Elaine Stritch--1979 TV Interview

[@ritamarie2976]

I am so happy to see her so happy. Too bad it ended so tragically. She never remarried and spoke so lovingly of him and their short marriage. What a great lady, performer and story teller. Refreshing Honestly. Sorely missed! RIP Miss Stritch you were one of a kind!❤️❤️❤️

[@johnn.5033]

She seemed in a really good place here and it's sad knowing all the sadness and struggle (Her husband's death and her relapse into alcoholism as a result) she would endure within the next 5 years after this interview, but reassuring to know she eventually got it together and continued living her effervescent life up until the ripe old age of 89.

[@glennfromthebronx]

nicely said. I lover her line re: the DA Pennebaker documentary on the recording of COMPANY: "after the firt night, Ilooked like MArgaret Rutherford making "The Life of Judy Garland". lmffao I never saw Ealaine in any live Broadway show....but she nearly knocked me on my butt 2-3x @27th St. and 6th Avenue....when I was on my lunch from work, an she apparently was walking her pre-school age grand-nephew home from school...@winter 2009.

[@drewy412]

She was never truly sober. She began drinking again towards the end of her life. I guess if you get to 89, you want what you want.

[@Themanwhocameback2]

I was in the audience for this taping in 1979 in a little studio on the West Side a few blocks south of Lincoln Center. I had friends from Europe visiting and they knew Dick Cavett from Danish TV. Elaine was in rare form, but this posting is missing about 10 minutes: She got up from her seat and went over to stand near the band, and sang "Anyone Can Whistle", the first time I had ever heard it . She also told a philosophical anecdote about her encounter with a wise maid whom she encountered waiting to clean her room in the hallway at the Carlyle. The song and the story were the highlights of the show and were broadcast in the episode I later saw on TV.. I wonder why they were cut here?

[@livesquad2810]

That sounds amazing. I'd love to see it

[@johndalton3180]

The reason those parts were cut might be 2 fold. First, this originally aired on PBS in 1979, in a 30 minute, ad-free format. The version we see here is repackaged for the Bravo cable channel, which had to cut down the original 30 minute episode to 21 minutes and change. And the reason they likely picked the song to cut is budgetary. Bravo would've had to pay for the rights to the song, and that likely isn't in the budget of a basic cable series. Thank you so much for relating that wonderful memory, though. Maybe one day, Dick Cavett will release the whole interview.

[@geoffreyfox7741]

In the 1970's, I fell in love with Elaine Stritch through the cast album of Company. She was brilliant. I never had the pleasure of seeing her perform. It is wonderful that videos of her performing at the top of her game on the DVD's of "At Liberty" and " Just Shoot Me". What a wonderful entertainer. Elaine was sensational to the very end!

[@edwardlittlefield447]

Always the best interviews!

[@michaelreidperry3256]

Such positive energy! Stritch is forever a treasure.

[@mirrenfan2]

Thanks for posting! I thoroughly enjoyed this.

[@jchow5966]

She is terrific! I remember seeing her on different tv shoes. ☮️💟

[@rondrake3720]

This is possibly the best interview with her I’ve seen

[@rr7firefly]

Colleen Donaghy as a young woman. What a treat. She's brilliant and charming. She was very happily married to American actor and playwright John Bay. It shows in her demeanor. He died in 1982, a few years after this interview.

[@lenwelch2195]

Love this woman , full of life , warts and all and because of them

[@leewitten4758]

I watched her one woman show last week. I love her to death. One of my favorite actresses, I love how she's tough as nails, badass, but also very raw and vulnerable. And considering she smoke and drank a lot, 89 was a great age to retire, and rejoin her husband.

[@oisindurkin]

Thank you Alan.

[@janetclaireSays]

It's interesting how in every interview I see of Elaine Stritch she simply cannot stop herself from addressing the audience more than the host. She was used to playing to the audience and it carried through during interviews.

[@garymoore7481]

Love her

[@bernardcleary4330]

I haven't heard "he didn't lick that off the ground," but in my Irish-American extended family and social network, "he didn't get that from the horses and cows" is a very common expression that means the same thing.

[@grai]

I saw her doing "At Liberty" at the Old Vic in London she was really amazing so sad these old style stars area dying breed

[@TheJohnpandy]

So did I. John

[@johnscanlan9335]

Interesting to me, she really became more of herself when she got older. She was only 54 here. She got really funny in her old age!

[@Themanwhocameback2]

We all, if we are intelligent, become more ourselves when we get older. We learn to value what composes the true self, and realize, "What's the point of pretending?.

[@TVHouseHistorian]

Saltier, dryer, more uninhibited, and *very* intolerant of any comment she perceived to be disrespectful. She could never have tolerated anyone like herself. In a later interview she stated that she scared people, even herself, and that it was something she wasn’t aware of enough to be able to control.

[@michaelmcilraith8699]

Great to see her take over and be so open about things this early on compared to others who weren't in the same era. Dick knew she would gabb which is why he got her on his show he didn't have to do much work at all as elaine knew how to keep a conversation going

[@cluny]

I never heard of her until I saw her on an episode of The American Dream Machine. on PBS

[@davidanthonystone5165]

One of a kind

[@brianeduardo1234]

She was brilliant and this was before he husband died - a chat show host’s dream guest - whatever happened to Dick Cavett?

[@liesljones5987]

Elaine Stritch has MY vote as the Most Versatile Actress in U.S. History. During one summer, she played both Anna in THE KING AND I and Martha in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

[@Marcel_Audubon]

and bitched about it all summer

[@beggandpartners]

LieslJones59 Her remarks on life in other interviews is simply earth shattering. She was a truly highly intelligent woman. A vert great woman. As a diabetic and a drinker i love to listen to her. I love her for always. God bless her. A great talent but also a great human. Lainee i simply love you

[@PDC-yb9qs]

@@Marcel_Audubon you have SERIOUS Elaine Stritch issues. You have to leave a snarky remark on so many of her videos on KZbin. You should definitely speak to somebody about you hate issues. Elaine Stritch dead still has more life in her than you ever will 👍🏽👏🏽

[@Marcel_Audubon]

@@PDC-yb9qs you _choose_ a channel name like fudgepack and you think _I_ have issues?!?

[@zanyzoo6767]

whoever said no one is indispensable............. had never met Ms Stritch.

[@brianeduardo1234]

So well said and true

[@jchow5966]

I want to check out those hotels.

[@suzeauster2223]

RIP 🌈 🙏 🌈

[@Twentythousandlps]

Entirely self-absorbed, happiest doing interviews focusing on topic A. Cavett always wise in these situations.

[@jasonhurd4379]

Well really, that's why she was there in the first place: to discuss topic A. What would you expect her to discuss, Jean-Paul Sartre or Jackson Pollock? Sheesh.

[@Themanwhocameback2]

@@jasonhurd4379 Pay no attention. These nasty old queens enjoy hating.

[@jasonhurd4379]

@@Themanwhocameback2 Yes, you're right. Thanks.

[@gregorypalmer5403]

She moved back to Detroit ( sorry, NOT a native New Yawker) at a point and her repeated public disparagement of her real home town and mine did not score positive points, was offensive to many, and saddest of all, " Not becoming"! What a self-absorbed pair these two make !

[@Johnnynbk]

One thing I've learned is ,people love to talk about other people's drinking problems.

[@r.i.p.volodya]

04:40 "Stately and tedious"?! - Anglophobe!

[@constantreader7944]

And the thing is, I bet she was oblivious to the fact that she was talking non stop and he couldn’t get a word in. She probably had no idea.

[@rchamb139]

🇿🇼🇿🇼

[@brianeduardo1234]

what ever happened to Dick Cavett = though he is not great... she is superb as always

[@jchow5966]

Egocentric but lots of fun to eatch.

[@johnthompson932]

OK she liked a drink!

[@la1495]

AHHHHHHHH... I miss smoking

[@chrisn7259]

I always enjoyed her performances, but I also found her essentially unlikeable. How does that compute?

[@Themanwhocameback2]

Doesn't.

[@drsunshine1959]

@@Themanwhocameback2 Oh, yes it does.

[@tq2769]

@@drsunshine1959 Absolutely. Like Matthew McConaughey - Love some of the characters he plays and how good he is at it, but find him as a person quite insufferable.

[@ozvoyager]

Interesting. Elaine is trying rather too hard here, and her various delusions are laid bare. Oddly, she seems more real in later interviews where she's batshit crazy.

[@Marcel_Audubon]

When wasn't she trying too hard?

[@johnn.5033]

Trying to hard to please the audience? Or trying to hard to convince them that she's fine? I notice her that while I do believe she was happy in her personal life, she looks like someone who still was dealing with a lot of anxiety and self-doubt about her abilities. I do think she wanted to impress people, but because of the stress it brought her she also resented human who didn't get where she was coming from. She was very uncomfortable in her skin, and I relate to a certain level of the frustration she felt at times.

[@Themanwhocameback2]

The bitter old queens have descended like the witch's flying monkeys in their favorite film.

[@UltraCinemaScope70]

Love her as a performer but what a self-absorbed attention-hogger she is in this interview! Couldn't stand to watch more than a few minutes.

[@johnn.5033]

She had a lot going against her in show business, so she did what she had to do to become well known. She wasn't considered "beautiful", she didn't have a fantastic singing voice, she had a lot of inner demons, but she had drive and ambition. I'd cut her just a little bit of slack.

[@mickeymouse2able]

she was pretty tough. She stayed at the hotel i worked at and was demanding but not in a mean way at all. She was a character. She went out of her way to say hello to me at the hotel when i didn't work there anymore when i was sitting chatting with my friend who still worked there. Not at all what you think of when you think of Diva. Seriously.

[@jackanthony976]

But she is on the show to talk about herself. That is why she is the guest. There were no other guests....and Dick Cavett is the one who asks the questions not answer them.

[@Themanwhocameback2]

Cinemascoper Another bitter old queen whom she didn't tip well enough.

[@tq2769]

Pretty bad. Tasmanian devil - I hope Cavett was wearing a seatbelt.

[@Marcel_Audubon]

Full of herself, wasn't she?

[@courtneybenson1384]

Marcel Audubon I don’t think she was full of herself. I think she was very raw and true

[@Marcel_Audubon]

CourtBen ... two aren't mutually exclusive: she was raw and true and full of herself

[@courtneybenson1384]

Marcel Audubon Does it even matter anymore, she’s dead. 🙄

[@Marcel_Audubon]

CourtBen we aren't allowed to comment on dead people? I think you misread you KZbin instruction manual, dearie

[@courtneybenson1384]

Marcel Audubon lol now there’s a manual. Ok, lol.. You can say whatever you want, I’m just a compassionate person and if I don’t like an entertainer then why even be on the page.. Carry-on carry-on