Orson Welles last tv interview
Posted: December 12th, 2013, 12:43 am
From an archive list serve that I belong to, here are three clips from the Merv Griffin show that were included in the Guide's greatest top 60 talk show moments:
Today TV Guide published its 60 Greatest TV Talk-Show Moments and we were honored to find out that three of them were from The Merv Griffin Show.
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/241357 ... ow-moments
Here are the three clips with a link to the footage that is on our YouTube channel dedicated to the show.
(25) Captain MItsuo Fuchida (September 2, 1965)
[youtube][/youtube]
Captain Fuchida was the architect of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He tells his story of being a young naval officer doing his "duty" leading the attack, being decorated by Emperor Hirohito, his dislike of Tojo to the eventual change of heart which led him to become a Christian preacher. To realize that this was on TV a mere 24 years after the attack to me is astonishing. In the polarizing environment of today would someone who was involved in the planning of 9-11 and repented be allowed on a talk-show in 2025? When I first discovered this footage last year it really did blow my mind and not only that on the same show was the legendary comedian, Phyllis Diller. To see Merv Griffin at the end of the show thank these two opposite individuals in the same breath truly lefty me speechless.
(41) Whitney Houston (June 23, 1983)
[youtube][/youtube]
This is Whitney Houston's very first television appearance. Clive Davis, head of Arista Records, shown here at the head of the clip, had just signed her and taken her under his wing. She hadn't even started recording her first album but Merv had seen her perform in a nightclub and was anxious to have her on his show. She's singing "Home" from The Wiz. Later in the same program her mother (Cissy Houston) joins her for a stunning duet of a medley of Aretha Franklin songs
(46) Orson Welles (October 10, 1985)
[youtube][/youtube]
Orson Welles was a dear friend of Merv Griffin but was a notoriously guarded interviewee. He told Merv he wasn't interested in taking "trips down memory lane." On October 10, 1985 he told Merv he was "feeling expansive" and to go ahead and ask him all those "gossipy" questions he'd always wanted to ask him on the air. Merv took the opportunity and Orson Welles opened up about his personal life like never before and, as fate would have it, never again. He died a few hours after the show at his home in Hollywood, making this interview his final words to the world.
Today TV Guide published its 60 Greatest TV Talk-Show Moments and we were honored to find out that three of them were from The Merv Griffin Show.
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/241357 ... ow-moments
Here are the three clips with a link to the footage that is on our YouTube channel dedicated to the show.
(25) Captain MItsuo Fuchida (September 2, 1965)
[youtube][/youtube]
Captain Fuchida was the architect of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He tells his story of being a young naval officer doing his "duty" leading the attack, being decorated by Emperor Hirohito, his dislike of Tojo to the eventual change of heart which led him to become a Christian preacher. To realize that this was on TV a mere 24 years after the attack to me is astonishing. In the polarizing environment of today would someone who was involved in the planning of 9-11 and repented be allowed on a talk-show in 2025? When I first discovered this footage last year it really did blow my mind and not only that on the same show was the legendary comedian, Phyllis Diller. To see Merv Griffin at the end of the show thank these two opposite individuals in the same breath truly lefty me speechless.
(41) Whitney Houston (June 23, 1983)
[youtube][/youtube]
This is Whitney Houston's very first television appearance. Clive Davis, head of Arista Records, shown here at the head of the clip, had just signed her and taken her under his wing. She hadn't even started recording her first album but Merv had seen her perform in a nightclub and was anxious to have her on his show. She's singing "Home" from The Wiz. Later in the same program her mother (Cissy Houston) joins her for a stunning duet of a medley of Aretha Franklin songs
(46) Orson Welles (October 10, 1985)
[youtube][/youtube]
Orson Welles was a dear friend of Merv Griffin but was a notoriously guarded interviewee. He told Merv he wasn't interested in taking "trips down memory lane." On October 10, 1985 he told Merv he was "feeling expansive" and to go ahead and ask him all those "gossipy" questions he'd always wanted to ask him on the air. Merv took the opportunity and Orson Welles opened up about his personal life like never before and, as fate would have it, never again. He died a few hours after the show at his home in Hollywood, making this interview his final words to the world.