During my 25 years of covering the Celebrity Scene,
I have interviewed over 2,000 show biz stars and top entertainment personalities. My All-time Fabulous 50 personalities include the late film star John Wayne, Paul McCartney of the Beatles, the late Elvis Presley, TV producer Dick Clark, Oscar winner Jodie Foster and Hollywood motion picture executive Sherry Lansing.

The interview with Wayne was after the premiere of his final film, 'The Shootist.' It was one of the last interviews granted by the actor before his death. (I first met Wayne in Tucson, Arizona, on the set of 'Rio Bravo').

I interviewed McCartney when he came to Hollywood with John Lennon to discuss distribution of their Apple label with Capital Records. Paul said he had a 'scoop' for me; that he and John were at odds about the future of the group, and he had decided to leave the Beatles and form his own group ' Wings'. 'Beatles crawl,' he said, 'and Wings fly.' I broke the story nationally within the hour.

As fate would have it, I first met Elvis when he was struggling, early in his career. It was an occasion I won't ever forget. Following my departure from the dressing room after the show, female fans ripped the sleeves from my coat, tore the shirt off my back and even stole one of my shoes, all because I had been one of the privileged few in the dressing room with Elvis.

The interview with Dick Clark was conducted in Dick's funky west coast office. I sat in an old barber chair (which is still a conversation furniture piece today in Clark's office) while doing the interview. (I don't know which I enjoyed the most, interviewing Clark or being pampered by his attractive secretaries, whom I dubbed 'the Clarkettes').

Jodie Foster was still a kid when I interviewed her at the USA Film Festival following the release of her motion picture, 'Foxes.' Like most other students in those days, she was confronted with drug issues at her private school, but managed to avoid most problems by staying busy. (The John Hinckley incident had not happened then, but she was in the middle of a mild controversy, about the character she played in ' Taxi Driver,' which would later figure prominently in the Hinckley incident).

Sherry Lansing was a successful model making a name for herself as a 'covergirl ' for several nationally-known New York fashion magazines when I took her on tour, as a publicist for National General Pictures, to promote the Jack Lemmon movie, ' The April Fools.' Sherry had a small cameo part in the film, she danced as one of three 'Safari Girls' in a safari-themed nightclub. 'Don't say I'm an actress,' she told me. ' I'm a model. I agreed to be in movies because I want to learn the business from the ground floor up,' she said. 'Someday, I want to be on the other side of the camera.' (Today, Sherry is one of the top film executives in the world, and probably the most successful female in the movie business, which has long been considered a man's domain).

Celebrities were not selected for the fabulous 50 group because of their fame, but because of the uniqueness of the circumstances concerning their interviews. One of the Fab 50 - actor Alan Alda - flatly told me he didn't give interviews, and then proceeded to talk for almost an hour when I pushed his 'hot button' , why he was so 'gung ho' about the ERA movement. (I told Alda, that, before I started reading numerous quotes about ERA, attributed to him, I thought ERA was short for Earned Run Average. Alda told me, frankly, that he became adamant about ERA because he owed his life to two women, who had helped cure him of polio with 'home remedies' when he was a kid).

Warren Beatty also refused to let me interview him. Not to be denied, I followed Warren into the men's rest room, and, while standing next to him at the urinal, told Beatty that I'd give him Morgan Fairchild's Dallas telephone number if he would give me a decent quote. (Beatty had had the 'hots' for Morgan since he first met her on the production set of 'Bonnie and Clyde,' when she was Faye Dunaway's understudy. He had propositioned Fairchild ' known in those days as Patsy McClenny ' twice, and been turned down firmly on both occasions).
My ploy not only worked, but, when I showed up the next day at the USA Film Festival with Morgan on one arm, and her sister, Catherine Hartt, on the other, Beatty promptly spotted us, and, suddenly, I became Warren's 'long lost friend.'

Sylvester Stallone, who would rather shadow box or flirt with pretty women instead of doing interviews, admitted he came over and introduced himself to me because he was, frankly, fascinated with the attractive blonde lady shooting photos for me. (Hugh Hefner also came over to my table in the showroom of the Playboy Club and asked me to introduce him to my foxy dinner companion. Hef later hosted me at the Hollywood Playboy Club when I interviewed Barbi Benton).

Two of my most interesting interviews were conducted by candlelight. One was a telephone conversation with Jayne Kennedy, when a power failure left me in the dark, unable to read my notes. The other interview was over dinner with Rita Jenrette in a secluded restaurant. (I also had an interview with Jenrette on another occasion at the cocktail lounge atop the World Trade Center in NYC).

I once interviewed Janet Raymond, the 'love child' of Marilyn Monroe and JFK. She agreed to do the interview after consulting her psychic. When I broke the story of her 'secret birth,' nationally, she appeared on the Merv Griffin TV Show in Hollywood with the late actor Peter Lawford. He confirmed that Marilyn was, indeed, her mother, but quickly announced 'I am, however, not your father.' (Janet knew JFK was her father, but had to wait for several years for the actual truth to surface).

Two of my most unusual interviews took place during live stage shows (on separate occasions) by Joel Grey and Joey Heatherton. Both stars interrupted their shows to talk with me. Joel came over to my table and sat down to chat. Joey invited me to dance with her on stage, but I politely declined. (Brenda Lee also came off stage during her act and sat in my lap for a 'quickie interview').

Frank Sinatra Jr. stopped singing in the middle of his act and walked over to my table to get a closer look at my long hair and beard. 'Man,' he commented, 'You look like Jesus.' (It was not intentional, but I consider it to be the greatest compliment I've ever had. When I eventually interviewed Frank, I thanked him for his observation).

Ben Vereen was telling an interesting story on stage about what happened once during the run of 'Pippin' on Broadway, when he suddenly stopped and commented: 'I smell Captain Black pipe tobacco. Who's the dude smoking Captain Black'' Whereupon, I raised my hand and he came over to my table and introduced himself. 'Why don't you interview me right now, instead of waiting until after the show,' he said. 'That way, I can save all my funny stuff for the dinner performance.'

I was standing backstage in the wings during a benefit performance for Hurricane Carla victims, when a terrified Ann-Margret came running over and grabbed my hand.
'I've got to go out there in front of all of those people and say something,' she told me, 'and I'm scared to death. I've never done that before.' (The actress, on location for the movie 'State Fair,' asked me to interview her on the spot so she could chicken out and avoid making her 'grand entrance,' but it didn't work out that way. When Jose' Ferrer introduced her, she wouldn't turn loose of my hand. Instead, she pulled me out there on stage with her, while the audience applauded wildly. I felt like an idiot. 'I'm in the middle of doing an interview,' she said, and then gestured for me to start talking. I asked her how she liked making movies. 'I dunno,' she replied, 'This is my first picture').

I did another interview on stage, with the Johnny Long Orchestra. As it turned out, I occupied a chair on the concert stage, next to the vocalist. At one point, I was introduced to the audience, and proceeded to sorta adlib. They applauded each time the orchestra leader answered my questions after the drum roll.

Guys in my business will do just about anything to get a good story or a hot quote. Well, almost anything. Before you go jumping to conclusions, my 'bribery' for a good interview from Cindy Pickett was agreeing to feed her cats every day for a month while she trekked off to the east coast or west coast to do another TV flick. Cindy's the gal who played Jackie Spaulding in the soap 'Guiding Light.' You may also remember her from the films 'The Men's Club' or 'Ferris Bueller's Day off.' Or, the TV series 'Call to Glory' with Craig T. Nelson. Cindy married actor Lyman Ward, whom I also interviewed when he played Bogie in 'Play It Again,
Sam.' But, I didn't have to feed his cats.

There were times, when, frankly, it was damn difficult to do an interview with a black star. Not because of any personality problems with black stars, but because of prejudices that once existed in the south. Black actors, for instance, couldn't stay in luxury hotels occupied at that time only by 'white people.' Nor could they eat in restaurants frequented by the white establishment or even ride on buses. I remember taking Rupert Crosse (nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar) on tour for Steve McQueen's film, 'The Reivers.' I went to 'the other side of the tracks' for interview sessions with him, and likewise for Carl Weathers when we hyped Sylvester Stallone's 'Rocky.'

At a public swimming pool, I was stunned when a busty platinum blonde walked up and asked me if I would help her find her bikini halter. Standing there topless, the girl said, 'I don't know what happened, someone must have pulled it off me. Souvenir hunters will take anything they can get their hands on.' Then she introduced herself to me, and asked if I wanted to do an interview. Her name was Jayne Mansfield.

Somebody once asked me if I would go behind prison bars, if I was given the opportunity, to interview Charles Manson. I told them that I would decline. I had no desire to interview the cult leader who had 'masterminded' the massacre of actress Sharon Tate. Although the public seems to be fascinated with these weirdo personalities, I personally, find them ridiculously distasteful. But, then, I wouldn't have gone inside a prison to interview Charles Colson or Heidi Fleiss, either. Hurricane Carter would have been a whole different story.

Child stars have always made good interviews since the early Hollywood heydays of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. I never had the opportunity to interview Judy, but I did interview her daughter, Liza Minnelli, and the Mick. Rooney was in the prime of his life at the time, and marrying his tenth wife. 'Don't never waste your money buying shoes for your wife,' he told me. 'She'll just wear them to walk over you to find another man.' (My favorite child-star interviews were with Scoody Thornton of 'Bad News Bears' fame and Aileen Quinn, the charming little red-headed girl who played Annie in the Hollywood version of the popular Broadway musical).

Interviewing a celebrity is not as easy as it looks. Even when you manage to get a good quote from someone, editors have a way of distorting what the person said. I remember asking a girl from up east at the Miss Teenage America Pageant what she thought about the hot Texas weather. 'Wow,' she replied, 'I sweat up a storm. Some days I take three, maybe four showers a day, just trying to stay cool.' When the story came out in the tabloids, the headline read: Teenage America Hopefuls Get Naked in Dallas.

Horror of horrors, I must admit, I once interviewed Miss Tall Texas, while she played a Mozart piano solo in the nude, in the privacy of her villa.

More than one budding young Hollywood starlet wanted to be interviewed while having sex with Warren Beatty.

Dyan Cannon once accused me of wanting to interview her because she had been married to Cary Grant. I told her the reason I wanted to interview her was to find out whatever happened to her deaf cat. She pitched a fit. (When Dyan was going through the early stages of her primal scream program, she yelled so loud her cat lost its hearing).

Sometimes, you don't have any choice but to 'share' an interview with another member of the press. I did so one time with an erstwhile radio guy whose gross personality was only exceeded by his gross stupidity. While doing an interview with Marlo Thomas, using one of those old 'phallic-looking' microphones, he asked the television star rather uncouthly, 'Is it true that you're gay'' Marlo thought for a moment, shot him a cold stare and replied, 'Well, you know what they say, it takes one to know one.'

I have never really been intimidated when interviewing a celebrity, except once, when I interviewed the legendary Marlene Dietrich. To make matters worse, the interview session was held in her 'dressing room,' which turned out to be a small, stuffy 'coatroom' outside the Venetian Room at the Fairmont Hotel. There were so many boxes, costumes and bags in the little room, it was somewhat uncomfortable. I asked her if she would rather do the interview later, perhaps in a restaurant or at the hotel bar.
'Absolutely,' she replied. 'The quotes always sound better when they are mixed with alcohol.' She gave me some choice ones to fill up my column, particularly one about her old 'friend,' Adolf Hitler. 'I always wonder what would have happened if I had been nicer to that man,' she reflected. 'The whole world might have been different, somehow.'

When I interviewed Sal Mineo, he was trying to get his 'Sirhan Sirhan' film project off the ground. 'I'm really worried they're gonna get me before I get this thing in the can,' he said. (They being the same folks who were involved with covering up the JFK assassination). Sure 'nuff, when Mineo was found dead in the parking lot of his apartment complex, all sorts of rumors started flying. Some tried to attribute his death to drugs, others to the fact that he was gay. His friend, John Lennon felt there was more to Sal's strange death than that. In fact, media contacts in high circles contend Lennon was run out of the country by Richard Nixon and then later silenced for good, because he knew too much and was too strongly sympathetic to the anti-establishment cause).

When I was hosting my Celebrity TV show, I heard the late actor Oliver Reed was in town, secluded at one of the city's posh hotels. So I called him up and asked him if he'd like to be on the show. 'I don't ordinarily do press interviews,' he told me, 'but, I might be willing to make an exception. I've been out on location for what seems like an eternity and haven't had a drop of booze, much less seen the likes of a decent woman. If you can get me drunk and laid, you might have yourself a deal.' (All I can say is I asked the hotel to send some 'refreshments' to Reed's suite and arranged for him to have a 'dinner companion' that evening. Reed did the show. It was a stunner. One week later, while doing the Rona Barrett TV show, Reed got ticked off when she told him to quit smoking on the air. Instead of putting out his cigarettes in an ash tray, he put them in his mouth and dramatically swallowed them).

Sports stars have always made fascinating interviews. My first sports star interview was with Johnny Unitus, the old Baltimore Colt legend. I chided him for wearing high-top shoes and offended him when I asked him why he never attended college. The late Doak Walker was my favorite sports celebrity interview. He was every bit as humble as he was that day at SMU when he told Coach Rusty Russell he couldn't attend an early morning team meeting because he had to attend his church Sunday School class. I also interviewed former Dallas Cowboys running back Duane Thomas, who once called Coach Tom Landry 'a plastic man.' He asked me if he could be a guest on my TV show, because he had been told we were filming it on location at the Playboy Club. (Charlie Waters was also on that show. I asked him about his hobby of Chinese brush painting, which is not the norm for a brusing, NFL defensive back).

Once, I interviewed four 20-game winners in a single day, all members of the Cleveland Indians pitching staff. They were Bob Feller, Herb Score, Bob Garcia and Early Wynn. I also interviewed a shy, good-looking young outfielder shagging fly balls with Rocky Colavito. After watching him take batting practice, I told him he would someday break Babe Ruth's home run record. Cleveland eventually traded him to the New York Yankees. While a member of the Bronx Bombers, Roger Maris did, indeed, do that.

I wanted to do an interview with Roger Bannister during his quest to break the four-minute mile barrier, but it was next to impossible to get him to stop running and sit still long enough to talk. So, I 'suited up' (this was during my younger days) and trotted along with him. I'm not sure it was a very good interview (it's tough to ask questions when you're trying to breathe), but it did get a lot of ink. Nobody offered me a tryout for the U.S. Olympic team, though, which kinda deflated my ego, if you know what I mean.

My Joe Namath interview was a scream. He was doing a pantyhose commercial for one of those NY advertising agencies and insisted I go along on the set. (The real reason for the interview was to hype his book, 'I Can't Wait Until Tomorrow Because I Get Better Looking Every Day'). I also interviewed his old NY Jets pass-catching buddy, Don Maynard. The thing I remember about Don is he slept with his boots on. And, he asked me for a match when he went to the rest room.

My first 'bonafide celebrity interview' was with Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong. I went on a bus tour with the famed entertainer and his band. While unloading one day at the concert hall, 'Satch' handed me his trumpet case and asked me to carry it into the auditorium. The next day, my column lead read: 'Satch carried the grin and I carried the horn.'

Though he's not listed as one of the Fabulous 50 top interviews, I interviewed Stan Kenton while lighting his cigarette and waiting on a street corner for the traffic light to change. I also interviewed actor Kirk Douglas (another absentee from the list) while a passenger in a hotel elevator.

I first interviewed Burgess Meredith while giving the actor artificial respiration when he collapsed backstage during a performance of 'Hamlet.' I interviewed Anne Murray while bottle-feeding her baby, and interviewed TV's Gidget (Deborah Walley) while painting her kitchen.

My most bizarre interview was perhaps with adult film star Kitten Natividad, who stunned those in attendance at her 'press conference' by shedding her raincoat and answering reporters' questions in the nude.

When I showed up at the hotel to interview martial arts expert Chuck Norris, the 'world champion turned actor' was practicing karate kicks. He playfully kicked my clip board from my hand and answered questions while I dodged his flying feet.

During a dinner interview with Cybill Shepherd, the actress responded to a personal question by throwing a fork at me. On another occasion, a few years later, she told me she had come prepared for our interview and proceeded to reach into her purse and withdraw a can of mace, which she placed dramatically on the table.

I once asked actor Ernest Borgnine if he minded if I interviewed him on the set of 'Deadly Blessing' during his lunch break. 'Hell yes I mind,' he told me, rather emphatically. 'When I take a lunch break, I don't do but one thing, eat. And, as you can see by my boyish figure, I enjoy that very much.' (Borgnine, later, graciously invited me over to his quarters for a private interview. He asked me if I wanted anything to eat. I told him that when I did interviews, all I did was ask loaded questions and listen. He told me I better be careful what I asked, and reminded me of the time, on the set of the 'Badlanders,' in Tucson, Arizona when he threw a prop styrofoam boulder at me).

One of my zaniest interviews was with Rob Botin, the Academy Award-winning makeup artist. When he was a guest on my TV show, he wanted to make me up to look like a werewolf. I wouldn't have minded so much, but the guys who furnished my wardrobe turned thumbs down on the idea. (With his long, black hair and scruffy beard, he looked kinda like a werewolf, himself. Other guests on the show didn't want to sit near him. My producer invited him to sit next to me at the host's table. I introduced him early in the show, and gave him a big buildup, but then things bogged down and we never got around to doing his interview on camera. I talked to him backstage, but he wasn't very cordial. Most guys who make up other guys to look life werewolf's usually aren't).

I once did an interview with a Las Vegas stripper who also wrote a regular column for a Las Vegas show biz newspaper. Her name was Suzanne Vegas. ('You can knock me,' she used to say, 'but you can't knock my knockers').

I guess you don't interview animal stars, but I once got a quote from a small puppy. Actually, she was a singing dog named Heidi. When her trainer coaxed her properly, she barked out 'I Love you' right on cue. I swear it sounded almost as good as any human.

As a rule of thumb, I don't like telephone interviews. But, they sometimes come in handy if you want to take a short nap. I once asked an actor to tell me about his most invigorating sexual experience, and promptly went to sleep. Twenty minutes later, I woke up and he was still talking. I'd already heard the first part at a party once before, anyway. All he ever did was change the names to protect the innocent and save his ass in the process.

It's not hard to get a good quote when you do interviews with celebrities, but, depending on what you ask, they may never do another interview with you, and tell all their show biz buddies to avoid you like the plague. A friend of mine was an ace at getting a self-centered actor or actress to shut up talking or respond. One day, I thought I'd try his technique with a rather 'difficult' celebrity.
'So, tell me,' I announced, 'have you ever had sex with a donkey'' ('No,' she said, 'do you have one'')

When I interviewed Amy Irving, she was portraying a young performer in a movie who used sign language to talk to her friends. The film company asked her to 'sign' when she did her press conference interviews. An interpreter was on hand to translate for guys like me who couldn't begin to communicate. (Most reporters only know basic sign language, and most of it is pretty obscene).

Actor Karl Malden was not included in the Fabulous 50 interviews for a reason. I never interviewed him. The interview was scheduled, but it never happened. The actor, instead, interviewed me. 'Some Hollywood actors make interesting interviews,' he observed, 'but mine are usually pretty damned dull. I'd much rather interview you.' And, so he did, as I sat there like a dumb klutz, with a silly grin on my face, for once at a loss for words.

Well, that's show biz, baby.