Film

Film director Stanley Donen (DAH-nen) talks about directing Fred Astaire in "Funny Face," and "Royal Wedding." Last year, Donen received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures. His other films include: "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) "It's Always Fair Weather" (1955) "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954) and "Charade" (1963)

Today marks the Centennial of Fred Astaire's birthday. First, we'll hear from Will Friedwald on Astaire's singing ability. He says while Astaire didn't have the best voice, he was still wonderful to listen to. Friedwald is author of several books on Singers including: The Tony Bennett autobiography "The Good Life," "Sinatra! The Song is You: A Singer's Art," and "Jazz Singing :America's Great Voices from Bessie Smith to Bebop and Beyond"

Film producers Dustin Hoffman and Tony Goldwyn. Their new film is "A Walk on the Moon" by Miramax. Goldwyn, who also directed the film, is the grandson of studio executive Samuel Goldwyn of MGM. . Dustin Hoffman is a veteran actor whose first big break was starring in "The Graduate." Some of the films he's starred in include: "All The President's Men," "Kramer vs. Kramer," "Rainman," and "Tootsie."

Filmmaker Steven Okazaki talks about his movie "Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of The Street." It will show on HBO tomorrow night 4/14. The film tracks five teenage addicts in San Francisco over a two-year period. As a filmmaker, Okazaki won an Academy Award in 1991 for his film "Survivors" which retold the stories of several Hiroshima survivors. He also directed "Living on Tokyo Time" a comedy about a Japanese dishwasher . He lives in Berkeley, California.

Screenwriter Stephen Schiff talks about writing the scripts for "True Crime" and "Deep End of the Ocean."He first established his reputation as a film critic for Vanity Fair and Fresh Air. He also wrote film essays and profiles for The New Yorker. He served an unprecedented three terms as chairman of the National Society of Film Critics. His first screenplay was for the most recent film adaptation of Lolita.

Composer John Barry. He's best known for his 11 James Bond scores, including "Goldfinger," and "Thunderball." Barry has won five Oscars: for the song and score of "Born Free," and for scores for "Lion in Winter," "Out of Africa," and "Dances with Wolves." He has a new CD compilation of his work, "John Barry: The Hits & The Misses" (Play it Again label).

Fresh Air film critic John Powers gives us his thoughts on the Oscar awards and the Oscar ceremony.

Crime novelist Evan Hunter talks about writing the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's classic film "The Birds". In 1997, he wrote "Me and Hitch" detailing his working relationship with Hitchcock. He is the author of "The Blackboard Jungle," and "Privileged Conversation." Under the pseudonym Ed McBain, he is the author of a series of mystery novels for which he won the British Crime Writers Association's highest award, the Diamond Dagger, and the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award.

Actress Janet Leigh talks about working in Alfred Hitchcock's most infamous film "Psycho". She starred as Marion Crane who was Norman Bates kills in the infamous shower scene. Leigh wrote about the film in the 1995 book "Psycho: Janet Leigh Behind the Scenes of The Classic Thriller" Also The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) next month will feature the exhibit "Alfred Hitchcock: Behind the Silhouette".

Tuvan throat singer Ondar and producer Ralph Leighton. Tuvan throat singing is a biphonic sound in which the performer produces two or three distinct tones at the same time. It originates from Tuva. Leighton co-produced Ondar's debut CD, "Back Tuva Future" (Warner Bros/Reprise)