Audio Interview: Leigh Brackett

Normally on Saturdays, we have a written interview, but today we kick off the new year with a special treat: An audio interview with veteran screenwriter Leigh Brackett. Brackett, who died in 1978, has numerous writing credits including The Big Sleep (1946), Rio Bravo (1959), Hatari! (1962), El Dorado (1966), The Long Goodbye (1973), and posthumously Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Talk about range!

The interview is conducted by Tony Macklin, who taped numerous interviews with screenwriters (check out his website). Here are his comments re the circumstances of the interview:

My interview with author Leigh Brackett took place in Kinsman, Ohio. I drove with my young daughter on a hot, humid, blazing July 1975 day to Leigh’s rural farm house.

She was a gracious hostess and introduced us to her husband, fellow science fiction author Edward Hamilton. A lot of heady imagination was born in that rural locale.

I vividly remember Leigh’s making us lemonade to help cool us — it was pure sugar. My teeth still cringe when I think of it.

On the way home we stopped in the woods by a lake and took a refreshing dip in the warm water.

The whole trip was like a trip to an alien world, where we were welcomed by a fairy godmother.

You can access the interview here.

H/T to Rob Fuller for sending me that link.

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