Terry Gross

Billy Joe Shaver discusses his career and personal life

Don Roos wrote and directed the new film Happy Endings, starring Tom Arnold, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lisa Kudrow and Laura Dern. Roos, who also directed The Opposite of Sex and Bounce, is known for creating dysfunctional characters who bump into one another in unpredictable ways.

Charles Sennott is the London bureau chief for the Boston Globe. He was in London during the Underground and bus bombings on July 7. He discusses British reaction to the events and compares it to the American reaction to Sept. 11, 2001.

Dr. Francis DuFrayne is a gastroenterologist in his 50s at the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. He is also a captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He recently returned from a six-month tour of duty in Iraq, where he was called up to treat wounded soldiers. While he was in Iraq, his son was also serving there in the Marines.

Francis DuFrayne, Jr., is a captain in the Marine Corps reserve. He is the son of Dr. Francis DuFrayne. He is now a research associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., after his service in Iraq.

His film, Kinsey, is currently out on DVD. It's about the scientist Alfred Kinsey, whose pioneering research in the 1940s and 1950s examined human sexuality. Condon interviewed many of Dr. Kinsey's colleagues before writing the script. Condon wrote the screenplay for the 2003 Academy Award winning film Chicago, and he also directed the 1998 film, Gods and Monsters, about filmmaker James Whale. This interview was originally broadcast on Nov. 30, 2004.

Bob Woodward discusses his book, "The Secret Man," the cases of Judith Miller and Matt Cooper and the issue of the confidentiality pledge

British journalist Michael Smith writes about defense issues for the Sunday Times of London. He's the journalist to whom the so-called Downing Street memo was leaked. The memo -- the minutes of a July 23, 2002, meeting of Britain's War Cabinet -- reveals that President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair began the war on the Iraq before Bush received congressional approval and before a U.N. vote.

Actress Lauren Ambrose plays daughter Claire Fisher on the HBO drama series Six Feet Under. Her other roles include a teen introvert turned popular surfer chick with multiple personality disorder in the film Psycho Beach Party and a star student of Kevin Kline's in the film In and Out. Also a classically trained opera singer, Ambrose appeared on stage last year in the Sam Shepard play Buried Child at London's National Theatre.

Journalist and historian Martin Meredith has written extensively on Africa and its recent history. His new book is The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair.