With his Latest Book, TCM's Dave Karger Talks with 50 Oscar Winners

EDGE: What was the genesis of '50 Oscar Nights?'

Dave Karger: I've always been fascinated by the Oscars. I've written about them, talked about them on TV, studied them for 25 years now, and have been watching them every year for the past 40 years. When the opportunity presented itself to do a book in conjunction with Turner Classic Movies, I thought of this concept of 50 Oscar Nights where I would interview 50 winners from the past 60 years and talk about the day that they won, and all the memories associated with it. I wanted to get their personal stories and some more emotional content than I have normally read in an Oscar book. It was great fun to do, and to reach out to some of my favorite people that I've interviewed over the years and do a different kind of interview, especially this one that was very targeted to one specific project, one specific day, and one specific experience in their lives.

EDGE: Why has the Oscars meant so much to you?

Dave Karger: There's just something about it. I first watched the Oscar ceremony when I was about 12 years old. I was very taken by the ceremony of it. The competition aspect of it fascinated me, and it just all seemed very exciting to me at a very young age. As someone who became a movie lover throughout my teen years, it's just something that I gravitated towards. I like the math of it. I like the tradition of it and the prestige of it all. Also, I'm the guy who loves the movies that are nominated every year. They're much more my speed than an action movie or a superhero movie. These are the kind of movies and performances that I gravitate toward, and the kind of performers I like talking to. I'm in awe of what great actors can do, so it's a joy for me to talk about their creative process whenever I can.

EDGE: You had previously met or interviewed 35 of the interviewees included in the book. Who were some of the big names you were excited to speak with for the first time?

Dave Karger: It was cool to interview Rita Moreno for the first time. I had never met her before. I've now interviewed her a couple of times, and she's so much fun. The stories that she shared that she remembered from 60 years ago were astonishing. I'm also a big John Legend fan, and I had never met or interviewed him before, so that was very exciting. Then another person who I had never talked to, even though I work at TCM, is Mel Brooks, and he's 97. His stories and his recall were remarkable. He won his Oscar in 1969, and remembered so many specific things about the experience, and was just so sharp and fun. Those were three highlights. Absolutely.

EDGE: You have some amazing conservations. Is there an Oscar story that stands out for you?

Dave Karger: Jane Fonda's interview surprised me, and I was really impressed with her honesty and candor. There was so much going on in the world, in the country, and in her life at the time of her win. The stress of the role in "Klute" as Bree Daniels, and the political activism she was doing, led to the hostility that she felt from the Hollywood community. The fact that she was sick with a 102 fever, and she was conflicted about what she should say in her speech [added more stress]. She was worried that people were going to boo her. After she left the Oscar stage, she started crying because she felt guilty that her father, Henry, didn't have an Oscar yet, and she did. She spoke about it all so eloquently. That was one interview where I was even more on the edge of my seat than I was for all of them.

EDGE: Did you have a favorite question that you asked each winner?

Dave Karger: One question that seemed to get a lot of interesting answers was, "What does the win mean to you?" The way I phrased the question to all of them was, "What did it mean to you at the time, and what does it mean to you now?" For some, they said basically the same: It meant that they had the respect of their peers. That's how they felt at the time, and that's how they feel now. Many others have had a changing relationship with it, where they couldn't appreciate it at the time but now they appreciate it years later. Rita Moreno felt awkward about displaying her Oscar for many years. It wasn't until she met her current husband, that he encouraged her to take it out of a cardboard box and put it up on a shelf. For me, it was interesting to hear people's different responses to the meaning of the win for them.

EDGE: Who are some of your favorite Oscar winners from the 1940s and 50s that you would have loved to interview?

Dave Karger: Hattie McDaniel, who won the Oscar in 1940 for "Gone with the Wind." She won Best Supporting Actress and was not allowed to sit in the ballroom with all the other people. I would've loved to have heard that story from her firsthand, and how that made her feel at the time. Then, of course, Audrey Hepburn – I would've loved to have interviewed her for her 1953 Oscar win.

EDGE: What are your Oscar predictions for this year?

Dave Karger: I think "Oppenheimer" is going to sweep, and I expect it to win seven or eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr. I do think "The Holdovers" is going to do very well for original screenplay, and a win for both Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Paul Giamatti.

EDGE: If you won an Oscar, where do you think you would keep it?

Dave Karger: I'm sitting in my house here in Palm Springs, and I have these great bookshelves that are on either side of our fireplace, where an award I won about nine years ago sits. I won The Press Award from the Publicist Guild, and I have a little trophy that I very proudly keep on display, so if I won an Oscar, I would place it right next to that.

EDGE: Tell us about my new favorite TCM franchise, TCM Musical Matinee.

Dave Karger: Well, along with movies, music is also a passion of mine. Before I was a movie fan, I was a music freak and had a little Mickey Mouse record player that I sat next to for hours when I was a kid. I had some pretty advanced musical taste for a four-year-old. I was listening to artists like Paul Simon and Joe Jackson. Also, "Angel of the Morning" by Juice Newton was in heavy rotation when I was about seven years old. When I discovered movie musicals, it was my eureka moment of music and movies together in one thing.

When I started the conversation with TCM about having my own weekly franchise, like Eddie Muller has Noir Alley, Alicia Malone has TCM Imports, and Jacqueline Stewart has Silent Sunday Nights, that's what we came up with, this idea of something musical, because it allowed me to tap into these two loves of mine. While on the recent TCM cruise, I got to put on a little show where I sat at the piano for an hour and played some classic music themes and told some stories about the music and the films that are important to me. Any time I can combine those two loves, it's really exciting. People seem to like the Musical Matinee, too, which is great. A lot of people on the cruise stopped me to say how much they really liked it, and to hear that from you, as well, really does mean a lot.

You can catch Dave Karger's hosting duties on Turner Classic Movies.

You can find his latest book, "50 Oscar Nights," at bookstores or online outlets such as Amazon.com. Click here for the Amazon link.