Film director Wim Wender. His films include "The American Friend," "Alice in the Cities" "Kings of the Road," and "Paris, Texas." Though his subject matter seems mundane, - a cross-country trip by two men in a van, a day in the life of a disgruntled soccer goalie - Wender shapes his stories into something much more deliberate and affecting. Wender's new film, set in his native Germany, is titled "Wings of Desire."
New Orleans pianist and singer Mac Rebennack (also known as Dr. John) plays two songs recently made popular by other New Orleans artists. This is part six of a seven-part performance series.
Comic Sandra Bernhard. She's best known for her appearances on "Late Night With David Letterman" and in the Martin Scorsese film "The King of Comedy." She's now starring in the Off-Broadway one-woman show "Without You I'm Nothing," that is part stand-up comedy, part satire on the "women of rock and roll."
George Whitmore, author of Someone Was Here, profiles of people whose lives have been transformed by AIDS, like the 32-year-old New York advertising executive, a counselor in a gay men's health center, health workers at an AIDS clinic in a municipal hospital. The book grew out of a highly acclaimed 1985 article in The New York Times Magazine about a man with AIDS and his counselor at a health center.
Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "The Manchurian Candidate," starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Janet Leigh. The film was originally produced in 1962 but was never distributed because of a squabble between Sinatra, who owned the rights to the film, and the producers.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the first two compact discs of Stravinsky conducting his own music. Included are two of Stravinsky's most accessible works, "The Rite of Spring" and "Petrushka." Also included are three abstract scores, "Symphony in C," "Symphony in Three Movements," and "Symphony of Psalms."
Essayist Harry Stein. Stein wrote the popular "Ethics" column for Esquire Magazine. He writes a syndicated column for the United Features Syndicate. He's written a book titled One of the Guys: The Wising Up of an American Man. In it, he shares his thoughts on why men are the way they are.
Actress Patricia Neal. A star of stage and film, Neal is almost as well known for her private life - her love affair with the married Gary Cooper, the tragedies that befell several of her children, the breakup of her 30-year marriage to the British writer Roald Dahl, and the stroke that almost took away her speech. Her films include "The Breaking Point," "The Fountainhead," "A Face in the Crowd," and "Hud," for which she won the Oscar.
Pianist Ursula Oppens. She's widely regarded as one of the leading interpreters of new music. Many contemporary composers, like John Adams, have written works for her.
Rock historian Ed Ward profiles Alan Freed, one of the most famous, and most notorious, disc jockeys of the 50s and 60s. Freed was one of the first disc jockeys on a mainstream station (WJW in Cleveland) to play the black rhythm and blues that was the foundation of early rock and roll.
Tango innovator Astor Piazzolla. Since the early 60s, Piazzolla has been leading groups that play an updated tango that connects this Argentinian form with the musical innovations from Europe and America, both classical and contemporary. The adjustments have earned him the enmity of Argentinians, and for most of the 70s he lived in France where he wrote film scores. Piazzolla is a classically trained composer who wrote symphonies and studied with Nadia Boulanger, the renown French instructor of composition.
Jazz singer Chris Connor. She was best known for the work she did during a brief stint with the Stan Kenton band. Connor recorded sparingly throughout the 70s and for many jazz fans it was as though she ended her career. She's now performing again and has just completed work on a new album.
Television critic David Bianculli discusses how the writer's strike has benefitted "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," and what the show's revival means for the concept of a weekly variety show.
Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa. He is one of the leading figures in the recent boom in Latin American fiction. His novels include Aunt Julia and The Scriptwriter and The War of the End of the World. The latter won the Ritz Paris Hemingway Award. Vargas Llosa's books were banned and burned in Peru by the military in the late 60s.
Actress Audrey Hepburn. She rocketed to international stardom for her Oscar-winning role in the film "Roman Holiday," co-starring Gregory Peck. Her other roles include Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady," the blind, tormented heroine of "Wait Until Dark," and opposite Cary Grant in "Charade." She recently returned from Ethiopia on behalf of UNICEF, for whom she now serves as a Special Ambassador.
New Orleans pianist and singer Mac Rebennack pays tribute to one of his own, the New Orleans pianist and singer Cousin Joe. This is the fifth of a seven-part performance series with Rebennack, who is also known as Dr. John.
