Give Kurtwood Smith A Hand.
Character actor Kurtwood Smith. Smith has a penchant for playing the heavy...in "Robocop" he played a sadistic killer, in "Dead Poets Society" he played a repressive father, and in "True Believer," he played an over-zealous attorney. His next role is in the upcoming comedy, "Quick Change." He plays a mafia don.
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Other segments from the episode on January 30, 1990
Rian Malan Discusses his "Traitor's Heart."
White South African writer Rian (rhymes with "neon") Malan. Malan is an Afrikaner, descendent of a family that settled in South Africa over three hundred years ago, and Malan's great-uncle was the chief architect of the Apartheid system. Malan only realized the horror of Apartheid after he became a crime reporter for a Johannesburg paper. What he learned led him to leave South Africa, and spend the next eight years in exile.
The Man Who Defined the Sound of Sophisticated Soul.
Rock historian Ed Ward profiles arranger and producer Thom (pronounced "tom") Bell. Bell's responsible for much of what came to be known as the "Philly" sound, a result of his work with groups such as the Delfonics and the Stylistics.
A Radical Feminist Oedipus.
Book critic John Leonard reviews "Daddy, We Hardly Knew You." It's writer Germaine Greer's memoir of her father. He spent the first 5 years of her life away in the Australian Air force during World War 2. Upon his return, and until his death in 1983, he was quiet, distant, and would never talk about the war. This book is both Greer's memories of her father's life, and her investigation into what he did during those missing five years.
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Re-animating Stop-Motion Techniques
Phil Tippett worked on TV ads before creating stop-motion animation for feature films. He says there was no demand for his skills in the industry until recently, in part because the technique was associated with B-movies. His credits include Return of the Jedi, Dragonslayer and RoboCop.
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