Terry Gross

Songwriter Matt Dennis died Sunday at the age of 88. He wrote the songs "Angel Eyes," "Everything Happens to Me" and "Let's Get Away from It All." In the 1940s he worked with Tommy Dorsey as an arranger and vocal coach when he wrote his biggest hits. This interview first aired December 12, 1995.

Novelist Chaim Potok died Tuesday at the age of 73. Potok was raised in the Orthodox Jewish tradition, was ordained as a rabbi, and later became a best-selling author of the novels The Chosen, The Promise and My Name is Asher Lev. Much of his writing explored the conflict between spiritual and secular worlds, a subject that earned him readers from all faiths. This interview first aired in 1986.

Folklorist Alan Lomax died Friday, July 19 at the age of 87. He spent more than a half century recording the folk music and customs of the world. His efforts spurred folk revivals in the United States and across Europe. In the United States, he was responsible for priceless recordings of Leadbelly (who Lomax first recorded in prison), Woody Guthrie, Jelly Roll Morton and many others. A 1959 recording he made of Mississippi prisoner James Carter singing the work song "Po'Lazarus" was the opening song for the soundtrack of the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Enter Me

We remember film director John Frankenheimer. His films include The Manchurian Candidate, French Connection 2 and The Birdman of Alcatraz. He died this past Saturday, at the age of 72.

We remember the poet Kenneth Koch, who died Saturday.

We remember the great singer Rosemary Clooney, who died Saturday. We'll hear a concert and interview taped before a live audience in San Francisco on January 18th, 1997, as part of the City Arts & Lectures series. Clooney sings some of her best-known songs, accompanied by a quintet directed by John Oddo. She also talks with Terry about her life.

We remember Timothy White, the editor in chief of Billboard Magazine. He died Thursday at the age of 50. He was in his office at the time. This interview first aired January 12, 1995.

She died on June 14 2002, at age 65, from breast cancer. She was one of the most widely published African-American writers. In her poems and political essays, she addressed issues of racism, oppression and dispossession. She was born in Harlem and grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. She taught English at the University of California at Berkeley.

The Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC is currently running the first major retrospective of Rivers' work. It's on display through August 19, 2002 and covers five decades of output. He's been called the father of Pop Art, and is considered one of the most important artists in the figurative tradition. Rivers was part of a loosely knit association of poets and painters who were young, poor and ambitious in New York in the 1950's.