He plays Josh Lyman, the Deputy Whitehouse Chief of Staff on the NBC drama The West Wing. The show's season finale airs Wednesday, May 16th. Whitford began his acting career on the stage. He has also appeared in many films including Scent of a Woman, Philadelphia, A Perfect World, Revenge of the Nerds II, and Billy Madison. He'll talk about his role on the West Wing, and what it's like playing a high-ranking staff member in a fictitious White House.
Film critic Henry Sheehan talks to Terry Gross about this year's Cannes Film Festival. Sheehan, who is currently in Cannes for the festival, will talk about the festival's film, and the buzz. The Cannes Film festival began last week and ends this weekend.
Psychologist Daniel Schacter is the author of the new book The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers. The book looks at memory loss and age, arguing that gaps in memory are normal if not necessary to a sharp mind. He's a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University.
Journalist Michela Wrong is the author of the new book In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo. The book examines the 1960 CIA plot to murder Patrice Lumumba who was then leader of newly independent Congo. The plot led to Lumumba's removal from power and the ascension of Mobutu Sese Seko. Wrong is a staff reporter with The Financial Times.
Writer David Rakoff is a regular contributor to Outside, the New York Times Magazine, and public radios This American Life. One of his peers, writer Paul Rudnick says of him, –Rakoff is a comic saint... an ideal mix of the crabby and the debonair.— Rakoff has a new collection of essays, Fraud. He's also appearing in Amy & David Sedaris new off-broadway show.
Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the hit debut single of the girl-group Edens Crush and the new comeback CD God Bless the Go-Gos by (of course) the Go-Gos.
Meadows was a regular on TVs Saturday Night Live for some 9 years. Leon the Ladies Man, a swinging politically incorrect radio love doctor that he played on the show, is featured in the film The Ladies Man which is now out on video.
She's been called The Queen of Swing and The First Lady of Las Vegas. Smith is perhaps best known as the duet partner and wife of Louis Prima. Smith and Prima drew crowds to the lounges of Las Vegas in the 1950s. Their hits include Jump, Jive, an Wail, Just a Gigolo, Ive Got You Under My Skin, and That Old Black Magic. Smith talks about her marriage to Prima, the music they made together, and her career. Smiths newest CD is Keely Sings Sinatra
Journalist David Cay Johnston won a Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting. His beat is taxes. He writes about tax inequities, tax loopholes and the IRS for The New York Times. In a recent article (April 8, 2001), JOHNSTON wrote about the effect of the estate tax on farmers. The President contends that to help save the family farm, estate taxes should be repealed. JOHNSTON found that very few farmers pay estate tax, and he couldn't find an example of one farm that had been lost because of estate taxes.
Bill Russell is considered the greatest defensive center in the history of the game. In the 1960s he helped the Celtics on to 11 NBA championships in 13 seasons. He was named the NBAs most valuable player five times. Hes written a new book, Russell Rules: 11 Lessons on Leadership From the Twentieth Centurys Greatest Winner
Hal Blaine's distinctive sound could be heard on thousands of recordings from the late 1950s and on for 25 years. He played on the hit records, Be My Baby by The Ronettes, Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys, I Got You Babe, by Sony & Cher, Mr Tambourine Man, by The Byrds, Monday, Monday by the Mamas and the Papas, Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra, and many many more. Last year Blaine was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Epidemiologist and one of the world's leading experts on Alzheimer's disease, David Snowdon. In 1986 he began what he calls the "Nun Study," following a group of aging nuns to better understand why some of the sisters were able to age gracefully, retaining their mental faculties, and others were not. He studied 678 nuns who belonged to The School Sisters of Notre Dame. His study was published in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
No one in jazz was as far out and far in as tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler. Far out in terms of how he improvised. Far in, in terms of the songs he wrote to improvise on. They sounded like a jumble of bugle calls, national anthems, nursery rhymes and drinking songs. Music ran in the family. As a boy, Ayler had studied music and listened to jazz with his father, and they also played saxophone duets in church. As a memento, Albert later recorded an album of spirituals called Goin' Home.
Actor Colin Firth. Up until now, he was probably best known for his role as Mr Darcy in the BBC/A&E production of Pride & Prejudice. The film turned him into a heart-throb. He stars in the new film Bridget Jones's Diary based on the book of the same name which borrows from the storyline of Pride & Prejudice. He plays hate/love-interest Mark Darcy. His other films include Valmont, Another Country, The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, and Fever Pitch. Firth shows off his writing in the new book edited by Nick Hornby, Speaking with the Angel. (Riverhead Books).
