The Interviews: An Oral History of Television (formerly titled the Archive of American Television) is a project of the nonprofit

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation is the charitable arm of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The Foundation’s educational and preservation programs include the Summer Internship program, the College Television Awards ...

North Hollywood, Los Angeles North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...

, that records interviews with notable people from all aspects of the

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

industry.New York Time
"Interviews With Legends of Television Hit Web"
September 13, 2009 The project has interviewed over 850 television pioneers and has posted over 500 videotaped interviews online. It is their ultimate goal to be the world's largest and most advanced oral history collection on the

history of television The concept of television was the work of many individuals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first practical transmissions of moving images over a radio system used mechanical rotating perforated disks to scan a scene into a time-var ...

. The archive's subjects include all professions within the television industry. Examples include: actors

Fess Parker Fess Elisha Parker Jr. (born F. E. Parker Jr.;Weaver, Tom.Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde: Interviews with 62 Filmmakers p. 148 (McFarland 2012). August 16, 1924 – March 18, 2010),(March 18, 2010Daniel Boone Actor Fess Parker Dies at 85" ''CBS ...

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship ''Enterpris ...

Betty White Betty Marion White (January 17, 1922December 31, 2021) was an American actress and comedian. A pioneer of Golden Age of Television, early television, with a television career spanning almost seven decades, White was noted for her vast work i ...

Alan Alda Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the war come ...

James Garner James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including ''The Great Escape (film), The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy ...

Mary Tyler Moore Mary Tyler Moore (December 29, 1936 – January 25, 2017) was an American actress, producer, and social advocate. She is best known for her roles on '' The Dick Van Dyke Show'' (1961–1966) and '' The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977), whi ...

Dick Van Dyke Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. His award-winning career has spanned seven decades in film, television, and stage. Van Dyke began his career as an entertainer on radio and telev ...

Ossie Davis Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP ...

Carol Burnett Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and writer. Her groundbreaking comedy variety show ''The Carol Burnett Show'', which originally aired on CBS was one of the first of its kind to be hosted ...

and Michael J. Fox; and producers

Norman Lear Norman Milton Lear (born July 27, 1922) is an American producer and screenwriter, who has produced, written, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear is known for many popular 1970s sitcoms, including the multi-award winning '' All in the Fami ...

Carl Reiner Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned seven decades. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, ...

, Chris Carter, Steven Bochco,

Phil Rosenthal Philip Rosenthal (born January 27, 1960) is an American television writer and producer who is the creator, writer, and executive producer of the CBS sitcom ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' (1996–2005). In recent years, he has presented food and tr ...

Sherwood Schwartz Sherwood Charles Schwartz (; November 14, 1916 – July 12, 2011) was an American television screenwriter and producer. He worked on radio shows in the 1940s, but he now is best known for creating the 1960s television series '' Gilligan's Isla ...

Fred Rogers Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003), commonly known as Mister Rogers, was an American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television se ...

and

Dick Wolf Richard Anthony Wolf (born December 20, 1946) is an American film and television producer, best known for his ''Law & Order'' franchise. Since 1990, the franchise has included six police/courtroom dramas and four international spinoffs. He is al ...

; newscasters

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...

Ed Bradley Edward Rudolph Bradley Jr. (June 22, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was an American broadcast journalist and news anchor. He was best known for his reporting on ''60 Minutes'' and CBS News. Bradley began his journalism career as a radio news repo ...

Bob Schieffer Bob Lloyd Schieffer (born February 25, 1937) is an American television journalist. He is known for his moderation of presidential debates, where he has been praised for his capability. Schieffer is one of the few journalists to have covered all f ...

and

David Brinkley David McClure Brinkley (July 10, 1920 – June 11, 2003) was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997. From 1956 through 1970, he co-anchored NBC's top-rated nightly news program, '' The Huntley–Brinkl ...

; executives

Fred Silverman Fred Silverman (September 13, 1937 – January 30, 2020) was an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at all of the Big Three television networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as '' ...

Sumner Redstone Sumner Murray Redstone ( Rothstein; May 27, 1923 – August 11, 2020) was an American billionaire businessman and media magnate. He was the founder and chairman of the second incarnation of Viacom which was dissolved in 2019 (a year before Redst ...

Leslie Moonves Leslie Roy Moonves (; born October 6, 1949) is an American media executive who was the chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation from 2003 until his resignation in September 2018 following numerous allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault and ...

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...

, Kay Koplovitz, Frank Stanton and

Ted Turner Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he ...

; costume designers

Bob Mackie Robert Gordon "Bob" Mackie (born March 24, 1939) is an American fashion designer and costumier, best known for his dressing of entertainment icons such as Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Diahann Carroll, Carol Channing, Cher, Doris Day, Marlene D ...

and Nolan Miller; choreographers Tony Charmoli and

Cyd Charisse Cyd Charisse (born Tula Ellice Finklea; March 8, 1922 – June 17, 2008) was an American actress and dancer. After recovering from polio as a child and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s. Her roles usually featured her abilit ...

; writers

Roy Huggins Roy Huggins (July 18, 1914 – April 3, 2002) was an American novelist and an influential writer/creator and producer of character-driven television series, including ''Maverick'', '' The Fugitive'', ''Hunter'', and ''The Rockford Files''. He ...

Tad Mosel Tad Mosel (May 1, 1922 – August 24, 2008) was an American playwright and one of the leading dramatists of hour-long teleplay genre for live television during the 1950s. He received the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play '' All the Way H ...

Sidney Sheldon Sidney Sheldon (February 11, 1917 – January 30, 2007) was an American writer. He was prominent in the 1930s, first working on Broadway plays, and then in motion pictures, notably writing the successful comedy '' The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxe ...

Abby Mann Abby Mann (December 1, 1927 – March 25, 2008) was an American film writer and producer. Life and career The son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Mann was born as Abraham Goodman in Philadelphia. He grew up in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. D ...

and

Ann Marcus Ann Marcus (August 22, 1921 – December 3, 2014) was an Emmy Award-winning American television writer and film producer. She graduated from Western College for Women, worked for the ''New York Daily News'' and ''Life'', where she worked with fa ...

, among numerous others.

History

Motivated by

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

's Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, which has videotaped testimonies of Holocaust survivors, Dean Valentine (former Disney Television and UPN president) was inspired to create a similar project for television. Valentine developed and presented a proposal to the TV Academy, under then-president Richard H. Frank and Academy Foundation Chairman Thomas W. Sarnoff.

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

executive

Grant Tinker Grant Almerin Tinker (January 11, 1926 – November 28, 2016) was an American television executive who served as chairman and Chief executive officer, CEO of NBC from 1981 to 1986. Additionally, he was a co-founder of MTM Enterprises and a te ...

, Award-winning producer David L. Wolper are the Archive's founding co-chairs. The creation of the Archive of American Television was co-founded and executive produced by Michael Rosen and overseen by

James Loper James Leaders Loper (September 4, 1931 – July 8, 2013) was an American television executive who co-founded KCET in 1964 and served as Executive Director of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from 1983 to 1999. Life and career Loper was b ...

, the Executive Director of the

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the television industry in the United States. It is a 501(c)(6) non-prof ...

from 1984 until 1999. Beginning in early 1996, the Archive of American Television completed its first six interviews as part of its pilot stage. The initial six interviews were with Elma Farnsworth, widow and lab assistant to the inventor of electronic television

Philo Farnsworth Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer. He made many crucial contributions to the early development of all-electronic television. He is best known for his 1927 invention of t ...

;

Leonard Goldenson Leonard H. Goldenson (December 7, 1905 – December 27, 1999) was the founder and president of the United States-based television network American Broadcasting Company (ABC), from 1953 to 1986. Goldenson, as CEO of United Paramount Theatres, ...

, founder of ABC, Dick Smith, television's first make-up artist;

Ethel Winant Ethel Winant ( Wald; August 5, 1922 – November 29, 2003) was the first woman executive in television when she became the vice-president of CBS in 1973. Winant was also a casting director for various shows including ''The Twilight Zone'' and ''Th ...

, casting executive;

Sheldon Leonard Sheldon Leonard Bershad (February 22, 1907 – January 11, 1997) was an American film and television actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. Early life Sheldon Leonard Bershad was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of middle-cla ...

, show creator, actor, and director; and comedian

Milton Berle Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; ; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and tel ...

. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation officially launched the Archive of American Television in 1997 under the day-to-day leadership of Rosen and Sarnoff. Thousands of hours of historic interviews have been completed with over 850 TV legends. Full-length video interviews currently online include actors

Richard Crenna Richard Donald Crenna (November 30, 1926 – January 17, 2003) was an American film, television and radio actor. Crenna starred in such motion pictures as '' The Sand Pebbles'', ''Wait Until Dark'', ''Un Flic'', '' Body Heat'', the first three ...

Barbara Eden Barbara Eden (born Barbara Jean Morehead; August 23, 1931) is an American actress, singer, and producer best known for her starring role as Jeannie in the sitcom '' I Dream of Jeannie'' (1965-1970). Other notable roles include Roslyn Pierce opp ...

, Jonathan Winters,

, Michael J. Fox,

Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American radio and television personality, television producer and film actor, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting '' American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 19 ...

Florence Henderson Florence Agnes Henderson (February 14, 1934 – November 24, 2016) was an American actress. With a career spanning six decades, she is best known for her starring role as Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom ''The Brady Bunch''. Henderson also appeare ...

Andy Griffith Andy Samuel Griffith (June 1, 1926 – July 3, 2012) was an American actor, comedian, television producer, southern gospel singer and writer whose career spanned seven decades in music and television. Known for his Southern drawl, his character ...

Bob Newhart George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery style. Newhart came to prominence in 1960 when his album of comedic monologues, ''The Button-Down Mi ...

, and

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...

, writer and producers

, Steven Bochco, and

, writer

Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of '' Psycho'' ...

, news legends

Robert MacNeil Robert Breckenridge Ware MacNeil, Order of Canada, OC (born January 19, 1931) is a Canadian-American journalist and writer. He is a retired television news anchor who partnered with Jim Lehrer to create ''The MacNeil/Lehrer Report'' in 1975. E ...

Jim McKay James Kenneth McManus (September 24, 1921 – June 7, 2008), better known professionally as Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist. McKay was best known for hosting ABC's '' Wide World of Sports'' (1961–1998). His introd ...

Mike Wallace Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. He interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade career. He was one of the original correspo ...

and

, and executives

and

. Key players from the

1950s quiz show scandals The 1950s quiz show scandals were a series of scandals involving the producers and contestants of several popular American television quiz shows. These shows' producers secretly gave assistance to certain contestants in order to prearrange the s ...

were also interviewed:

Herb Stempel Herbert Milton Stempel (December 19, 1926 – April 7, 2020) was an American television game show contestant and subsequent whistleblower on the fraudulent nature of the industry, in what became known as the 1950s quiz show scandals. His rigged ...

and

Albert Freedman Albert Freedman (March 27, 1922 – April 11, 2017) was an American television producer who was involved with the 1950s quiz show scandals. He became a central figure in the cheating scandals and was the first person indicted. He was arrested fo ...

. TV Foundation Chairs Jerry Petry and Emeritus Thomas W. Sarnoff guide the day-to-day operations of the Archive. Archive staff, professors, scholars and journalists from around the country volunteer their time to conduct these interviews. The Foundation employs a small staff who prepare all of the research and questions in advance. Local video crews photograph each interview.

References

External links

* *
Archive of American Television
on

Google Cultural Institute Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world. It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...

Media Post
(archived 7 January 2006)

��Blog Spot
Hollywood Reporter article on Archive 6/4/2007

{{DEFAULTSORT:Interviews An Oral History Of Television Television archives in the United States 1997 establishments in California Oral history

History

See also

References

External links