker in the early 1950's.

Photographer Cornell Capa. He's a former president of Magnum Photos, Inc. a collective of the world's most renowned photographers whose founders include, Cornell's brother, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Maria Eisner and others. In 1967 he founded and directed the International Fund for Concerned Photography, an organization formed partly in memory of his brother, Robert, who was killed in Vietnam while on assignment. Cornell Capa has been a staff photographer for "Life" magazine and has published a number of books of photographs.

Writer Ken Kesey. Kesey was a leading figure of the 60's counterculture. As the leader of the Merry Pranksters, Kesey did as much as anyone to popularize the use of LSD and other hallucinogens. Kesey also wrote two of the most popular books of the era, "Sometimes a Great Notion" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." In 1986, Kesey wrote "Demon Box," a look back at his life since the 60s. Kesey has a new book, called "Caverns." It's a novel he co-wrote with the 13 members of his University of Oregon fiction class.