Interviews: The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation — Part 2
by mariojacobs | created - 18 May 2021 | updated - 9 months ago | PublicThe Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation is the charitable arm of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
It is the Television Academy Foundation's mission to preserve and celebrate the history of television while educating and inspiring those who will shape its future.
The Foundation's oral histories chronicle the evolution of television by recording over 900 in-depth stories of people who have impacted the television landscape. It has interviewed key television professionals, both in front of and behind the camera, in order to document all facets of the industry.
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1. Ricardo Montalban
Actor | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Legendary actor Ricardo Montalban was the epitome of Latin elegance, charm and grace on film and television and in the late 1940s and early 1950s reinvigorated the Rudolph Valentino / Ramon Novarro "Latin Lover" style in Hollywood without achieving top screen stardom. Moreover, unlike most minority...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/ricardo-montalban
2. Mary Tyler Moore
Actress | Ordinary People
Mary Tyler Moore was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, on December 29, 1936. Moore's family relocated to California when she was eight. Her childhood was troubled, due in part to her mother's alcoholism. The eldest of three siblings, she attended a Catholic high school and married upon her graduation, in...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/mary-tyler-moore
3. Pat Morita
Actor | The Karate Kid
Abundantly busy and much-loved Asian-American actor who became an on-screen hero to millions of adults and kids alike as the wise and wonderful Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid (1984), the sparkling Noriyuki Morita was back again dishing out Eastern philosophy and martial arts lessons for The Karate ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/pat-morita
4. Bill Mumy
Actor | Babylon 5
Along with his most impressive list of television/film credits, Bill is also a very talented well-known musician, songwriter, recording artist, as well as writer. He plays guitar, bass, keyboards, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, percussion and sings. He has released three solo CDs, 1997's "Dying To Be ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/bill-mumy
5. Edward James Olmos
Actor | Battlestar Galactica
Born February 24, 1947, in East Los Angeles, at The First Japanese Hospital to Pedro Olmos and Eleanor Huizar. Raised on Cheesebrough's Lane, he attended Greenwood Elementary and Montebello Junior High. He then graduated from Montebello High School in 1964. After which he received an Associative ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/edward-james-olmos
6. Ed O'Neill
Actor | Married with Children
Ed O'Neill is an American actor best known for playing Al Bundy on Married... with Children (1987), the most iconic working class character on television since Archie Bunker. Upon his debut on the world stage in Youngstown, Ohio on April 12, 1946, he was christened Edward Philip O'Neill, Jr. Both ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/ed-oneill
7. Fess Parker
Actor | The Great Locomotive Chase
A former college athlete at the University of Texas, Fess studied drama in the early fifties and debuted in Springfield Rifle (1952). He made only a handful of movies until he was signed by Walt Disney to star in the "Davy Crockett" series. When Walt was looking for an actor to play the part of ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/fess-parker
8. Rob Reiner
Actor | All in the Family
Robert Reiner was born in New York City, to Estelle Reiner (née Lebost) and Emmy-winning actor, comedian, writer, and producer Carl Reiner.
As a child, his father was his role model, as Carl Reiner created and starred in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Estelle was also an inspiration for him to become a ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/rob-reiner
9. Geraldo Rivera
Actor | Contact
Geraldo Rivera was born on July 4, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Contact (1997), Grumpier Old Men (1995) and Primary Colors (1998). He has been married to Erica Levy since August 10, 2003. They have one child. He was previously married to C.C. ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/geraldo-rivera
10. Al Roker
Actor | Robots
Al Roker was born on August 20, 1954 in Queens, New York, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for Robots (2005), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and The Big Year (2011). He has been married to Deborah Roberts since September 16, 1995. They have two children. He was previously married to...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/al-roker
11. Mickey Rooney
Actor | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Mickey Rooney was born Joe Yule Jr. on September 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. He first took the stage as a toddler in his parents vaudeville act at 17 months old. He made his first film appearance in 1926. The following year, he played the lead character in the first Mickey McGuire short film. ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/mickey-rooney
12. Lalo Schifrin
Music_department | Rush Hour
Immensely talented, Argentinian born pianist, conductor and composer who has written over 100 scores for both television & the cinema including the memorable themes to Mission: Impossible (1966), Mannix (1967), Starsky and Hutch (1975), Cool Hand Luke (1967), and Bullitt (1968). Schifrin has ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/lalo-schifrin
13. William Shatner
Actor | Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
William Shatner has notched up an impressive 70-plus years in front of the camera, displaying heady comedic talent and being instantly recognizable to several generations of cult television fans as the square-jawed Captain James T. Kirk, commander of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise.
Shatner was born ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/william-shatner
14. Sidney Sheldon
Writer | Easter Parade
Sheldon was born in Chicago on February 17, 1917. He began writing as a youngster and at the age of ten he made his first sale of a poem for $10. During the Depression, he worked at a variety of jobs and while attending Northwestern University he contributed short plays to drama groups.
At seventeen...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/sidney-sheldon
15. Cybill Shepherd
Actress | Cybill
Cybill Lynne Shepherd was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Patty, a homemaker, and William Shepherd, a small business owner. Named after her grandfather, Cy, and her father, Bill, Shepherd's career began at a young age in modeling, when she won the "Miss Teenage Memphis" contest in 1966 and the "...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/cybill-shepherd
16. David Shore
Producer | House M.D.
David Shore has written for cult favorite Due South, NYPD Blue and EZ Streets, served as head writer and supervising producer on Traders, which he developed for Canadian television, and was part of the writing team of the Emmy Award-winning first season of The Practice. He was twice nominated for ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/david-shore
17. Suzanne Somers
Actress | Three's Company
Suzanne Somers was the third of four children born to Frank and Marion Mahoney. Her father worked loading beer onto boxcars, and her mother was a medical secretary. She grew up living in constant fear of being hurt or even killed at the hands of her verbally and physically abusive, alcoholic father...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/suzanne-somers
18. Dick Van Dyke
Actor | Mary Poppins
Dick Van Dyke was born Richard Wayne Van Dyke in West Plains, Missouri, to Hazel Victoria (McCord), a stenographer, and Loren Wayne Van Dyke, a salesman. His younger brother was entertainer Jerry Van Dyke. His ancestry includes English, Dutch, Scottish, German and Swiss-German. Although he had ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/dick-van-dyke
19. Robert Vaughn
Actor | The Magnificent Seven
Robert Francis Vaughn was born on November 22, 1932 at Charity Hospital in New York City, the son of show business parents, Marcella Frances (Gaudel) and Gerald Walter Vaughn. His father was a radio actor and his mother starred on stage. Robert came to the public's attention first with his ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/robert-vaughn
20. Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Actor | The Cosby Show
Emmy-nominated actor and director Malcolm-Jamal Warner was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was named after Malcolm X and legendary jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal.
Warner first rose to national prominence by starring on the celebrated and long-running classic television series "The Cosby Show." His ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/malcolm-jamal-warner
21. Adam West
Actor | Batman
Adam West was born William West Anderson on September 19, 1928 in Walla Walla, Washington, to parents Otto West Anderson, a farmer, and his wife Audrey V. (Speer), an opera singer. At age 10, in 1938, West had a cache of comic books; and starting in 1939, Batman, who appeared in Detective Comics, ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/adam-west
22. Betty White
Actress | The Proposal
Betty White was born in Oak Park, Illinois, to Christine Tess (Cachikis), a homemaker, and Horace Logan White, a lighting company executive for the Crouse-Hinds Electric Company. She was of Danish, Greek, English, and Welsh descent.
Although she was best known as the devious Sue Ann Nivens on the ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/betty-white
23. 'Weird Al' Yankovic
Soundtrack | UHF
Few would have guessed that "Weird Al" Yankovic - who as a shy, accordion-playing teenager got his start sending in homemade tapes to the Dr. Demento Radio Show - would go on to become a pop culture icon and the biggest-selling comedy recording artist of all time, with classic song and music video ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/weird-al-yankovic-with-emerson-college
24. William H. Macy
Actor | Fargo
William Hall Macy Jr. is an American actor. His film career has been built on appearances in small, independent films, though he has also appeared in mainstream films. Macy has won two Emmy Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards, while his performance in Fargo earned a nomination for the ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/william-h-macy
25. Barry Manilow
Soundtrack | Thumbelina
Barry Manilow was born on June 17, 1943 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a music artist and actor, known for Thumbelina (1994), Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) and Transsiberian (2008). He has been married to Garry Kief since April 2014. He was previously married to Susan Deixler.
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/barry-manilow
26. Leonard Nimoy
Actor | Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Leonard Simon Nimoy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Dora (Spinner) and Max Nimoy, who owned a barbershop. His parents were Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. Raised in a tenement and acting in community theaters since age eight, Nimoy did not make his Hollywood debut until he was 20, with a bit ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/leonard-nimoy
27. Carroll O'Connor
Actor | All in the Family
Carroll was born in Manhattan and raised in Forest Hills, a heavily Jewish community in New York City's borough of Queens. After graduating from high school in 1942, O'Connor joined the Merchant Marines and worked on ships in the Atlantic. In 1946, he enrolled at the University of Montana to study ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/carroll-oconnor
28. Estelle Parsons
Actress | Bonnie and Clyde
The charming, witty, and immeasurably talented Estelle Parsons was born November 20, 1927 in Lynn, Massachusetts, to Elinor and Eben Parsons. She attended the Oak Grove School for Girls in Maine, and later graduated from Connecticut College in 1949. She worked as a singer with a band before she ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/estelle-parsons
29. Aaron Spelling
Producer | Charlie's Angels
Aaron Spelling graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Before that, he attended Forest Avenue High. He started as a writer and sold his first script to Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre (1955). He wrote for various television shows, ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/aaron-spelling
30. Alex Trebek
Producer | Jeopardy!
Born and raised in Sudbury, Ontario, Alex Trebek graduated from the University of Ottawa with a degree in Philosophy. After his first decision to become a newscaster, he joined the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company), Canada's premier network in 1961. As he was working, he helped organize national ...
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/alex-trebek
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