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Studs Terkel

Legendary broadcaster, author, historian, sociologist, and actor Studs Terkel, who died in Chicago on October 31, 2008 at age 96, is the late Paul Simon's guest in this 1998 interview from the former WSIU TV series One on One. Terkel, one of the country's best-known oral historians, discusses his career in literature, broadcasting, and film and shares what he would like to pass on to future generations.

A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Terkel played the owner of a greasy spoon restaurant in the TV drama series Studs' Place from 1949 until 1952, when he was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee for refusing to give evidence about other left-wing activists. As the host of the popular radio talk show The Studs Terkel Program, which aired on WFMT Chicago from 1952-1997, he interviewed people from a broad cross-section of American society, including activist Cesar Chavez, film critic Paulene Kael, and musicians Billie Holiday and Bob Dylan. He is the author of numerous oral history books documenting the life of ordinary Americans, including Hard Times (1970), Working (1974), and The Good War (1985), for which he received a Pulitzer Prize. Recent works include Will the Circle Be Unbroken? (2001), a book about death, and Touch and Go: A Memoir (2008). His final book, P.S. Further Thoughts From a Lifetime of Listening, was released this month

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