Remembering the jazz greats who died in 2024
From music producer Quincy Jones, to critic and archivist Dan Morgenstern, jazz historian Kevin Whitehead remembers just a few of the influential musicians and personalities we lost this year.
Celebrating movie icons: Samuel Jackson
In this 2000 interview, the Pulp Fiction star remembered watching movies in segregated theaters. Though he often plays tough guys he said, in real life, "I don't walk around looking for trouble."
Celebrating movie icons: Spike Lee
Lee's first film, 1986's She’s Gotta Have It, helped make him a central figure in independent and Black cinema. In 2017, he talked about adapting that film into a 10-part Netflix series.
Celebrating movie icons: The films of Sergio Leone
Once disparaged as "spaghetti Westerns," Leone's films helped revive the genre, and ushered in a unique visual style. In 2005, cultural historian Christopher Frayling reflected on Leone's influence.
Celebrating movie icons: Western stunt double Hal Needham
Needham, who died in 2013, worked as a Hollywood stuntman for over 40 years. In this 2011 interview, he detailed some of his most death-defying feats — and why he disliked modern special effects.
Celebrating movie icons: Eli Wallach
Wallach, who died in 2014, learned to ride horses as a young man. He later made a career playing villains in Westerns like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Originally broadcast in 1990.
Celebrating movie icons: Clint Eastwood
Eastwood's breakout role came in the 1964 Western A Fistful of Dollars. In 1997 he talked about his signature squint: "[There's a] bunch of lights ... and it's 90 degrees and it's hard not to squint."
'Fresh Air' marks the centennial of the 'Queen of Blues' Dinah Washington
Washington, who died in 1963, was born in Alabama and got her start singing in church. Throughout her relatively short, two-decade career, she boasted — and proved — that she could sing anything.
Celebrating movie icons: Isabella Rossellini
Rossellini talked about being the daughter of movie icons Ingrid Bergman and director Roberto Rossellini and about playing playing an abused woman in Blue Velvet.
Celebrating movie icons: Dennis Hopper
Hopper, who died in 2010, became famous for the 1969 hippie biker road trip movie, Easy Rider. "There was a lot of smoking grass on that picture. ... I didn’t do it. But I drank," he said in 1990.
Celebrating movie icons: Sidney Poitier
In this 2000 interview, Poitier talked about his disastrous first audition, why reading was a struggle and how he went on to become the most famous Black actor of his generation.
Celebrating movie icons: Meryl Streep
In 2012, the Oscar-winning actor talked about shifting accents for various roles, including her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady: "It's work, but it's not a struggle; it's fun."