Now I've Heard Everything

Sixty years ago this week, May 1960, a team of Israeli Mossad agents quietly traveled to Argentina, where they found and captured Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi officer who was instrumental in organizing the extermination of millions of Jews during World War II.

A key member of that Israeli team was a young man named Peter Z. Malkin.

I met him in 1990, around the 30th anniversary of that famous episode. He had just published a book called "Eichmann In My Hands."

He had his first number-one song in 1951, a tune called "Because of You" -- and Tony Bennett has never slowed down since.

Over his seven-decade show business career, Bennett has proven to be as popular today, among all age groups as we was when he was just beginning his rise to stardom.

In 1998 Bennett finally wrote his autobiography, a book called "The Good Life."  That's when I met him, and yes, I was hugely starstruck.

Last week the National Football League and its fans lost a truly iconic figure,  Don Shula, the all-time winningest NFL coach, died at the age of 90.

I met Don Shula in 1995, just a few months before the start of what would be his final season coaching in the NFL.  He had written a book on coaching and leadership, along with Ken Blanchard, the prolific author who [s best known for his book "The One Minute Manager."  

Mothers are always proud when their children are successful, and especially so when their grown children become entertainment stars.

One such mom is Georgia Holt, whose daughter is one of those rare performers who is such a star she's known by just one name -- Cher.

I met Georgia Holt in 1988, after she had written a book called "Star Mothers." which told not only her story and Cher's, but the mothers of many otgher stars. 

Here now, from 19o88, Georgia Holt: 

All this week on Now I've Heard Everything, as we look ahead to Morthers Day next Sunday, we\re featuring interviews with or about mothers.

Today my 1988 interview with a wopman whose book about her adoptive mother became a cultural nilepost.

Christina Crawford;s mother was Hollywood legend Joan Crawford. But as she revealed in her 1978 bestseller, life with the fanous actress was not a fairy tale existence.

Mother's Day is next Sunday, so this week on "Now I've Heard Everything we're featuring interviews with and about mothers.

Today, a loving and devoted mother who suffered a devastating and very public loss.

On October 6, 1998, a 22-year-old gay University of Wyoming student named Matthew Shepard was beaten and tortured, and died six days later. 

Two other young men, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, were later arrested, tried, and convicted in Matthew Shepard's death.

After her son's murder, Ju Shepard took on a new role as advocate for the LGBT community.

"Married to the mob" was more than just a snappy catch phrase for Georgia Durante.  

Her 1998 autobiography told an incredible story -- teenage model, sexual assault victim, mob wife, Hollywood stunt driver.

People often ask me if I ever got starstruck when I was interviewing famous people -- and yes, it happened sometimes.

One of those times in early 1994, when I had the opportunity to interview a true literary lioin: novelist, short-story writer, poet, and critic John Updike.

How big a literary figure is he?

Well, John Updike is one of only three writers who have ever won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once.

Dan Quayle was a Republcian U.S. Senator from Indiana. and not a very well-known Senator, when George H.W. BuSh chose him as his 1988 running mate.  Quayle took a lot of heat from critics who derided him as an intellectual lightweight.

Bush won that election, and Qualye became America's 44th vice president.

But the 1992 camapign proved more difficult for Bush and Quayle. 

It's been almost 50 years since the tragically untimely death of Janis Joplin, whose rock, soul and blues set the standard for a whole generation of musicians who followed. 

About 30 years ago, I met Janis's younger sister Laura Joplin, who had just published a biography of Janis, based largely on a cache of letters her sister wrote, back in the day.

As she told me in this interview, it became a project she needed to do.