Actress and director Lee Grant. As an actress, Grant won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Shampoo," Emmys for her work on "Peyton Place" and "Electra," and an Obie for "The Maids." As a director, she won an Academy Award for her documentary "Down and Out in America." This month, HBO is showing Grant's latest production, "Battered." It's a documentary about the victims, and perpetrators, of domestic violence. "Battered" airs as part of HBO's "America Undercover" series.
Rock Critic Ken Tucker reviews "Steel Wheels," the new album by The Rolling Stones. The release of the album is timed to the start of The Rolling Stones' extensive U.S. tour, their first since the early 80s.
Physicist James Trefil. His writings have been praised for bringing the complexities of modern science to the general reader. One of his best-known books, Meditations At Sunset, won wide praise for his ability to explain the wonders of the physical world in ways the layman can comprehend. His other books include The Moment of Creation and Meditations at 10,000 Feet. His latest book, Reading The Mind of God, explores the sequence of events that led to the discovery of universality - the principle that the laws of nature on earth apply throughout the universe.
Film director Herk Harvey and script writer John Clifford. Their 1962 low-budget horror film, "Carnival of Souls," has just been re-released. The film was shown only sporadically at the time of its completion, mostly to drive-ins and as half of a double feature throughout the Southeast. But in the years since, it has attracted a steady and loyal following, largely because of its occasional appearance on late-night TV.
Guest Film Critic Peter Rainer, in attendance at this week's Montreal Film Festival, talks with host Terry Gross about some of the films previewed there. Rainer is the film critic for The Los Angeles Herald Examiner.
Language Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg, unhappy with his job description, tries on a few other possibilities while dissecting the very notion of a "language commentator."
Novelist Taghi Modarressi. His new novel, The Pilgrim's Rules of Etiquette, is set in Iran after the Islamic revolution. It revolves around an aging academic, well acquainted with the ways and mores of the West, and his family and friends as they deal with the fear and poverty during the Iran-Iraq War. But when his prize student is killed at the front, the academic, who until now has closeted himself away with his philosophical pursuits, must acknowledge the meaninglessness of his efforts when compared to the chaos of contemporary Iran.
Classical Music Critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews two recent reissues of composer Benjamin Britten conducting two of his works, "Albert Herring" and "Billy Budd."
Rock and roll historian Ed Ward profiles Memphis soul musician and producer Willie Mitchell. Mitchell was a trumpeter whose own tastes ran to jazz and soul. But Mitchell enjoyed his greatest success as a producer and talent scout. He launched the careers of Al Green, Ann Peebles and O.V.Wright.
Reporter Robert Sam Anson. While a young reporter for Time Magazine in Cambodia during the Vietnam War, Anson was captured by the North Vietnamese and their allies in the Khmer Rouge. He's written a book about that experience, but also about Time's reporting of the war. For much of the war, according to Anson, Time's hawkish stance compromised the work of its reporters, himself included. Anson's earlier books include "They've Killed the President!": The Search for the Murderers of John F.
Book Critic John Leonard reviews a posthumous collection of essays by writer Bruce Chatwin. The collection is titled What Am I Doing Here? Chatwin, who wrote extensively about his world travels and the collisions of cultures, died last year from a Chinese fungus that infected him on one of his trips.
Writer Oscar Hijuelos. His new novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, is the story of Cuban immigrant brothers who work by day at grimy, exhausting jobs in a meat-packing house, but by night, in silk suits and lace ties, play the mambo, the vibrant, footloose music of Cuba. Surrounded by musicians wearing vests decorated with sequined palm trees, the Castillo brothers try to secure their own version of the American Dream. Their lives climax when they appear on the "I Love Lucy Show,".
Actor Raul Julia. His films include "Kiss of the Spider Woman," "Moon Over Parador," "Tango Bar" and the recent "Tequila Sunrise." His latest film, "Romero," is based on the life, and assassination, of the Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero.
Jazz Critic KEVIN WHITEHEAD reviews the latest album by jazz drummer and big band leader Louie Bellson. Bellson, the husband of Pearl Bailey, has been drumming since three. When he was 17, he won a nationwide competition sponsored by Gene Kruppa that launched his career. He's played for Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James and Duke Ellington.
A concert with singer and songwriter Loudon Wainwright III. He writes very personal, eccentric songs that take a darkly humorous, sometimes caustic view of life. He first gained fame with his hit song "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road." His new album is titled "Therapy." (Interview with Sedge Thomson)
Guest film critic Owen Gleiberman reviews the home video release of "Naked Gun," the police farce produced and directed by the makers of "Airplane." "Naked Gun," which premiered on movie screens early last spring, was based on the six-episode TV program "Police Squad," which recently aired on cable TV.
Guest critic Milo Miles has a primer on world music, and he examines why it should, by all rights, be more popular in the U.S. than it is. Miles is the former rock critic for The Boston Phoenix.
Writer Martin Cruz Smith. His latest novel, Polar Star, is his sequel to his 1981 best-seller Gorky Park. In Polar Star, Cruz Smith revives Arkady Renko, the intrepid police investigator hero of Gorky Park. Smith is also the author of Stallion Gate, a novel about the making of the atomic bomb. (Interview with Sedge Thomson)
