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The Perfect Baked Potato: The Magnificent Katharine Hepburn

Posted April 27th, 2010 in Celebrity, Katie, New York, Reflections by Glenn Plaskin
Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Hepburn

People often ask me: ‘Who was your all-time favorite interview subject?’

Over a period of thirty years, having met or interviewed hundreds of celebrities–legends including Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Meryl Streep, Jacqueline Onassis, Calvin Klein, Nancy Reagan, Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters–all of them unforgettable–one radiant personality stands out in my mind as most magnificent–and intimidating!

And that would be the great Katharine Hepburn, who as a child, I first saw in the movie “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?”

Growing up in Buffalo, New York, I never could have guessed that, decades later, I’d be the one invited to dinner at the Miss Hepburn’s East 49th Street Turtle Bay townhouse, discussing, as we did, my biography of the legendary Vladimir Horowitz, which she kindly read, the catalyst for our first meeting.

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The Verdict On Judge Judy: Funny & Fierce, She Reigns Supreme

Posted April 16th, 2010 in Celebrity, Katie, Reflections by Glenn Plaskin
Judge Judy

Judge Judy

Even in the company of the great Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Nancy Reagan, and Carol Burnett, one of my favorite interview subjects of all time is the incomparable Judge Judy, the charismatic powerhouse who reigns over the highest-rated court session on TV, with more than ten million viewers tuning in daily.

Amazingly, she’s been #1 for the last 700 weeks! Beyond ratings, nobody can surpass Judy’s astute judgments, spicy humor, supersonic mind, and no-nonsense attitude.

And best of all, fear is not in her vocabulary—as she says the things we all want to.

“LOOK at me, Madam!” shouts the Queen of small-screen Justice to an evasive witness.

“Does it say ‘stupid,’ here?” she inquires, pointing briskly to her forehead.

“They don’t pay me because I’m beautiful,” she mugs sweetly to the cameras. “I’m real SMART, so watch it!”

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