Archive of American Television

The Archive of American Television is a division of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation that films interviews with notable people from all aspects of the television industry.

The archive's subjects include all professions within the television industry. Examples include: actors Alan Alda, Ossie Davis, Michael J. Fox, James Garner, Mary Tyler Moore, William Shatner, and Dick Van Dyke; producers Norman Lear, Carl Reiner, Steven Bochco, Phil Rosenthal, Sherood Schwartz and Dick Wolf; newscasters Walter Cronkite, Ed Bradley, Bob Schieffer and David Brinkley; executives Fred Silverman, Sumner Redstone, Leslie Moonves, Robert Johnson, Kay Koplovitz and Ted Turner; costume designers Bob Mackie and Nolan Miller; choreographers Tony Charmoli and Cyd Charisse; writers Roy Huggins, Tad Mosel, Sidney Sheldon, Abby Mann and Ann Marcus.

200+ of the 500+ videos can be watched free on Google Video.

History

Motivated by Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah 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 executive Grant Tinker, Award-winning producer David L. Wolper are the Archive's founding co-chairs.

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 Leonard Goldenson, founder of ABC, Dick Smith, television’s first make-up artist; Elma Farnsworth, widow and lab assistant to television inventor Philo Farnsworth; Ethel Winant, casting executive; Sheldon Leonard, show creator and director; and comedian Milton Berle.

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation, a non-profit organization, officially launched the Archive of American Television in 1997.

Archive success

Thousands of hours of historic interviews have been completed with over 500 TV legends.

Full-length video interviews currently onlineinclude actors Alan Alda, Richard Crenna, Barbara Eden, Jonathan Winters, Ossie Davis, Michael J. Fox, Dick Van Dyke, Dick Clark, Florence Henderson, Andy Griffith, Bob Newhart, Julia Child, William Shatner, Carl Reiner, writer and producers Norman Lear, Sherwood Schwartz, Steven Bochco, and Dick Wolf, news legends Walter Cronkite, Ed Bradley, Robert MacNeil, Jim McKay, Mike Wallace, and David Brinkley, and Executives Fred Silverman, Leonard Goldenson and Ted Turner.

Sony Pictures Television President, Steve Mosko, TV Foundation Executive Director Terri Clark, and Archive Director Karen Herman continue to guide the day to day operations of the Archive. Archive staff, professors, scholars and journalists from around the country volunteer their time to conduct these interviews. The Foundation employs a small staff who prepare all of the research and questions in advance. Local video crews photograph each interview.

The goal

The Archive of American Television has posted over 200 videotaped interviews online.

It is their ultimate goal to be the world’s largest and most advanced oral history collection on the history of television.

Interviewees available online

A regularly updated list of interviews with links can be found at http://tvinterviewsarchive.blogspot.com
* Alan Alda, actor/producer/director
* Steve Allen, host/performer
* Army Archerd, journalist/host
* James Arness, actor
* Beatrice Arthur, actress
* Edward Asner, actor
* Tammy Faye Bakker-Messner, religious broadcaster
* Bob Banner, producer/director
* Joseph Barbera, animation creator * Bob Barker, game show host, executive producer * Cliff Barrows, music director * William Bell, writer/producer * Ted Bergmann, executive * Milton Berle, performer * Walter Bernstein, writer * Barbara Billingsley, actress * Wade Bingham, cameraman * Lucille Bliss, voiceover artist * Steven Bochco, producer * Paul Bogart, director/producer * Mili Lerner Bonsignori, news editor * Tom Bosley, actor * Ed Bradley, anchor correspondent * David Brinkley, anchor/correspondent * James L. Brooks, writer/producer/director * Kirk Browning, director * Frances Buss Buch, director * Allan Burns, writer/producer * James Burrows, director * Robert Butler, director "'* Sid Caesar, performer * Dann Cahn, editor * Vince Calandra, talent coordinator * David Canary, daytime actor "'* Stephen Cannell, show creator/producer/writer * Charles Cappleman, executive * Bob Carroll, Jr., producer/writer * Diahann Carroll, actress * Leo Chaloukian, sound executive * Stan Chambers, KTLA news anchor * Marge Champion, choreographer/dancer * Glen & Les Charles, writers/producers * Tony Charmoli, choreographer/dancer * Julia Child, host * Dick Clark, producer/entertainer * Bob Claver, director/producer * John Conte, host/station manager * Tim Conway, performer * Joan Ganz Cooney, co-creator of "Sesame Street" * Tim Conway & Harvey Korman, performers * Hal Cooper, director/producer * Barbara Corday, writer/executive * Alexander Courage, composer * Richard Crenna, actor * Bill Daily, actor * Madelyn Pugh Davis, producer/writer * Ann B. Davis, actress * Ossie Davis, writer/actor * Fred de Cordova, producer * Ruby Dee, actress * Sam Denoff, writer/producer * Phyllis Diller, comedian/actress * Dr. Walter Dishell, medical consultant/writer "'* Phil Donahue, show host "'* Mike Douglas, show host "'* Hugh Downs, host/anchor * Bob Doyle, news producer * Charles S. Dubin, director * Betty Cole Dukert, producer ("Meet the Press") * Roger Ebert, film critic/host * Barbara Eden, actress * Ruth Engelhardt, agent/executive * Danny Epstein, composer * Nanette Fabray, performer * Jerry Falwell, religious broadcaster * Elma Farnsworth, widow of TV inventor * Bob Finkel, producer * Dorothy (D.C.) Fontana, writer * Ray Forrest, announcer * John Forsythe, actor * Charles Fox, composer * Michael J. Fox, actor "'* Eddie Foy, casting executive "'* John Frankenheimer, director * Dennis Franz, actor * Albert Freedman, producer * Gerald Fried, composer "'* James Garner, actor * Betty Garrett, performer * Larry Gelbart, writer/producer * Herschel Burke Gilbert, composer * Leonard H. Goldenson, founder of ABC * Jerry Goldsmith, composer * Curt Gowdy, sportscaster * Lee Grant, actress/director * Everett Greenbaum, writer "'* Andy Griffith, actor * Robert Guillaume, actor * Earle Hagen, composer * Larry Hagman, actor * Monty Hall, host * Earl Hamner, writer/creator of “The Waltons” * Kitty Carlisle Hart, actress * Don Hastings, actor * Dwight Hemion, director * Florence Henderson, actress * Lyle “Skitch” Henderson, music director * Paul Henning, creator/producer * Don Herbert, host (“Mr. Wizard”) * Albert Heschong, art director * Don Hewitt, show creator/news producer * Arthur Hiller, director * Martin Hoade, producer * Ron Howard, actor/director * Roy Huggins, producer/show creator * Kim Hunter, actress * Seaman Jacobs, writer * Joseph Jennings, art director * George Clayton Johnson, writer"' * Lamont Johnson, director * Russell Johnson, actor * Quincy Jones, composer/producer * Lucille Kallen, writer * Hal Kanter, creator/writer/producer * Bob Keeshan, host/”Captain Kangaroo” * Lynwood King, director * Ernest Kinoy, writer * William Klages, lighting director * Don Knotts, actor * Harvey Korman, performer * Sid & Marty Krofft, creators/producers * Mort Lachman, writer/producer * Perry Lafferty, executive/producer * Angela Lansbury, actress * Norman Lear, show creator/writer/director * Jim Lehrer, news anchor/correspondent * Jack Lemmon, actor * Sheldon Leonard, producer/director * Frank Liberman, publicist * Art Linkletter, host * Norman Lloyd, actor/producer/director * Sam Lovullo, producer ("Hee-Haw") * Sidney Lumet, director * Bob Mackie, costume designer * Gavin MacLeod, actor * Robert MacNeil, anchor/host * Abby Mann, writer/producer * Delbert Mann, director * Martin Manulis, producer * Bob Markell, set designer * Garry Marshall, show creator/producer * Richard Matheson, writer * Bob McGrath, performer * Jim McKay, sports broadcaster * Ed McMahon, host/announcer * Barney McNulty, cue card expert * Jayne Meadows, actress * Burt Metcalfe, producer * Nolan Miller, costume designer * John Moffitt, producer/director * Ricardo Montalban, actor * Thomas Moore, executive * Harry Morgan, actor * Rita Moreno, actress * Pat Morita, actor * Tad Mosel, writer * Robert Mott, sound effects specialist/writer * Alan Neuman, producer/director * Bob Newhart, actor * Leonard Nimoy, actor/director * Agnes Nixon, soap opera creator/writer * Nicolas Noxon, documentarian * Hugh O’Brian, actor * Carroll O’Connor, actor * Don Ohlmeyer, executive * Fess Parker, actor * Estelle Parsons, actress * Arthur Penn, director * Bill Persky, writer/producer/director * Daniel Petrie, Sr., director * Abraham Polonsky, writer * Tom Poston, performer * David Pressman, director * Tony Randall, actor * Joyce Randolph, actress * Frances Reid, daytime actress * Carl Reiner, writer/actor/director * Rob Reiner, actor/director * Del Reisman, writer * Gene Reynolds, director/producer * Larry Rhine, writer * John Rich, director/producer * Lee Rich, executive/producer * Hank Rieger, publicity executive * Rita Riggs, costume designer * Heino Ripp, technical director * Cliff Robertson, actor * Pat Robertson, religious broadcaster * Fred Rogers, children's show creator * Phil Roman, animation director * Andy Rooney, commentator/writer * Rose Marie, performer * Meta Rosenberg, agent * Marion Ross, actress * Aaron Ruben, writer/producer * Stanley Rubin, producer * Tim Russert, host/executive * Isabel Sanford, actress * Jay Sandrich, director * Thomas W. Sarnoff, executive * Edgar Scherick, executive/producer * Bob Schiller & Bob Weiskopf, writers/producers * Alfred Schneider, standards & practices * Sherwood Schwartz, show creator/producer * Jan Scott, art director * William Self, producer/executive * William Shatner, actor * Melville Shavelson, writer * David Shaw, writer * Jack Shea, director/producer * James Sheldon, director * Sidney Sheldon, writer/show creator * Hazel Shermet, actress * Fred Silverman, executive * Garry Simpson, director * Doris Singleton, actress * Ira Skutch, director/stage manager * Erika Slezak, actress ("One Life to Live") * Howard Smit, makeup artist * "Buffalo" Bob Smith, host/creator * Dick Smith, makeup artist * Gary Smith, director/producer * Aaron Spelling, producer * Carroll Spinney, puppeteer * Frank Stanton, executive * Jean Stapleton, actress * Herb Stempel, quiz show contestant * Leonard Stern, writer/producer * Bob Stewart, producer/game show creator * Gale Storm, actress * John Strauss, publicist * Maxine Stuart, actress * Dick Stiles, art director * George Takei, actor * June Taylor, choreographer * Noel Taylor, costume designer * Studs Terkel, host/oral historian * Grant Tinker, executive/producer * Stanford Tischler, editor * Mel Tolkin, writer/producer * Daniel J. Travanti, actor * Ret Turner, costume designer * Ted Turner, network creator executive * Dick Van Dyke, actor * James Wall, stage manager/performer * Mike Wallace, anchor/correspondent * Ruth Warrick, actress * Dennis Weaver, actor * Joseph Wershba, news reporter/producer * Betty White, actress * Ethel Winant, casting executive * Henry Winkler, actor/producer
* Jonathan Winters, comedian
* Ben Wolf, cinematographer
* Dick Wolf, producer
* David Wolper, producer/documentarian
* Jane Wyatt, actress
* Alan Young, actor

External links

* [http://www.emmys.org/foundation/archive/index.php Archive of American Television]
* [http://tvinterviewsarchive.blogspot.com Archive of American Television Blog with updates links to all online interviews]
* [http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Archive+of+American+Television&page=1&lv=0 Google Video Archive of American Television]
* [http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/video_academy.html Google Press Release]
* [http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=35561 Media Post]
* [http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/10/must-see-tv-archive.html Blog Spot]
* [http://www.irishdev.com/NewsArticle.aspx?id=1264 The Iris Developers Network]
* [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/features/columns/tv_reporter/e3ib2695ccf8db3426dd0d65c2be8ec3848 Hollywood Reporter article on Archive 6/4/2007]
* [http://www.armyarcherd.com/2007/06/happy_anniversa.html Army Archerd column on the Archive of American Television's 10th Anniversary celebration 6/5/2007]