Terry Gross

Actor Daniel J. Travanti. Travanti is best-known for his role as Captain Frank Furrillo in the long-running TV cop series "Hill Street Blues." Travanti co-stars with Faye Dunaway in the new film "Midnight Crossing."

Actor John Lithgow. He's currently starring in the Broadway play "M Butterfly." His film roles include "Terms of Endearment" and "The World According to Garp."

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "White Mischief." It's the true story of high life and murder in British Colonial Kenya. It stars Greta Scacchi, Charles Dance ("The Jewel and the Crown") and Joss Ackland.

British conductor Simon Rattle. While Rattle has won acclaim for his guest conducting in America and Europe, he is best known for the success of his City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Rattle's success has created a new legitimacy in England for regional orchestras. The orchestra is now touring in America.

Baseball writer Roger Angell. His new book, Season Ticket: A Baseball Companion, is a compilation of essays published in The New Yorker magazine over the last five seasons. The essays cover subjects from spring training, Astroturf versus grass and drug abuse. Angell's previous books include The Summer Game, Five Seasons and Late Innings. Angell is the senior fiction editor of The New Yorker.

Image consultant Dorothy Sarnoff. In her new book, Never Be Nervous Again, Sarnoff shares some of her advice on how to overcome nervousness and anxiety when speaking to others.. Her clients include politicians, authors on tour, diplomats and television newscasters

Short story writer and novelist Alice Adams. Her fiction deals often with women in transit and transition. She's best known for the 1984 novel Superior Women. Her new novel is titled Second Chances.

New York Times reporter Nan Robertson. Her new book, Getting Better: Inside Alcoholics Anonymous, reveals the inner workings of Alcoholics Anonymous, one of the most successful self-help movements of modern times. The book is based on four years of research, which included access to A.A.'s archives and some of the key figures who helped chart the course of the movement, as well as interviews with A.A.'s rank-and-file members. Herself a recovering alcoholic, Robertson won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize-winner for her account of her own near-fatal attack of toxic-shock syndrome.

Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar. He compares his films, like "Law of Desire" and "What Have I Done To Deserve This?," to the films of the American film director John Waters. Like Waters, Almodovar's films take a humorous view of popular culture's cliches.

Journalist James Adams, the defense correspondent for the Sunday Times of London. His new book, Secret Armies, explores the role of covert special fighting forces who combat terrorism around the world.