The Interviews: An Oral History of Television (formerly titled theArchive of American Television) is a project of the nonprofitAcademy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation inNorth Hollywood, Los Angeles, that records interviews with notable people from all aspects of thetelevision industry.[1]
The project has interviewed over 950 television pioneers and has posted over 900 videotaped interviews online. It is their ultimate goal to be the world's largest and most advanced oral history collection on thehistory of television and make these primary resources freely available and searchable to the public. The archive's subjects include all professions within the television industry that are recognized by the Emmy Awards. Examples include: actorsTony Randall,Fess Parker,William Shatner,Betty White,Alan Alda,James Garner,Mary Tyler Moore,[2]Dick Van Dyke,Ossie Davis,Carol Burnett andMichael J. Fox; and producersNorman Lear,Carl Reiner,Chris Carter,Steven Bochco,Philip Rosenthal,Chuck Barris,Sherwood Schwartz,Fred Rogers andDick Wolf; newscastersWalter Cronkite,Ed Bradley,Bob Schieffer andDavid Brinkley; executivesFred Silverman,Sumner Redstone,Leslie Moonves,Robert Johnson, Kay Koplovitz,Frank Stanton andTed Turner; costume designersBob Mackie andNolan Miller; choreographers Tony Charmoli andCyd Charisse; writersRoy Huggins,Tad Mosel,Sidney Sheldon,Abby Mann andAnn Marcus, among numerous others.
Motivated bySteven Spielberg'sSurvivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, which has videotaped testimonies of Holocaust survivors, Dean Valentine (former Disney Television and UPN president) was inspired to create a similar project for television. Valentine developed and presented a proposal to the TV Academy, under then-president Richard H. Frank and Academy Foundation Chairman Thomas W. Sarnoff.NBC executiveGrant Tinker, Award-winning producerDavid L. Wolper are the Archive's founding co-chairs. The creation of the Archive of American Television was co-founded and executive produced by Michael Rosen[3] and overseen byJames Loper, the Executive Director of theAcademy of Television Arts & Sciences from 1984 until 1999.[4]
Beginning in early 1996, the Archive of American Television completed its first six interviews as part of its pilot stage. The initial six interviews were with Elma Farnsworth, widow and lab assistant to the inventor of electronic televisionPhilo Farnsworth;Leonard Goldenson, founder ofABC,Dick Smith, television's first make-up artist;Ethel Winant, casting executive;Sheldon Leonard, show creator, actor, and director; and comedianMilton Berle. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation officially launched the Archive of American Television in 1997 under the day-to-day leadership of Rosen and Sarnoff. Subsequent directors of the Archive include Karen L. Herman and Jenni Matz.
Thousands of hours of historic interviews have been completed with over 950 TV legends. In 2009, a fully searchable website was launched to make the collection available the publicemmytvlegends.org. Long-form, multi-hour video interviews currently online include actors,Richard Crenna,Barbara Eden,Jonathan Winters,Dick Clark,[5]Florence Henderson,Andy Griffith,Bob Newhart, andMickey Rooney, writer and producers, writerHarlan Ellison, news legendsWalter Cronkite,Robert MacNeil,Jim McKay,Mike Wallace andDavid Brinkley, and executivesFred Silverman,Leonard Goldenson andTed Turner. Key players from the1950s quiz show scandals were also interviewed:Herb Stempel[6] andAlbert Freedman.[7]
Television Academy Foundation staff, professors, scholars and journalists from around the country volunteer their time to select candidates for, and conduct these interviews. The Foundation employs a small staff who prepare all of the research and questions in advance. Local video crews record each interview.
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