Now I've Heard Everything – Vintage Interviews With Notable People

The Burden That Weighed On Popular Actress Delta Burke

October 27, 2025Bill Thompson

Imagine being a young woman with a dream. Named Most Likely to Succeed by her high school class. The winner of a beauty state pageant at age 18. And then becoming a successful actress.

Then imagine that that young woman becomes one of the stars of a major network television series and is seen and admired by millions every week

But then imagine that, like so many of us, she gains some weight. And because of her very public persona, she becomes the target of ridicule.

That’s actress Delta Burke. As the character Suzanne Sugarbaker in the hit TV series “Designing Women” Burke became a sensation. And so did her weight.

Her struggles ultimately inspired her to launch her own line of clothing for “real size” women. And it inspired her to write a book in 1998 called Delta Style. Its subtitle was Eve Wasn’t a Size 6 and Neither Am I.

I met her one afternoonIn the spring of ‘98 when she was on a book tour.

So here now from 1998, Delta Burke.

Delta Burke is 69 now. She and her husband actor Gerald McRaney live in Los Angeles.

One Of The Great Voices Of Baseball Broadcasting: Jon Miller

October 25, 2025Bill Thompson

You may have heard that old saying “Find a job that you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

If that’s true, Jon Miller has never “worked” a day in his life. Now of course he is one of the hardest working broadcasters in all of sports, but it’s a job he has literally loved since he was a child.

Picture this: the young Jon Miller sitting In the stands at Candlestick Park in San Francisco watching the Giants play, and glancing up at the pressbox, watching the broadcasters do what they do.

He was so inspired that later at home he would recreate baseball games and tape record the play by play, complete with audience sounds and even commercials.

He broke into actual broadcasting in the early 1970s. And for over 50 years now he has been doing what he loves.

In 1998 Jon Miller wrote a book called Confessions of a Baseball Purist. His publisher put him out on a book tour just as spring training was getting underway, and he carved out a few minutes to speak with me.

And what you’re about to hear is an interesting snapshot of Major League Baseball 27 years ago, so the names will bring back memories, and some of the concepts may now seem a little quaint.. And oh yes, this was before Barry Bonds.

So here now, from 1998, Jon Miller.

Jon Miller turned 74 a couple of weeks ago. He lives near San Francisco.

No, Getting There Is Not Half the Fun, At Least As Far As Comedian David Brenner Was Concerned

October 22, 2025Bill Thompson

You’ve heard it said that “getting there is half the fun.” Well, the people who say that never met David Brenner.

Now here was a guy who was a well-regarded documentary producer for many years before turning to comedy in the late 1960s.

His standup career thrived for over three decades, as he became a hugely popular guest on TV talk shows including “The Tonight Show” where he made over 150 appearances.

So David Brenner did a lot of traveling, accumulating hundreds of hilarious stories that eventually formed the basis for his 1990 book If God Wanted Us To Travel….

I’d been a big fan for years so I jumped at the chance to talk with him when he was on the book tour.

So here now, from 1990, David Brenner.

David Brenner died from cancer in 2014. He was 78.

A Daughter’s Amazing Mission toTell Her Father’s Heroic Story

October 22, 2025Bill Thompson

As time goes by many of the stories of the “Greatest Generation” are being lost. But a few years ago there was one hero whose story was told after his daughter accidentally discovered it.

Ryszard Kossobudzki was a teenager in Warsaw, Poland when World War II broke out. He joined the resistance, becoming a key fighter in the Warsaw Uprising.

He was injured and eventually captured. He survived a Nazi POW camp and was eventually rescued by American forces.

When he came to the U.S. after the war, he changed his name to Richard Cosby, married, settled down, and had a daughter, who became an investigative reporter on television. Her name is Rita Cosby.

It was after her mother’s death nearly 20 years ago that Rita Cosby came across an old battered suitcase among her mother’s possessions. Opening that suitcase changed everything, for it contained the true story of her father’s life in Poland.

Rita Cosby then turned investigative reporter to find out about her own family. The result was her 2010 book, a bestseller called Quiet Hero. It was the story her father had never told anyone.

Rita and I met one afternoon in the summer of 2010 to talk about her book.

So here now, from 2010, Rita Cosby.

Richard Cosby died in 2012 at age 86. Rita Cosby will be 61 next month. She can be seen Saturday nights on Newsmax.

The Radio Personality Who Became An Iconic TV Star: “Laugh-In’s” Gary Owens

October 22, 2025Bill Thompson

Is it possible to make lots of money with just your voice?

Certainly. For decades people have made successful careers out of voice acting, voiceovers, radio,even automated systems.

Only a handful, however, reach the pinnacle of the profession, people who do indeed make tons of money from their voice.

And sometimes their careers take unexpected turns. And that’s where we find longtime radio personality turned TV star Gary Owens.

He was a successful and popular radio personality in Los Angeles in the 1960s, when he was recruited to join an unusual new TV show called “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.”

But actually, even though “Laugh-In” may be what he is best remembered for, Gary Owens had a very long and very successful voice acting career.

Owens was never one to gatekeep, so in 2004 he wrote a book called How to Make a Million Dollars With Your Voice. Now keeping in mind that that was over 20 years ago, long before anyone knew that AI was going to take over a lot of the voicing environment, so some of what he says is a little dated.

But not to worry, because listening to the stories that Gary Owens tells more than makes up for it.

So here now, from 2004, Gary Owens.

Gary Owens died in 2015, at age 80.

Was She An Abu Ghraib Scapegoat? Former Army Gen. Janis Karpinski

October 22, 2025Bill Thompson

Some 20 years ago the nation and the world were shocked by photos that emerged from the U,S,-run prison in Abu Ghraib, Iraq.

Those photos showed Iraqi prisoners being subjected to what was called “enhanced interrogation“ – what others called torture.

There was an immediate outcry, as leaders around the world called for someone to be held accountable.

The Army Reserve brigadier general who was in charge of the Abu Ghraib prison, as well as others in the region, was a career officer named Janis Karpinski.

In a 2005 book called One Woman’s Army. Karpinski told the story from her point of view. Her account tells of being scapegoated by an administration looking for a fall guy.

I had the chance to speak with her just six months after President George W. Bush demoted her to colonel for her role in the scandal.

So here now, from 2005, Janis Karpinski.

Janis Karpinski is 72 now. She is married to a Lt. Colonel at the U,S, embassy in Oman.

How Spoiled Are We? Comedian Larry Miller Said America is Spoiled Rotten

October 22, 2025Bill Thompson

Some things in life just are not meant to be taken so seriously. Especially American life in the 21st century.

We get irritated over long lines at Starbucks. We get mad in traffic.Heck, we get upset when it rains.

Actor and comedian Larry Miller says we’re just spoiled. We have it so good we forget how good we have it. And we let those little irritations become our lives.

Almost 20 years ago, in 2006,Miller wrote a book that he called Spoiled Rotten America. And yes it was meant to be funny and it is.But it makes some really serious points.

Larry and I got together 1 day in October that year, actually almost exactly 19 years ago now, to talk about the book.

So here now, from 2006, Larry Miller..

Larry Miller will be 72 the day after tomorrow.

Country-Bluegrass Legend Ricky Skaggs, In His Own Words

October 12, 2025Bill Thompson

From the moment he picked up a mandolin at age five, Ricky Skaggs has been making music.

By age six, Ricky was playing on stage. By age seven he’d made his first TV appearance alongside legends Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. And he was a professional musician by his teens.

After playing, arranging, and producing for other artists for several years, Skaggs launched his solo career in 1980. And the awards have been piling up ever since.

Fast forward to 2013 when Ricky Skaggs wrote an autobiography called Kentucky Traveler. He and I met one warm summer day that year to talk about it.

So here now, from 2013, Ricky Skaggs.

Ricky Skaggs turned 71 in July.

Actress Diane Ladd’s “School of Life”: Lessons from a Hollywood Healer

October 9, 2025Bill Thompson

She has appeared in over 200 movies and television shows, nominated for multiple Oscars, Emmys, and Golden Globes. She’s been on Broadway.

But actress Diane Ladd is also a teacher and a healer. In her nearly 90 years, Ladd has absorbed a world of knowledge and experience.

And it was that that inspired her to write a book in 2006, that she called Spiraling Through the School of Life.

I had the chance to talk with her when she was on a book tour that summer.

So here now, from 2006, Diane Ladd.

Diane Ladd will be 90 next month. Her last film, in 2022, was “Gigi & Nate.” She was last seen on television in 2021 in an episode of “Young Sheldon.”

He Was a Genius With Coconuts And Bamboo: A Conversation With Actor Russell Johnson, The Professor From “Gilligan’s Island”

October 6, 2025Bill Thompson

For an actor in the 1960s, landing a permanent role in a new TV series was a big deal. But little did actor Russell Johnson know, when he took that role in 1963, that it would become his identity for the rest of his life.

Johnson was cast as Roy Hinckley, better known as The Professor on the brand new TV series “Gilligan’s Island.”

And over its three-year run, the almost-cartoon-like series about seven people stranded on a desert island after a shipwreck became a cultural phenomenon. Even more so when the show went into syndication after its network run. It’s still in reruns today, 60 years later.

And even though he went on to many television and movie roles after “Gilligan’s Island” Russell Johnson is still known primarily as The Professor.

By 1993, he had fully embraced the idea that that was going to be his identity. And that was the year he wrote a light-hearted memoir about the show, called Here On Gilligan’s Isle.

I had lots and lots of questions for him when we met one day that summer to talk about the book.

So here now, from 1993, Russell Johnson.

Russell Johnson died in 2014. He was 89.