Harvey Brownstone Interviews..‪.‬ Harvey Brownstone

Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth Interview with Tina Sinatra, Daughter of the Legendary Frank Sinatra
 
About Harvey's guest:
 
Today’s special guest, Tina Sinatra, is a member of Hollywood royalty.  She’s the youngest child of the most beloved vocalist and entertainer of all time – Frank Sinatra.  
 
As an actress, she appeared in a number of TV shows including “Romeo and Julia ‘70”, “It Takes a Thief”, “Adam-12”, “Mannix” and “Fantasy Island”.  But she has devoted most of her life and career to managing, advancing and honouring the spectacular legacy and body of work of her father’s monumental career.  
 
She was the executive producer of the fabulous, star-studded TV Special “Sinatra 75: The Best is Yet to Come”, celebrating her father’s 75th birthday.   She also executive produced the highly acclaimed miniseries, “Sinatra” which was nominated for 9 Emmy awards and won 2, in addition to winning a Golden Globe Award for best television miniseries.  And she served as executive producer on the TV movie “Young at Heart” and was a producer of the 2004 remake of the movie “The Manchurian Candidate”.  
 
In addition, our guest has been instrumental in a number of initiatives and projects which have kept Frank Sinatra’s historic contribution to pop culture relevant and current, such as establishing the Frank Sinatra Hall at the USC Campus, arranging for her father’s film, TV and audiotape collection to be donated to the UCLA archives, and orchestrating a terrific Grammy museum exhibit called “Sinatra: An American Icon”, which toured across America.  
 
She’s been involved in bringing us wonderful multimedia concert productions at Radio City Music Hall and the London Palladium, as well as the Twyla Tharp dance extravaganza “Come Fly Away”, which had hugely successful runs on Broadway and in Las Vegas.  In her role as senior Board member of Frank Sinatra Enterprises, which manages the licensing and usage of her father’s name, likeness, recordings and films, she’s been a tremendous support in the creation of the Emmy-nominated, 2-part HBO documentary “Sinatra: All or Nothing at All”.  
 
She was instrumental in the launch of the immensely popular Siriusly Sinatra channel, which is channel 70 on SiriusXM, as well as the iconic Sinatra Bar and Lounge in Nashville, AND the exciting new show, “Sinatra: The Musical”, which made its world premiere last year in England.  
 
And if all of that weren’t enough, she wrote a highly compelling, insightful and poignant New York Times Bestselling book entitled, “My Father’s Daughter: A Memoir”, which was revised in 2015 to commemorate Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday.  
 
For more interviews and podcasts go to: https://www.harveybrownstoneinterviews.com/
 
To learn more about Tina Sinatra, go to:
https://www.sinatra.com/ 
https://www.instagram.com/tinasinatra.rp
 
#TinaSinatra    #harveybrownstoneinterviews

Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth Interview with Stacy Keach, Legendary Actor
 
About Harvey's guest:
 
Today’s special guest, Stacy Keach, is a legendary actor who’s given us dozens of unforgettable performances in a career that spans over 6 decades.  
 
He’s widely considered to be America’s finest classical actor, having tackled the most challenging Shakespearean roles including Hamlet, Richard the 3rd, MacBeth, King Lear and Henry the 4th.  He has starred in many other highly acclaimed theatrical productions including “Incident at Vichy”, “The Country Wife”, “MacBird”, “Indians”, “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”, “Deathtrap”, “The Kentucky Cycle”, “Other Desert Cities”, “Death of a Salesman”, “Art” and “Love Letters”.  
 
On the big screen, he’s appeared in dozens of great movies including “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter”, “Doc”, “Fat City”, “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean”, “The New Centurions”, “Up in Smoke” and the sequel, “Nice Dreams”, “That Championship Season”, “Escape from L.A.”, “American History X”, “W”, “The Bourne Legacy”, “Nebraska”, “Gold”, and many more.  
 
And on television, aside from his groundbreaking role as everybody’s favourite private detective, “Mike Hammer”, we also remember him in “Die Gang”, “Titus”, “Prison Break”, “Lights Out”, “Crowded”, “Man with a Plan”, and “Blue Bloods”.  He’s also starred in many renowned miniseries including “Jesus of Nazareth”, “The Blue and the Gray”, “Princess Daisy”, “Mistral’s Daughter”, “Hemingway”, “Blackbeard”, “Meteor”, and “Tokyo Trial”.  And who can forget his wonderful audio podcast series, “The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas”.   
 
In 2013 he wrote a highly compelling, fascinating and insightful memoir entitled, “All in All:  An Actor’s Life On and Off the Stage”.   
 
The list of awards and accolades this man has received is jaw-dropping.  He’s won 4 Drama Desk Awards, 3 Vernon Rice Awards, 2 Helen Hayes Awards, a Hollywood Film Award, a Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award, a Mary Pickford Award, the German Independence Honorary Award and a Star of Excellence at the Oldenburg Film Festival.  He has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the San Diego Film Festival and the St. Lewis International Film Festival.  
 
In the year 2000, he received the prestigious Millennium Recognition Award from Shakespeare Theatre Company for his outstanding contribution to classical theatre.  In 2012 he became George Mason University’s first Heritage Professor of Stage and Screen.  
 
In 2015, our guest was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.  And in 2019, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  
 
For more interviews and podcasts go to: https://www.harveybrownstoneinterviews.com/
 
To learn more about Stacy Keach, go to:
http://www.gostacykeach.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/stacy.keach.9/ 
https://www.instagram.com/stacykeach/
https://twitter.com/stacykeach1
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaPJQh5a5MoyqaERgkmXt3A/featured
 
#StacyKeach    #harveybrownstoneinterviews

Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth Interview with Lesley Nicol, Renowned Actress, Downton Abbey’s “Mrs. Patmore”
 
About Harvey's guest:
 
Today’s guest, Lesley Nicol, is a beloved actress from England, whose show-stopping portrayal of “Mrs. Patmore” on the iconic television series “Downton Abbey”, and the 2 feature films that followed, has contributed enormously to the popularity and success of that wonderful show.  
 
She and her fellow “Downton Abbey” cast members received 3 Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.  But beyond “Downton Abbey”, our guest has done much, much more in her remarkable career.   
 
On stage in London’s West End, she played “Rosie” in the original production of the international smash hit show, “Mama Mia”.  She originated the role of “Kath” in “Our House”, based on the music of Madness.  She played “Little Buttercup” in the revival of “HMS Pinafore”.  And she originated the role of the nosy neighbour, “Auntie Annie”, not only in the play, “East is East”, but also in the multi-award winning 1999 film and in the sequel, “West is West”.   On television, besides “Downton Abbey”, she’s appeared in dozens of series, mini-series and TV movies including “The Practice”, “The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe”, “Staying Alive”, “Casualty”, “Shameless”, “The Bill”, “Heartbeat”, “Hot in Cleveland”, “The Catch”, “Beecham House”, and many more.   And you may also recognize her as “Aunt Tea” from a series of TV commercials for Tetley tea.   Our guest is also very well known for her dedicated service to several important charities.  She is a UK Ambassador for “Animals Asia”, which is devoted to ending the barbaric practice of bear bile farming, and to improving the welfare of animals in China and Vietnam.  She is also an ambassador for Medical Detection Dogs, which trains dogs to detect human disease and to assist people to manage complex medical conditions.  
 
For more interviews and podcasts go to: https://www.harveybrownstoneinterviews.com/
 
To learn more about Lesley Nicol, go to:
http://www.lesleynicol.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/lesley_nicol
 
#lesleynicol   #harveybrownstoneinterviews

Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth Interview with Ruth Schmidt, Pastor and Trailblazing LGBTQ+ Clergy
 
About Harvey's guest:
 
Today’s show deals with the issue of religious institutions discriminating against the LGBTQ+ community.    Our guest, Pastor Ruth Schmidt, was a senior director at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, until she was fired for refusing to sign the school’s mandatory statement of faith, which prohibits affirmation of same-sex marriage.   
 
When she first entered Fuller as a student in 2016, she did sign the statement of faith.  And she signed it again in 2022, this time as an employee, pursuant to Fuller’s policy of requiring senior staff members to sign the statement annually.  I should point out that there are court rulings throughout the United States, permitting discrimination by religious institutions against gay students and employees, and this was most recently seen in October 2020, when the court affirmed the Fuller Seminary’s right to expel 2 students for being in same-sex marriages.   
 
Getting back to our guest, when she was required in 2023 to re-sign the statement, she realized that it would be wrong for her to do that, given her imminent ordination into the United Church of Christ, which DOES accept marriage for same-sex couples.   And she ALSO came to the realization that it was ethically wrong and hypocritical for the Fuller Theological Seminary, which prides itself in being multi-denominational, to make money from denominations that affirm same-sex marriage, but at the same time, compel its students and employees to sign a homophobic statement of faith, and to dismiss those who refuse to do so.   
 
As a result of our guest being fired, and the groundswell of support she received, not only from students and faculty at Fuller, but from the community at large and the media, the Board of Trustees at the Fuller Theological Seminary created a task force to reconsider its policies relating to human sexuality, and the school has now proposed new sexuality standards for the students, but NOT for staff and faculty.   
 
So there is still much work to be done.  
 
For more interviews and podcasts go to: https://www.harveybrownstoneinterviews.com/
 
To learn more about Ruth Schmidt, go to:
https://www.instagram.com/rutheschmidt/ 
https://twitter.com/ruthschmidt
 
#RuthSchmidt    #harveybrownstoneinterviews

Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth Interview with Deborah Presley Brando, Elvis Presley’s Daughter, Author, “Memoirs of a Starseed Child: Elvis, Marlon, Christian and Me”
 
About Harvey's guest:
 
Today’s special guest, Deborah Presley Brando, has lived a life that most of us could never possibly imagine, in the shadow of one of the greatest superstars of all time – Elvis Presley.   
 
Although many people still believe that Elvis had only one child, Lisa Marie, who passed away tragically last year at the age of 54, the fact is – and this has been confirmed by an order of the Tennessee Court of Appeal - Elvis had another child, our guest, born on March 4, 1956.  
 
Our guest’s mother, Barbara Jean Lewis, met Elvis in 1954, before he became famous, through his cousin Gene Smith, when she was 14 years old.  She had a romantic relationship with Elvis in the summer of 1955, when she spent several weeks with him on tour in Mississippi.  Elvis and Barbara were very much in love, and when Elvis learned of the pregnancy, he invited Barbara to come to Memphis and live with his parents.  Barbara did visit Elvis in Memphis, but his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, fearing the impact on Elvis’ career and public image of being seen in the company of a pregnant 16-year-old girl, persuaded Barbara to return home to her family in North Carolina.  Barbara married a man by the name of Don Yandel prior to having the baby, and she kept the identity of our guest’s father a secret from her for many years, until 1977, when, at the age of 21, she finally told her daughter the truth.  
 
She also told our guest that Elvis had been a part of her life until she was 4 years old, and that he sent gifts and money throughout her childhood.   
 
In the 80s our guest became good friends with the one person besides her mother, who was able to confirm the details that I’ve just mentioned:  Elvis’ cousin and best friend Gene Smith, who was Elvis’ driver and who was with him constantly, including during the time of Elvis’ relationship with Barbara.   In fact, Gene Smith provided a crucial affidavit in the court case launched by our guest, leading to the judicial finding that our guest is, indeed, the biological daughter of Elvis Presley.    
 
Our guest has written a fascinating and compelling book entitled “Memoirs of a Starseed Child: Elvis, Marlon, Christian and Me”, in which she shares her heart wrenching and sometimes traumatic journey through a difficult childhood, her quest to learn the truth about her paternity and to be acknowledged and validated for who she is, and several complicated relationships including her marriage to Marlon Brando’s late son Christian.  
 
Our guest has also written a children’s book entitled, “Creations of the Goddess Maylaya: An American Fairy Tale”, and she’s had a varied career, not only as a writer, but as a special education assistant working with autistic children, and as an artist and a curator for an art gallery.
 
For more interviews and podcasts go to: https://www.harveybrownstoneinterviews.com/
 
To learn more about Deborah Presley Brando, go to:
https://www.facebook.com/deborah.presley.98/
https://www.instagram.com/deborahdelainepresley/
https://twitter.com/devidelaine
 
#DeborahPresleyBrando    #harveybrownstoneinterviews

Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth Interview with Bryan Batt, Award-Winning Actor, Co-Star, “Mad Men”
 
About Harvey's guest:
 
Today’s special guest, Bryan Batt, is an award-winning actor, author and businessman who is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the closeted art director Sal Romano on the mega hit TV series, “Mad Men”, for which he won 2 Screen Actors Guild Awards along with his fellow castmates for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.   
 
But he’s done much, much more than that.   On Broadway, he’s appeared in many shows including “Cats”, “Starlight Express”, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Sunset Boulevard”, “Saturday Night Fever”, “Seussical”, “The Scarlet Pimpernel” and “La Cage Aux Folles”.   
 
On the big screen, you’ve seen him in “Jeffrey”, “Funny People”, “Brawler”, “B-Side”, “12 Years a Slave”, “Parkland”, “The Runner”, “LBJ”, “American Reject”, “High Tide”, “Easy Does It”, and many more movies.  He also starred in the highly acclaimed short film, “The Palooka”, for which he earned 2 Best Actor Award nominations from the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival.  
 
And on TV, besides his memorable performance in “Mad Men”, he’s appeared in dozens of shows including “Ghost Whisperer”, “Ugly Betty”, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”, “NCIS”, “Scream: The TV Series”, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, “East Siders” and many more.  
 
He’s also written 3 bestselling books: a fascinating memoir entitled “She Ain’t Heavy, She’s My Mother”, “Big, Easy Style: Creating Rooms You Love to Live In”, which is a beautiful book about interior design and home décor, and “Pontchartrain Beach: A Family Affair”, about the famous New Orleans amusement park founded by his grandfather.  And if all of that weren’t enough, our guest and his husband Tom are the owners of an extremely popular home furnishings and gift shop in New Orleans, called “Hazelnut”.   
 
Our guest is passionate in his support of charities and civic organizations in New York City and New Orleans, especially his more than 30-year relationship with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.   He’s a recipient of the Isidore Newman Distinguished Alumnus Award, and on April the 13th, he will be the honoree at the New Orleans Film Society Gala.  
 
For more interviews and podcasts go to: https://www.harveybrownstoneinterviews.com/
 
To learn more about Bryan Batt, go to:
https://www.facebook.com/bryan.batt.1/ 
https://www.instagram.com/bryan_batt/
https://hazelnutneworleans.com/ 
https://twitter.com/Bryan_Batt 
 
#BryanBatt   #harveybrownstoneinterviews