Harvey Brownstone with Luke Yankee, Producer/Director/Playwright/Author “Just Outside the Spotlight”
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- Опубліковано 15 гру 2021
- Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth interview with Luke Yankee, Playwright/Producer/Director, Author of “Just Outside the Spotlight: Growing Up with Eileen Heckart”
About Harvey's guest:
Luke Yankee is the son of one of the most hardworking, beloved and revered actresses of stage, feature films and television - Eileen Heckart. In a career that spanned almost 6 decades, she starred in some of the greatest Broadway shows of all time, including “Picnic”, “Barefoot in the Park”, “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs”, and her incredibly powerful multi-award winning swan song, “The Waverly Gallery”. On the big screen, she co-starred in blockbuster movies including “Bus Stop”, “The Bad Seed”, “Butterflies are Free” and many more. She appeared in dozens of television shows including “Backstairs at the White House”, “Love & War”, and of course, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, where she played Mary’s brash and hilarious aunt Flo. She won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Tony, 2 Emmys, numerous theatre awards, and she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. And if that weren’t enough, she received 4 honorary doctorates.
Luke is a highly acclaimed actor, playwright, producer, director and teacher, has written a fascinating and deeply poignant book entitled, “Just Outside the Spotlight: Growing Up with Eileen Heckart” (published by Random House, with a foreword by Mary Tyler Moore). Critics have called it “One of the most compassionate, illuminating showbiz books ever written.”
His play, The Last Lifeboat is published by Dramatists Play Service and has had more than 40 productions in North America. His other plays include The Lavender Mafia, and The Man Who Killed the Cure. His play The Jesus Hickey is the winner of the TRU Voices Award, as well as the Joel and Phyllis Ehrlich Award, given for “a socially relevant, commercially viable, new work of theatre.” He directed the Los Angeles premiere at the Skylight Theatre, starring Harry Hamlin. Luke’s first play, A Place at Forest Lawn has been produced at several regional theatres around the country. It is the recipient of the New Noises Award as well as the Palm Springs International Playwriting Festival. It was developed in workshops in New York and Los Angeles featuring Betty White, Marion Ross, Tony Goldwyn, Marcia Cross, Barbara Rush, Pat Carroll, Frances Sternhagen, John Glover and Millicent Martin.
Luke has served as the Producing Artistic Director of the Long Beach Civic Light Opera (one of the largest musical theatres in America) and the Struthers Library Theatre (an historic opera house in Northwestern Pennsylvania). He has assistant directed six Broadway plays, including The Circle starring Sir Rex Harrison, Light Up the Sky with Peter Falk, Grind starring Ben Vereen (directed by Harold Prince) and has directed and produced Off-Broadway and at regional theatres throughout the country and abroad.
For several years, he wrote, directed and produced the Los Angeles Actors Fund Tony Awards gala, honoring some of the biggest names in show business, including Barbara Cook, Tim Curry, Joe Morton, Jason Alexander, June Lockhart and Theodore Bikel. Celebrity hosts and presenters have included Sean Penn, Tommy Tune, Martin Sheen, Bryan Cranston, Kate Burton, Florence Henderson and Annie Potts.
He has taught and guest directed extensively at colleges, universities and conservatories throughout the U.S. and abroad. He holds an MFA in Playwriting and Screenwriting from UC Riverside. He is currently an adjunct faculty member at Cal State Fullerton and Chapman University. Luke also studied at the Juilliard School of Drama, NYU, Circle in the Square and Northwestern.
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What a great son! Amazing stories of his wonderful mom. Great that his parents and upbringing was so grounded.
I highly recommend his wonderful book.
Eileen Heckart, so memorable in the movie "Butterflies are Free" and as "Aunt Flo" on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, even later on "One Life to Live," was quite an enigma. It is simply great that her talented son gives her literary homage, and this interview, Harvey, sheds the spotlight on familial dynamics as well as Mr. Yankee's own many achievements. Enlightening and inspiring...lots of forgiveness between every savvy, compassionate interview question answered!
What a beautiful, insightful comment!! Thank you so much for your support of our show!!!
Thank you for this lovely comment. Best, Luke Yankee
@@LukeYankee My pleasure! I purchased your book "Just Outside the Spotlight" over the holiday season, the perfect accompaniment to the interview. Thank you for laying it all out in such an illustrious, "food for thought" manner. Your mom was one of a kind, yet there is a little bit of her in all our moms! Blessings, Luke, Robert-Allan Arno
Robert, I hope you enjoy the book!
First let me say the roster of your interviews is beyond impressive---everyone from Alan Paul to Florence LaRue to Rich Little to Patty Duke's co-author to Joan Crawford's grandson. New ones keep popping up on my scroll. Just wow, Harvey! WOW to all the good work, diligent effort and varied guests ! Luke Yankee's book is highly readable and the commemoration of his Mom after her passing remains sharp in my mind. Eileen Heckart is one of those superlative talents, people so good they almost require a separate category from mere mortals.
Thank you so much for your extremely kind comments about our show. I wish more people could find out about our show because I work so hard preparing every interview. Thank you for your support. 🙏❤️
Least I can do is spread the word.
@thomasalbert6687 thank you so much! Greatly appreciated!❤️
Great actress and wonderful person that I had to pleasure to work with in college and visit in New Canaan, CT. Unforgettable memories. Luke wrote a lovely book on his mother, great read.
Thank you so much for watching our show. I hope you enjoyed the interview.
The understudy story.... unbelievable. What a great lady!
Yes, Eileen was so authentic and sincere. And she’s been immortalized so beautifully in her son Luke’s book.
Simply amazing.
Whatever it is that you found amazing about this episode of our show, I thank you so much.
@@harveybrownstoneinterviews8980 All I can say to your reply is that I found Everything "amazing." Eileen Heckart was amazing on stage and screen, and as a human being too. Her son is amazing with his mastery of so many elements of the dramatic arts, you are amazing in facilitating these amazing stories and people and talents for all of us. So ultimately all I can say is, "Simply amazing."
Well, ccvisions, all I can say is God bless you for appreciating what I do, and for showing the kindness to communicate that appreciation to me. Thank you so much!!❤️
She was also in several eps of tv's THE FUGITIVE as Sister Veronica. Wonderful.
She truly was a terrific actress. And what a character she was off screen
@@harveybrownstoneinterviews8980 I posted this link picture of EH on THE FUGITIVE website.
@MsBackstager love it!!
Vivian Vance was a friend to the family! Imagine walking into your living room and Vivian Vance is sitting there ? Vivian died Aug. 1979 . How weird your memory works . I recall being in a supermarket while on vacation and seeing the National Enquirer with the headline that summer.
I absolutely adored Vivian.
The play he wrote about his mother and Marilyn recently ran here in Long Beach, Ca. I was curious but at the time couldn't find out very much about it. Now I wish I had gone to see it.
I saw it. It’s brilliant. It’s headed to off-Broadway in New York in 2025.
Eileen is one of my FAVORITE ACTRESSES ! I read the book- it's wonderful!! I asked Luke a few questions on FaceBook. the one I never got an answer to was: Eileen was great friends with "Madge" from the Palmolive "You're soaking in it" commercials. "Madge" (cannot remember her name- Jan Minner? Miner ?) ) was in "The Swimmer" (w/ Burt Lancaster 1968) a movie EVERYONE should see! Now The Swimmer was filmed in the "ritzy rich" part of Connecticut & the Heckart family would have been living there at the time .The Paul Newman family also lived by them. I asked Luke if he had any recollections of the movie being filmed there . Never got an answer. I was just imagining "Madge" dropping by for dinner or something and telling them "Yeah, we just got done filming my scene today ..." or something. He may have been too young to remember . This would have been 1967 or so. Again, I love Eileen - however "Butterflies are Free" is NOT my favorite role of hers. That movie is just so , I dunno . A bit "dry" and a few steps "out of touch". Just could not get into it. Sorry. It was nice to see her as Alison Perkins mother on One Life To Live when the show was at it's HIGH POINT in the 1980s !! And of course -- Aunt Flo on the Mary Tyler Moore show. TRIVIA: they were considering having her on one of the MTM show reunions in the 1980s or 1990s . But that never happened. Her Worst Role : The Honeymooners "reunion" TV special from the mid 1970s as Alice's MOTHER ! Did she have Alice when she was 9 years old ? Weird .
If you go to Luke Yankee’s Facebook page and ask him that question, I’m sure he will answer you. He’s very kind and responsive to everyone. Thank you for watching this interview. I hope you’ll check out our other great interviews and consider subscribing to our UA-cam channel. 🙏❤️
Fave Story in the book: The Martha Stewart encounter.
I loved it
I don't think Eileen and Bette had any scenes together in BURNT OFFERINGS. ❇ I would have loved to be a GUEST on the SET of that movie.
Eileen and Bette had scenes together in White Mama
I wish everyone can read the book "The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts" by Gary Chapman....it could save people a lot of money in therapy The author believes by understanding how people show love, it can help to understand them. The five ways are:1) words of affirmation; 2) quality time; 3) Physical touch; 4) acts of service and 5) receiving gifts. It seems Luke and his mother had different ways of showing their Love. I thought of this book when Luke was talking about his mother.
Luke’s book remains my all time favorite show biz memoir. I recommend it highly.
I read it once every 3 or 4 years. @@harveybrownstoneinterviews8980
Call Me Anna is HIGH UP THERE too !! @@harveybrownstoneinterviews8980