The SAG-AFTRA Foundation is known for aiding performers with emergency assistance and educational programs for union members. But one of the most visible assets is the non-profit’s ongoing “Conversations” series, which provides in-depth discussions and career retrospectives with some of the most heralded actors in the business. Many of these dialogues are available on the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s YouTube channel, including popular convos with Leonardo DiCaprio, Cillian Murphy and Rami Malek.
What people might not know is that the “Conversations” program dates back more than 40 years, when the inaugural episode with actor Henry Fonda was recorded on Dec. 15, 1979. And for the first time ever, many of the videos that have previously been unavailable online are coming to the channel with three seasons of the Foundation’s Legacy Collection – each season containing 12 episodes. Those 36 episodes will drop throughout 2024, with more seasons planned for 2025. Hollywood legends like Jane Russell, Tippi Hedren, Dennis Hopper and Cyd Charisse will soon be making their streaming debut.
The first season, “Emmy Winners,” is currently underway having already released a 2010 episode with Robert Duvall and dropping a 2011 conversation with Viola Davis today. Upcoming episodes will be released at 10 a.m. PT every Monday and Thursday and include Henry Winkler, Jessica Walter, Peter Dinklage, Doris Roberts, S. Epatha Merkerson, William Shatner, Edie Falco, Edward James Olmos, Jean Smart and Alfre Woodard.
“We are elated to share the Foundation’s remarkable Legacy Collection with our community, our industry, and the greater public,” says SAG-AFTRA Foundation president and chairman of the board Courtney B. Vance. “These extraordinary interviews with some of the all-time greatest actors will undoubtedly illuminate the history and craft of acting, and inspire working actors and creatives for decades to come.”
The collections comes at an exciting time for the non-profit, which is set to open its brand-new facility the Meryl Streep Center for Performing Artists in Los Angeles. This will include a state-of-the-art theater for future screenings and conversations.
The Legacy Collection is largely the brainchild of Rochelle Rose, SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s national director of performers programs. Many of the episodes were only available on various forms of physical media. “Ten years ago, we embarked upon a major project to preserve, digitize and back up this collection, which for 35 years prior, were recorded on a variety of different formats,” Rose notes. “So, in 2014, we started the process of digitizing these older Conversations, what we are now calling our Legacy Collection. To quote Helen Mirren, ‘It’s only here [at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation] that you have a true history of acting — it’s through these Conversations.’”
Following the “Emmy Winners” season will be “Icons,” which includes conversations with classic Hollywood legends Cyd Charisse and Tony Martin, Charlton Heston, Ernest Borgnine, Ralph Bellamy, Rod Steiger, Dennis Hopper, Kathleen Freeman, Norman Lloyd, Tippi Hedren, Farrah Fawcett, Jane Russell and David Carradine. A new episode will drop every Monday and Thursday morning at 10 a.m. PT beginning on Sept. 9.
That will be followed by the third season, “Oscar Winners,” with Fonda, Forest Whitaker, Rita Moreno, Shirley MacLaine, Marlee Matlin, Michael Caine, Kathy Bates, Cliff Robertson, Mary Steenburgen, Ben Kingsley, Ellen Burstyn and Christopher Walken. The episodes will be released starting on Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PT.
Though the series spans more than four decades, Rose says that some common threads and themes have sustained over time. “Everybody talks about auditioning and the audition process. A lot of fun stories come out of actors’ auditioning experiences,” Rose reveals. “Everybody speaks about mental health and having resilience through the lean times, and everyone has lean times as an actor. Many share their experiences of working on set and what they learned.”
The actors also discuss the various changes to the industry through the years. “They are all sharing the arc of their careers and their experiences in the industry over time and how things have changed,” says Rose. “That seems to be a common thread among them no matter which decade they were recorded in.”
You can check out the Viola Davis interview below and many other interviews at SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s YouTube channel.
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