Studs Terkel

1912-2008 RIP

Actor, author, historian and broadcaster Studs Terkel passed away yesterday, October 31, 2008. Studs became famous for celebrating the uncelebrated.

This interview was conducted at the University Of California Berkley. It's very funny as well as informative.



Here is a documentary on Stud, its mostly random clips pieced together but its worth watching.: Studs On A Soapbox

NPR has put together some audio from Stud's on NPR as well as some interviews he conducted. I highly recommend listening to the interview with a young Bob Dylan which can be found in the left hand column. NPR COVERAGE

Here is are some excerpts from the interviews Stud's made to make "Working": Revisiting "Working" By Susan Stamberg

Here are some great quotes from Studs:

"With optimism, you look upon the sunny side of things. People say, 'Studs, you're an optimist.' I never said I was an optimist. I have hope because what's the alternative to hope? Despair? If you have despair, you might as well put your head in the oven."


On never losing hope, to The Associated Press in 2003: "A lot of people feel, 'What can I do, (it's) hopeless.' Well, through all these years there have been the people I'm talking about, whom we call activists ... who give us hope and through them we have hope."

Conversation with future Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing in 1969:
Lessing: "You do still have gangsters [in Chicago], don't you?" Terkel: "Yes, but these days they're mostly in business, or politics."