Actors

Actress Carroll Baker launched her career with sexually-charged parts like title role of the film Baby Doll. Disillusioned with the Hollywood system, she moved to Europe. Now back in America, she writes books, including her newest novel, A Roman Tale.

Character actor Robert Loggia is best known for his roles as cops in major motion pictures, including his Academy Award-nominated performance of Sam Ransom in Jagged Edge. He also played a Cuban drug dealer in Scarface.

Film actor, writer, and director Robert Townsend satirizes his experiences as an African American in Hollywood in the new film, Hollywood Shuffle. He says that television commercials have given him more opportunities than movies to play diverse roles.

Best known for his role as Colonel Klink in Hogan's Heroes, Werner Klemperer plays Herr Schulz in the revival of Cabaret. Klemperer grew up in Berlin during the time the musical is set.

Feminist writer Gloria Steinem has a new book about actress Marilyn Monroe. Steinem was initially disgusted by Monroe's portrayal of some onscreen. Now she has a more sympathetic view toward the late actress's talent and vulnerability.

Actress Lynn Redgrave, known for numerous stage productions and the film Georgy Girl, comes from a family of actors. She joins Fresh Air to discuss her craft and how both her weight and famous last name shaped her career.

John Houseman has had an illustrious career as an actor and producer of film, television, and radio. He is known for bringing Shakespeare to diverse audiences via Broadway, the Federal Theater Project, and film adaptations of the playwright's work.

Sir Alec Guiness may be best known for his roles in films like Star Wars and Bridge on the River Kwai, but he honed his craft in the theater, learning something new with every production.

Frequent Fresh Air guest Spalding Gray takes stories about his life and anxieties and transforms them into comedic monologues he delivers in a direct fashion. His monologues include "Sex and Death to the Age of Fourteen," "A Personal History of American Theater," and "Swimming to Cambodia." His current monologue is "The Terrors of Pleasure," and it chronicles his attempts to "grow up" and experience ownership by purchasing a house in the Catskills.

Zakes Mokae built his career on the success of early roles in plays by Athol Fugard, a white South African who was against apartheid. Mokae joins Fresh Air to discuss the importance of those plays within the context of his home country.