TV Icons Gathered on One Website
Another awards show is over, but the Emmys will always have the Archive of American Television, a fabulous collection of interviews with icons from U.S. television. You can watch them on YouTube, or on the Archive’s website. These interviews are riveting to anyone who’s interested in classic American TV (and I suspect that, as the Archive’s work continues, within 20 years you’ll find Mila Kunis there talking about That 70s Show, etc). This is the place to be if you want to hear Larry Hagman talk about the “who killed JR” episode of Dallas, or Alan Alda discuss his work on M*A*S*H.
I’ve chosen clips with two very strong, older women. The one above is with Rue McClanahan who talks about her years on The Golden Girls, where she tells us that Elaine Stritch insisted on using four-letter words as Blanche even though that would leave her out of the running for the part, and that Betty White refused to believe that the show would be a hit, as well as Estelle Getty’s difficulties to remember her lines. The clip below shows Angela Lansbury discuss Murder, She Wrote, a show she was surprised to find among all the paltry script suggestions she was getting at the time. She competed with Jean Stapleton for the part of Jessica Fletcher, and goes on to talk about the hard work behind the show over the 12 years that she played the role.
Published by Stefan Hedmark 2009-09-21 15:30
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