Please pardon my vanity. When I was growing up in the 60s in South Central Los Angeles, a Black kid who attended a high school in Watts was not expected by society to have a career that included interviewing Oscar-winning actors here and abroad. But I am proud to say that is indeed the career I pursued and was blessed to have.
This is Oscars weekend, so I'm posting some of my chats through the years with Oscar-winning performers. I hope you fellow Academy Awards fans will like it and allow me to drag you down memory lane yet again. Here, you will see me with Oscar winners Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Holly Hunter and special Honorary Oscar recipient Kirk Douglas.
Oscar winners, such as Jodie Foster and Ben Kingsley, were guests on my old VH1 prime time celebrity talk show in the late 80s.
Shirley MacLaine won her Best Actress Oscar for TERMS OF ENDEARMENT which also brought Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director to producer/director James L. Brooks when it won for Best Picture and Best Director of 1983. Shirley and I talked about her accent choice in TERMS OF ENDEARMENT.
The Beatles won Oscars for Best Music: Original Song Score. This was for the 1970 documentary, LET IT BE. I interviewed Paul McCartney in London for VH1. He revealed that he could have had the lead role in an Oscar-winning 1968 Shakespearian box office hit film.
Cameron Crowe won his Best Original Screenplay Oscar for his wonderful 2000 rock music story, ALMOST FAMOUS. He told me about screening the film for his mentor and inspiration, famed director/writer Billy Wilder.
When it comes to the number of Oscar nomination received, Oscar winner Meryl Streep is the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). She has won 3 Oscars. She's been nominated 21 times. She told me that very early in her career (Streep made her stage debut in 1975), she saw Oscar winner Liza Minnelli in the Broadway musical, THE ACT, directed by Martin Scorsese in 1977. It changed her approach to acting. This is from my VH1 show when Streep was promoting A CRY IN THE DARK.
And there you have it,. Thanks for your time. Have fun watching the Oscars.
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