Terry Gross

We remember singer/ songwriter HANK BALLARD. He wrote and recorded the song Chubby Checker later made famous, “The Twist.” Ballard died Sunday after a bout with throat cancer. This interview was recorded in 1993.

We present an earlier interview with Fred Rogers. Terry Gross spoke with him in 1985, when Fresh Air was not yet a national show.

She died last month at the age of 39. As a child, Grealy spent five years being treated for cancer, which left her face disfigured. She had over 30 reconstructive procedures and years of living with a distorted self-image. She wrote Autobiography of a Face in 1994, her memoir about coming to terms with looking less than perfect in a society that values female beauty. No cause of death was announced, but friends indicated she was despondent of late. Her last book was As Seen on TV, published in 2000.

LaHaye, who died earlier this week, was a fundamentalist Christian and a longtime leader of the religious right. His Left Behind books sold more than 50 million copies. He spoke to Fresh Air in 2002.

Professor Raymond McNally, an expert on the many portrayals of vampires in folklore and film, died Oct. 2 at the age of 71. McNally traced the origins of the Dracula story in Transylvania. He wrote the book In Search of Dracula and taught at Boston College, specializing in Russian intellectual life.

We remember Israel's first ambassador to the United Nations and the United States, Abba Eban. He died yesterday in Israel at the age of 87. This interview first aired Dec. 2, 1992

We remember historian Stephen Ambrose who died Sunday at the age of 66. A college professor, Ambrose became a best-selling author late in life with his book D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II. He wrote several military history volumes including Citizen Soldiers. He was consultant for the film Saving Private Ryan and his book Band of Brothers was the basis of the 2001 HBO mini-series. Ambrose also wrote Undaunted Courage about the Lewis and Clark exploration to the West. This interview first aired Aug. 15, 2001.

We remember Anthony Mazzocchi, who died Saturday at the age of 76. He was a lifelong labor activist and a longtime union official who led the drive for the Occupational Safety and Health Act. In 1996, he founded the Labor Party in the United States. This interview first aired July 26, 1995.

Reeve died Sunday of heart failure at the age of 52. He was best known for starring in the Superman film series. A 1995 horseback riding accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. After the accident, he became a worldwide advocate for spinal cord research. This interview was originally broadcast on Sept. 30, 2002.

He died August 14th at the age of 78. The cause was cancer of the liver. The Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC recently ran the first major retrospective of Rivers work, covering five decades of his output (it ends August 19th). Rivers has been called the father of Pop Art, and is considered one of the most important artists in the figurative tradition. He was part of a loosely knit association of poets and painters who were young, poor and ambitious in New York in the 50's.