Terry Gross

In 1986, Donna Murphy was a woman in drag in “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.” In 1991, she was introduced as “a girl who will steal your heart and then forget where she put it,” playing the amnesiac songstress in “Song of Singapore.” Having become one of Broadway’s most sought-after actresses, Murphy is now playing the lead in Stephen Sondheim’s latest musical, “Passion.” Of the role, which has her playing an ugly, hysterical woman obsessively pursuing a handsome army captain, Murphy says, “I love transformation of any kind...I want to look in the mirror and not see Donna looking back at me.”<

Dr. Fred Sheftell is founder and co-director, respectively, of the New England Center for Headache and National President for the American Council on Headache Education. He argues that chronic headache sufferers have faced stigma, often thought to have brought their condition on themselves. He says, “Unlike the pain of ulcers or colitis, the pain caused by a headache has no easily visible source. This relects more on the state of medical knowledge than on the reality of the condition.”

Paul Theroux is no ordinary travel writer: his books are about exotic voyages, some by train, and others by foot. His work includes "The Great Railway Bazaar," "The Old Patagonian Express," and "The Kingdom By The Sea." In this excerpt from a 1993 interview, he talks about the various diseases he's contracted over the years.

We remember writer Bruce Chatwin, one of the most influential travel writers of his generation. He died five years ago from a rare bone marrow disease he contracted while in China. He was 48 years old. Chatwin spent over 20 years exploring the people and geography of the world. His 1978 travel book "In Patagonia" chronicled his solitary journey through South America. His last novel Utz was set in the art world. This interview is from 1987.

Cahill writes in a self-deprecating way about his death-defying experiences around the world. His accounts of adventures in caves, mountains, deserts, and rapids appear in his collections, "A Wolverine is Eating My Leg," and "Jaguars Ripped My Flesh." He's also a columnist for "Outside Magazine." We replay an excerpt from his 1989 interview.

Tracy Johnston is the author of "Shooting the Boh: a Woman's Voyage Down the Wildest River in Borneo", which is now in its eighth printing. The book is not only an account of her adventure going down the river dealing with leeches, waterfalls, foot rot, and moldy clothes, but about her own realization that the hot flashes she was feeling in the middle of the night weren't the steamy jungle but the onset of menopause. We replay highlights from her 1993 interview.

Composer and saxophonist Manu Dibango. He is considered one of the founders of world music. Dibango's first album, "Soul Makossa," was a big hit in 1973. His autobiography Three Kilos of Coffee (The University of Chicago Press) was released last year. His latest album is called "Wakafrika" (Giant Records). (REBROADCAST FROM 8/15/94) (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Journalist Christopher Joyce has just written a book, "Earthly Goods," about searching for medicinal plants in rain forests. He'll talk about the history of seeking treatments in nature and the recent attempt of pharmaceutical companies, medical researchers, and anthropologists, to preserve the rain forests while they search for cures to disease.

We remember adventurer and author Tristan Jones. Tristan Jones was almost certainly the most intrepid sailor alive. He journeyed more than 450-thousand miles in small boats. That includes 20 crossings of the Atlantic, and three and a half circumnavigations. After losing a leg to an old World War two injury, Jones continued to travel, and later worked with disabled kids throughout the world. At 71 he died of complications after a stroke on Wednesday, June 23, 1995. (REBROADCAST FROM 12/13/89) (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Josephine Humpreys and Ruthie Bolton. Humpreys is a fiction writer who won the Pen/Hemingway award in 1985 for "Dreams of Sleep." She recently transcribed and edited the life story of Bolton, who grew up in the same area of Charleston, South Carolina as Humphreys. The novel is called "Gal," and details Bolton's experiences growing up with an abusive grandfather in 1960's South Carolina.