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CNN Larry King Live
Highlights of the year before 9/11
Aired December 31, 2001 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I, George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear.
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LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, a presidential swearing in, superstar secrets and headlines scoops. Plus, the scandalous saga of Congressman Condit and the missing intern. We look back at the year 2001 before September 11 on this special edition of LARRY KING LIVE!
Thanks for joining us. The terrible events of September 11, 2001 shattered a lot of lives. They also broke the news year into two. Last night we looked back at how this show dealt with everything that has happened since the terrorist attacks on America.
Tonight, highlights from shows we did before September 11; 2001 kicked off with a political changing of the guard, after the longest election night in U.S. history was finally settled. George W. Bush was ready to take the presidential oath of office. And on Inauguration eve we were privileged to talk with vice president-elect and his wife Lynne. I asked Dick Cheney about the speculation that he and not George W. would run the show.
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Is it a bad wrap for him when so many people say, you are the president, or you are the acting president?
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That is silly. It is silly. He doesn't worry about it. The fact of the matter is that he has made all the key decisions. And will and everybody will see that when he gets here. The only reason that got started, as I say, because in those weeks of the recount in Florida I was the only representative of the bush Administration to be here in Washington, so all the cameras were focused on me.
He couldn't come up because the election was still in doubt. He had to stay in Texas as governor. We didn't have any cabinet members appointed. But as I say, all of that changed now. You have got Colin Powell, and Don Rumsfeld, Paul O'Neill, some great cabinet members and a president who is here full time. And when he and I are together, reporters are not very interested in asking me questions. They ask him all the questions.
KING: But he has said and told us that you are going to be very active in -- specially in the international affairs, which is your primary expertise isn't it?
CHENEY: Right.
KING: That is your bailiwick.
CHENEY: I spent a lot of time there on the Intelligence Committee as White House chief of staff, as secretary of defense. So it is an area where I can contribute something to the administration. But I'm part of the team. He is captain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Barely 24 hours later, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were sworn in. On Inauguration night LARRY KING LIVE took you inside some of the biggest bashes in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I'm looking forward to getting to work. There is a lot to be done. But before we start to work there is some dancing to be done.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: President Bush wasn't kidding when he said there is a lot to be done! One man given a heavy load, Attorney General John Ashcroft, and the first TV interview he did after winning a bitter confirmation fight was with us.
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JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We are a culture that respects law. And I certainly want to be that. And I have made that pledge and I would break the most important of my own convictions if I didn't enforce the law.
KING: Do you ever see a time or envision a time where your faith might interfere with that? To put you in moral dilemma.
ASHCROFT: If my faith ever really interfered with my enforcing the law, it would it be rare. My faith is, and the way I read the Bible and I do read the Bible, it that is people are supposed to obey the law. And that the authority is duly constituted and is in place as a result of God's will. And that people who believe like I do, their belief is to obey the government and the law.
KING: You couldn't envision where that...
ASHCROFT: Well, if it had if it did I would have to resign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: John Ashcroft came into his job with blunt talk and tough altitudes and as you know from recent headlines he hasn't mellowed any. The show is lucky enough to interview Laura Bush several times before she became first lady of the United States. We sat down with her again in April of 2001, shortly after her husband finished his first 100 days in the Oval Office.
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LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: I think George and I are very focused on what lies ahead of us. It is important for all of us to remember what is behind us, because we need to learn from that and certainly in our country.
We learn, I hope, learn from our history. But we are also very focused on what's ahead of us and what we can do now that George is president, what he can do as president and what I can do to help him further our goals which have to do mainly with education. That is certainly what he is also interested in.
KING: Does the president ever get angry, really angry?
L. BUSH: Not really. He doesn't. I mean, I told you earlier, he needs work a little bit on patience. He is a little bit impatient.
KING: But he doesn't pound the desk or scream?
L. BUSH: He doesn't and he doesn't hold a grudge at all. He -- one of the characteristics I like best about him is that is likes to laugh and he is funny. And when he is the father of your children, I really like that characteristic. And we had tense moments at home with teenagers. He could usually be funny in a way that would make that would defuse the nervousness and the tension, and make everyone laugh, and he still can do that.
I think that is why he gets along well with people. I think that is one of the reasons he can work well with people on both sides of the aisle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We have interviewed Laura Bush twice since that sitdown. It is easy to see why people describe her as the country's comforter- in-chief.
Up next, on this pre-9-11 year in review, Dame Elizabeth Taylor on love. Sir Paul McCartney on lyrics, and the one and only Oprah on life without marriage. Stay with us.
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G. BUSH: I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC, JOHN TRAVOLTA, SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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KING: Did you always have a lot of hair?
JOHN TRAVOLTA, ACTOR: Yes.
KING: You were into that?
TRAVOLTA: Well, I think that was, in those days, it was very popular to have a lot of hair.
KING: No, but I mean you were always -- you were part of the group, right?
TRAVOLTA: Sure.
KING: You were into the times.
TRAVOLTA: I probably defined the times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Welcome back. As you probably know, we have talked to a lot of superstars on this show, but in 2001 we sat down with some legends. In January, we were dazzled by Dame Elizabeth Taylor, and I do mean dazzled.
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I'm holding Elizabeth Taylor's left hand. On that hand, third finger, is -- a ring that I have been, like everyone in studio has been looking at and two people have been blinded by. Is there any story behind this ring, does it come with a curse any of kind?
ELIZABETH TAYLOR, ACTRESS: Ooh no. It comes with so much love.
KING: Who gave you this ring?
TAYLOR: Richard.
KING: Richard Burton.
TAYLOR: Of course.
KING: Now, that looks to me like a clear diamond. Is that one of those... TAYLOR: It is the flawless, brilliant, it has now baddies in it. It is a perfect ring. It is called -- there is a story behind it. It is called the Krupp ring and it was owned by the Vera Krupp, the German munitions, German munitions people who helped knock off millions of Jews. And when it was up for auction, I thought, how poetic that would be if a nice little Jewish girl like me ended up with it. So Richard got it for me.
KING: Of all the loves, and you and I could talk about loves, was he the greatest for you? Was he the most potent person in your life?
TAYLOR: I have been astonishingly lucky. I have had two great loves in my life.
KING: I'm going to guess the other one: Mike Todd.
TAYLOR: Mike Todd. And we only had 13 months together.
KING: He died in a plane crash.
TAYLOR: Our plane. And I didn't think I was going to live after that. I didn't want to live. And it was like Mike's love was his legacy to me. In years later, I met Richard.
KING: Was it a -- a demented kind of -- I mean, you -- ups and downs, and you know, being in the public eye, and breakup of marriages, and firing and divorcing and remarriage. What -- as you look back, why him? Why that? TAYLOR: It was so intense. All Welsh people I think are extremely intense just by the nature of being Welsh. They are musical, they are poetic. They are visionaries. There is something very mystic about all Welsh people. And that sense of poetry and wildness was where I had always wanted to be. I had wanted to be free, running in the rain, the grass, and just know nothing could tether me. I just wanted to go!
KING: And he took -- he went that route?
TAYLOR: He and I went that route together. And neither one of us pulled the other back. We just went forward.
KING: Were you soul mates, do you think?
TAYLOR: Oh, God, yes.
KING: Yes. And the bad side too, right?
TAYLOR: Good and bad. Because I have -- I have a wildness too. I'm English, Irish, Scottish, French, Italian, German, Swiss. Pretty big mixture.
KING: The arguments must have been terrific.
TAYLOR: Wonderful.
KING: The making up must have been fun.
TAYLOR: Oh, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: In mid-June an extraordinary interview with Sir Paul McCartney. We spent a lot of time talking about writing songs.
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What one songs the biggest McCartney-written hit?
PAUL MCCARTNEY, MUSICIAN: "Yesterday."
KING: An amazing song.
MCCARTNEY: Not bad.
(MUSIC, PAUL MCCARTNEY SINGS "YESTERDAY")
KING: Where did that come from?
MCCARTNEY: It came in a dream unto me. I woke up one morning and I heard them doing (UNINTELLIGIBLE) .
KING: The music too.
MCCARTNEY: No, only the music. So, I thought, that is a good tune. I wonder what that is. I had a piano by my bed, like you do.
KING: Oh, everyone has.
MCCARTNEY: Most people. And, I was sitting at my piano, anyway, so I said, what is this tune? I blocked it out, and I went to all my friends, John first, George Martin, our producer, I said, what is this tune? They said, I don't know, but it is good. I couldn't believe I had written it.
KING: What does it mean that you thought you had heard it somewhere?
MCCARTNEY: I thought I had heard it. I said it was so complete. And I used to because I didn't have any words, I used to sing scrambled eggs oh, my baby, how I love your legs. I thought that cannot stay. We've got to look for other lyrics. So, over the next couple of weeks, I got the real words.
KING: Did "Yesterday" just drop back to you like that?
MCCARTNEY: Yes, yes. The words took a little longer. But the tune itself came just complete.
Came just out of a dream so you have got to believe in magic.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: Some celebrities are so big, so unique, they only have one name, like Oprah. She was our guest on September 4, and naturally I asked her about her long term boyfriend Stedman Graham, and the M- word.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Is marriage important at this point, or can you just live the rest of your life just being a couple?
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: It has never been important to me. It was only important to me to be wanted enough to be married. That is what was important to me, to be wanted enough to be married. But I think the relationship as it is works really, really solidly well, and because I knew this question was going to come up tonight, I was just thinking about all the people who have, you know, celebrities, who have gotten married are now divorced, since we have still been together.
And I really do think, I don't know if you were to ask him, I think if we had gotten married, we probably wouldn't still a together because of the pressure.
KING: Do you wonder why people are absorbed in that subject? Why people get so interested in whether Oprah is or isn't married?
OPRAH: Well, I have been doing this show, you know, now, for 16 seasons and America is obsessed with getting married. America is obsessed with is not actually the marriage itself, America doesn't care if I'm happily married, they want a wedding. They want a wedding.
KING: "People" magazine wants a wedding.
OPRAH: They want some doves to fly, they want a pretty Oscar de la Renta gown, they want to know what I wore, how much you spent on the cake, who came, was Larry there? The are not interested in my life. Is it meaningful? Is there a real intimacy there? Is there a connection? They just want to know, was it a nice wedding? And then the next thing will be, where are the children?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Coming up: Names in the news. Private scoops behind public headlines. And as we go to break, a musical moment with our 2001 interview with the hottest singing group in the world, 'N Sync, and a song for the season.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Let's do a Christmas song, not a whole one, let's do "Jingle Bells." Can you do "Jingle Bells?"
N'SYNC MEMBER: Can you do "Jingle Bells?"
KING: Yeah. One, two, three... (LARRY KING AND N'SYNC SING "JINGLE BELLS")
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On the merits, I don't think it was a wrong decision. I regret all the political flap. And I regret that Denise Rich, who is a perfectly nice woman, and never did anything inappropriate and had been supporting us for years in ways that had nothing to do with this, that she had been caught into this, you know, that's politics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: This is a special edition of LARRY KING LIVE. We are reviewing the year 2001 before September 11. One story that screamed through the headlines, the pardons that Bill Clinton handed out as he left the Oval Office. One highly controversial recipient, billionaire Marc Rich, in middle of this mess, his ex-wife, songwriter and socialite, Denise Rich.
I asked her about the clemency, and her own big political contributions.
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You had to realize that as a contributor to the Democratic party, and you have long contributed to the Democratic party and causes, this would look funny, right? It would look funny once a pardon comes out that you had contributed to the party and then suddenly a man is pardoned.
DENISE RICH, SONGWRITER: I don't think that one has anything to do with the other.
KING: But didn't you think the public would think or -- press would think?
RICH: I never ever thought about that. I grew up during the Kennedy years. I grew up with the Kennedy mystique, and I marched for civil rights, and marched against apartheid, and when I met President Clinton for the first time, it was -- there was such charisma and I believed in him so much, and also in the former first lady. And I thought they were incredible combination. And I really adored them both. I think...
KING: Still do?
RICH: Absolutely. I think he has done a great job in the past eight years, and I think he is what America stands for, which...
KING: So, it was never -- I think this is key -- it was never in your mind, I am giving this to get that? RICH: No.
KING: Never.
RICH: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Patricia Hearst, notorious kidnap victim, ex-convict, got a pardon from Bill Clinton too. But she was grateful to another former president.
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PATRICIA HEARST, PARDONED BY PRESIDENT CLINTON: President Carter was absolutely instrumental in this and has been my biggest champion, and he called me the day after the pardon.
KING: He did?
HEARST: He did. And, you know, listening, because I thought, I said I hope this is you, because, you know, you have friends that might joke around and he told me how he got the number and I knew it was a him, and I thanked him and I mean he has been so steadfast and worked so hard on this. It wouldn't have been possible without him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Also, on the last minute presidential pardon list, Bill Clinton's half-brother Roger, in an exclusive interview, Roger told us he was happy for himself, but hurt for convict buddies he tried to help.
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ROGER CLINTON, PARDONED BY BILL CLINTON: I would like to believe that I got the pardon because I deserved it. Certainly my brother was going to take some heat for it, but I think I deserved it.
KING: Were you were shocked that your friends didn't?
R. CLINTON: Oh, shocked is such an understatement. But I guess shocked would be the first reaction, and devastation -- I was devastated for a while.
KING: What kind of cases were they?
R. CLINTON: Well, some were drug cases. Some were tax cases.
KING: Any still in prison?
R. CLINTON: No.
KING: All had served their time?
R. CLINTON: All had served. And all had served -- and had been out for a long time, as long or almost as long as I had.
KING: Had you made a personal plea on their behalf?
R. CLINTON: Yes.
KING: So you probably said to your brother, these are good guys?
R. CLINTON: Yes. And my brother knew them as well. Or at least knew who they were.
KING: So, why didn't they get it?
R. CLINTON: Don't know
KING: You didn't ask him?
R. CLINTON: Didn't really care.
KING: Anger?
R. CLINTON: Angry, for a while. I went three or four weeks, angry hurt, I went three or four weeks where I didn't talk to him. Yes, I was very hurt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Linda Tripp, Monica Lewinsky's former friend and ex- government worker, weighed in on the Clinton pardons too. A question about Marc Rich sparked this exchange.
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LINDA TRIPP: I don't know a whole lot. When this all -- all these stories broke I was in Europe and not paying attention until I saw the "Stars and Stripes." But I did read that he was a fugitive, and that pardons are generally for those who have been...
KING: Served their time.
TRIPP: Yes, and so I -- but knowing them -- everything has, at its core, money.
KING: As you look back, Linda, you must be sorry that Monica Lewinsky ever came into your life.
TRIPP: You know it was never -- it was never about Monica Lewinsky. It was never about me. It was so much bigger than two relatively insignificant government workers. The president got a pass. This was abuse of a child. Don't ever believe that this was concensual sex. And he went to extraordinary lengths to cover that up. Criminal...
KING: Abuse of a chile, even though she was over...
TRIPP: Well look, she was -- I have kids that age. She was 21. Monica is 21 going on 14 on a good day. And she was a child. She was a mixed up unstable, volatile child. The notion that he would even dally with this child is -- is -- beyond repulsive to me. But, it -- to do what she did, she...
KING: You have no harsh feelings toward her then?
TRIPP: No. None.
KING: None?
TRIPP: None.
KING: She has toward you, but you none toward her?
TRIPP: Right. Well, I think she has to have them toward me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: From political tumult to a tragedy at sea. In February, a U.S. sub slammed into a Japanese fishing vessel with deadly results. She skipper of the USS Greenville, Scott Waddle, was stripped of his command. He gave us his first live prime time interview.
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The emotions you expressed, the people have come to like this, commander. We don't see this often, that you are so willing, not only that, to accept blame, I think -- we are surprised at someone who readily does this.
CMDR. SCOTT WADDLE, U.S. NAVY: Well Bruce Gooms (ph) , fellow Navy captain, friend of mine, at his change of command said, his wife told him that if he got he emotional during the change of command she would call him a sissy. And that got a chuckle out of us. I'm not a sissy under these circumstances, and when I met with the families, I told them that I apologize for losing my composure in their presence as a naval officer, but I don't apologize for losing my composure as compassionate human being who cares for the suffering and grief and pain this has caused you.
KING: Was that a tough day for you?
WADDLE: Oh, it was horrible.
KING: How did they treat you?
WADDLE: On the first visit with the families, a father stood and yelled. He was very, very distressed over the fact that this apology was so late in coming. And I can understand that because in the Japanese culture, an apology is something that is done in a prompt manner. We don't understand that fully here in the United States.
Many of those who are of Asian descent do understand the importance. I knew it because I was raised in that area.
KING: You don't think you killed people, do you?
WADDLE: No, I don't. I know that this was a tragic accident.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Commander Waddle, by the way, was allowed to resign from the service. The Navy inquiry found his vessel solely at fault in the fatal collision.
Coming up on this LARRY KING YEAR IN REVIEW, celebrities secrets, and life-changing struggles. Don't touch the dial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSANNE SOMERS, ACTRESS: I chose your show to come on tonight, to talk about something that is very, very hard for me to talk about.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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NANCY REAGAN, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: The love and affection from thousands of Americans has been and continues to be a strengthening force for Ronnie and me each and every day. We learned as too many other families have learned, of the terrible pain and loneliness that must be endured as each day brings another reminder of this very long good-bye.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: A lot of our 2001 shows featured stories about battling illness and beating odds. On February 9 Nancy Reagan honored us with a very special interview. It was a 90th birthday tribute to her husband, the former president, Ronald Reagan.
This gallant, gutsy lady talked frankly about coping with Alzheimer's, the disease that stolen the man she dearly loves. She also updated us on the broken hip the former president suffered when he fell in early January. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
How did he handle all of it? We always remember his grace during the shooting.
REAGAN: He handled this just as well, just as well.
KING: Did he know what was going on?
REAGAN: Well he knew something had happened, sure.
KING: I mean obviously, but you know we are learning so much about this disease. Was he comprehending what was going on?
REAGAN: I don't know, Larry. KING: What do you do with frustration? You must have that. Must be frustrating when you are with someone, who is not cognitive.
REAGAN: Well, you just learn to live with it. I mean, what is there to do?
KING: Well, some people, there are hospitals that specialize in just treating Alzheimer's patients. You would never do that?
REAGAN: Oh, no. Oh, no. Never. Never. No, no. He's going to stay at home.
KING: Do you ever hope that maybe the end comes? Do you ever say, maybe it isn't such a life?
REAGAN: No. I never.
KING: Because he's not in pain.
REAGAN: No. He's not in pain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Ronald Regan lives on in twilight. The former first lady remains steadfast by his side. Sad to say his daughter, Maureen lost her brave fight with cancer in August. Sarah Brady, wife of former Reagan Press Secretary, Jim Brady, was diagnosed with lung cancer in March of 2000 and made her first public comments on their illness on their show. They also offered a shocking confession.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Are you still a smoker?
SARAH BRADY, WIFE OF JIM BRADY: It's the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with is the smoking.
KING: You still smoke?
S. BRADY: I try not to but from time to time, yeah.
KING: How many?
S. BRADY: More than I should.
KING: You're talking to former three pack a day or so. How many do you smoke?
S. BRADY: I don't smoke near that much. But I did for -- I used to smoke two packs a day.
KING: How many do you smoke now?
S. BRADY: Oh, golly, I don't know.
KING: Pack?
S. BRADY: I don't think quite -- no.
KING: Have you ever tried to get her to stop?
JAMES BRADY: Oh, yes.
KING: Have you tried everything with patches?
S. BRADY: Oh, yeah. And I hate it. You can't imagine.
KING: You hate it?
S. BRADY: I hate the -- I hate the fact that I have been (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and everything else in my life. That I can handle everything else in my life.
KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) being knocked around by a little piece of paper with filler?
S. BRADY: And leaves in it.
KING: And leaves in it.
S. BRADY: With leaves in it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Actress Suzanne Somers hated what tabloid headlines said about her earlier this year. They accused the entertainer turned fitness guru of using lipo-suction to stay in shape. To set the record straight, Suzanne gave us a stunning exclusive.
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SUZANNE SOMERS, ACTRESS: I chose your show to come on tonight to talk about something very hard for me to talk about. That I never told anyone in the last year I've been battling and surviving breast cancer and I was in that clinic and it all has to do with my breast cancer but it just -- you know, I have such an honest relationship with the American public.
I mean, I've written books on alcoholism and blending families and they've been with me on my ups and downs and sides. And this was just one of those things that I think the most shocking words I ever thought -- I never thought I'd ever in my life hear someone say to me that you have breast cancer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Nobody thinks they're ever going to hear they have cancer. Jack Klugman sure didn't. He and good buddy actor, Tony Randall told us about the disease that altered his voice forever and the habit that may have lead to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JACK KLUGMAN, ACTOR: I have cancer on the larynx from smoking. I should have listened to Tony years ago. And they removed my right vocal chord and what is now just a stump there, little (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of scar tissue, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) meet in the middle when you talk but that's now stationary.
So I got this muscle, this chord, I have to get it strong enough to go over in that stump which is what I've been doing. And it works like a dream.
KING: Tony, did you used to tell him (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
TONY RANDALL, ACTOR: Oh, yeah.
KING: Because you are the most anti-smoking person I ever knew.
RANDALL: I think that's true. I think I'm responsible for some of the anti-smoking laws as a matter of fact. And I didn't allow smoking on the set. But...
KING: You knew he smoked.
RANDALL: He would smoke off the set.
KING: Did you try to tell him not to?
RANDALL: Try to tell Jack anything.
KING: Never worked.
RANDALL: No. No.
KLUGMAN: You should have seen outside the door to the set. You know, there'd be 40,000 buts, people would hold the door open, smoke it, watching for Tony to come (UNINTELLIGIBLE), they'd put it out and go in so everybody was smoking outside. They wouldn't listen to him. Boy, am I sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Kicking the nicotine habit is hard. Beating any addiction is the battle of a lifetime. This past year we heard some big names come clean about why they used to drink or abuse drugs. One of them, Kelsey Grammer, the unsinkable star of the smash hit sitcom, "Frazier."
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KELSEY GRAMMER, ACTOR: I like the way it made me feel. Maybe it was because I was running away from the feelings that weren't as comfortable as I wanted them to be. And maybe I do have a self- destructive part of me. I mean I have always established challenges for myself that -- you know, prove to me that I'm tough and so if I could prove (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
KING: Did it affect your work? GRAMMER: You know, probably toward the end of CHEERS it started to and then I did go into a rehab actually, I think it was in the year of 1990.
KING: Betty Ford?
GRAMMER: No. It was a hospital here in -- a ten day program.
KING: Did it help?
GRAMMER: Well, it kind of introduced me to the idea of the fact that addiction was something you could actually deal with other than control. But I hadn't made up my mind I wanted to quit at the time. I thought, you know, I'll dry out here a little bit and get back on track. I could take it. I did a physical for the first time in years and found out that -- you know, they're still working out a little bit so it helped me as sort of a point along the way to at least track the idea that I had to kind of take care of myself. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I went home and did -- you know, a line of cocaine and then...
KING: Why cocaine too?
GRAMMER: Cocaine. It jacks you up. Turns you on. Gets you going.
KING: Something must be good about it because somebody must like it. What did it do for you?
GRAMMER: I think just it took me to the place where I felt like I was at the edge. And I liked living there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: You want to talk about being at the edge? Try interviewing Roseanne. The incredible actress, comedian and best selling author visited us in August and on the agenda her claim she has a multiple personality disorder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
When did you have this disorder?
ROSEANNE BARR, ACTRESS: I have always had it, I think since I was real young.
KING: Have it now?
BARR: I'm more like used to have it than have it.
KING: But?
BARR: But -- occasionally in times of great stress, you know, I'll regress.
KING: Comes back?
BARR: Yes.
KING: Explain it.
BARR: Well I get the overwhelming urge to kill people and I'm sometimes not able to control it.
KING: Explain it, Roseanne.
BARR: Oh, ok. Explain what?
KING: Multiple personality disorder.
BARR: No. It's a really confusing thing.
KING: Well what happens?
BARR: It's a terrible disorder.
KING: When you have it, what happens?
BARR: Well you just do crazy things that you don't really know you do or you don't want to do. You know.
KING: So Roseanne becomes someone else?
BARR: Of course.
KING: Like how many different people could you be in a week?
BARR: Well -- in a week? Well -- you know, it's infinite. Infinite.
KING: You mean, endless?
BARR: I think what I am is a mirror and when I'm around people I pick them up and then I mirror them back. Do you know what I mean? So?
KING: So that -- how do you avoid the nuthouse?
BARR: I never avoid the nuthouse. I've been hospitalized several times. You know that, Larry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: And you have to wonder what Roseanne would mirror back to if she ran into America's most notorious un-couple. Rick Rockwell and Darva Conger. Remember them? They met and married at TV show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK ROCKWELL: Will you marry me?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Split after an unsuccessful short honeymoon the annulled their I-do's. Our show staged a reunion. Didn't take. Here he comes. This is the first time you and Darva have been together -- first time interviewed together and first time together in a year since that day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Well how do you feel?
ROCKWELL: Hi, Darva.
DARVA CONGER: Hello, Rick. How are you?
ROCKWELL: I'm doing well. I've been worried sick about you.
KING: Why?
CONGER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) . You don't see me anymore?
KING: What were you worried about?
ROCKWELL: I'm joking.
KING: Are you nervous? You said she was nervous.
ROCKWELL: Not really. Not particularly.
CONGER: You know what? I'd like to say something because I think this is the perfect opportunity.
KING: Say it.
CONGER: But honestly, you and I are not two personalities that will ever mesh. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) either one of ours, we're not just two people that (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I think he still looks at you like...
CONGER: That's not -- let's not do that.
KING: Ok. All right.
CONGER: This was never a relationship. This was a bad TV show. That's all it was.
KING: Bad TV show.
CONGER: It was a bad TV show.
KING: It may have been bad TV but boy, did it rate. When we come back, the married Congressman, the missing intern, the mystery that still hasn't been solved. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SUZAN LEVY: Anyone and everyone helping me bring my daughter back. Any kind of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ideas, clues or anything please call the hotline.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Welcome back to the LARRY KING LIVE review of the year 2001 before September 11. As far as police and her parents know the last time anyone saw Washington intern, Chandra Levy was on April 30. The 24-year-old vanished without a trace the following day. Sad story. Front page news too when it turned out that Chandra had been having an affair with married Congressman, Gary Condit. Her anxious parents, Suzan and Robert first spoke with us in May.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
What do you make of all of this? Where have your thoughts taken you?
S. LEVY: My thoughts have been scary. I try to look at my faith that I could have her returned home. I don't know. And that's where I'm asking people throughout America to help me out in the sense of finding her and bring Chandra home back to her family that loves her very much.
KING: Is she a friend of Congressman Condit of California who has posted part of the reward for her return?
S. LEVY: I would say that professionally she was a friend. Basically she probably had been down at his office a few times and would seek advice from Mr. Condit on the possibility about going into the FBI and advice about taking languages, you know about becoming an FBI agent or about law school.
KING: Did you -- were you hurt by stories that there was supposed to be some romance going on that the Congressman...
S. LEVY: Of course I am hurt.
KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) denies?
S. LEVY: Of course I -- as a mother and a mother especially who is missing a daughter right now that did not show up for graduation, I'm not only hurt, I'm scared.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: As the search for Chandra dragged on her parents became more and more anguished and more and more angry at Congressman Condit. When we talked again in mid-August, they were frank about their suspicions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
The other night you said if Gary Condit were not in your daughter's life, she'd be here today. S. LEVY: I feel dead.
KING: What do you mean?
S. LEVY: I feel like that for some reason internally that, as a mother, that it's possible that my daughter would have graduated and she would be here with us (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
KING: Therefore, you have to have the scenario that thinks he's responsible? Or in some way -- what's your guess?
S. LEVY: The only thing that I can say that he mentioned he's a good friend of my daughter and he never mentioned to me personally that there was any kind of relationship going on. When I called a specific number and asked him a specific question and it was not (UNINTELLIGIBLE) manner and then I see...
KING: So you're saying he lied to you?
S. LEVY: Yes.
KING: So you think he was somehow involved?
ROBERT LEVY: Well because he was involved with her and she was there and waiting around and -- you know?
KING: That somehow he's involved with her disappearance. Is that your feeling?
R. LEVY: Well I do have deep suspicions about that.
KING: You do?
R. LEVY: Yeah.
KING: You do too?
S. LEVY: I do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: From Gary Condit himself not much public comment. Still he had some vocal defenders, among them his son, Chad. He gave us an exclusive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Did you know about Chandra Levy?
CHAD CONDIT: Did I know about...
KING: Before this broke that it was a missing girl?
CHAD CONDIT: No. No. I didn't.
KING: OK. And you didn't know your father had any relationship with her. Right?
CHAD CONDIT: I don't know Gary -- all of Gary's friends but being in politics you make a lot of friends. Old people, young people, that's what politicians do, they build relationships. So, I didn't know about this particular...
KING: Well what did you make of the relationship aspect when you heard about that?
CHAD CONDIT: Well I mean, I'm just concentrating on finding Chandra Levy. I didn't feel one way or the other. I don't -- you know, the family knows the details of the relationship. We have chose not to go on the national news or Connie Chung show and discuss those details out of respect for Gary's family, he's chose to do that. And I think that's fair and that's the right thing to do and by the way, it's the gentlemanly thing to do also. And my dad has always taught me to be a gentleman.
KING: But does it bother you that he might have had a relationship with her?
CHAD CONDIT: I trust Gary Condit. I have no reason not to trust him.
KING: How has all this been for you?
CADEE CONDIT: It's been horrible. I mean it's just absolutely the worst thing to watch the mom and dad be demonized by the press. It's just been absolutely horrible.
KING: Do you put any blame on your dad?
CADEE CONDIT: No.
KING: None at all?
CADEE CONDIT: No. Not at all.
KING: When you first learned of all this were you curious about Chandra? I mean, who was this? What was the involvement? As a daughter.
CADEE CONDIT: As a daughter we sat down as a family and talked about it. And discussed it. And I'm OK with my dad. My dad and I have been good friends and we're going to remain that way. We are totally OK with that. With the 24 year-old saying? You know, people said that we're close in age, I'm a grown woman and anyone close to my age can make decisions for herself.
KING: So if Chandra made those decisions, she made those decisions and you don't blame your father -- if there was an involvement, you don't blame your father?
CADEE CONDIT: No. My dad had nothing to do with the disappearance of Chandra Levy. I don't blame him for anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Katy Condit may not blame her father for anything. Whether the voters of his district do we're going to find out because Gary Condit is running for re-election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. GARY CONDIT (D), CALIFORNIA: You guys are going to have to decide whether you're going to be fair to me or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Besides intensely personal interviews our Condit coverage features some red-hot debate. A regular participant, attorney and best selling author, Barbara Olsen. Barbara was killed on September 11 when her hijacked plan smashed into the Pentagon. Losing her as a guest and a good pal is one of the saddest ways that an awful day changed our lives.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Finally, memories of some of the people we lost before September 11. On February 18, Nascar's legendary Dale Earnhardt crashed in the final lap of the Daytona 500. Champion drivers who've raced against him joined us to pay tribute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARRELL WALTRIP, DAYTONA 500 ANNOUNCER: We can't replace Dale Earnhardt. This is the worst thing -- this is the biggest thing that's happened to this sport since I've been in it. Dale Earnhardt's known all over the world. This is like when John Kennedy got shot or when Martin Luther King got shot. This is a day that we will remember.
JEFF GORDON, NASCAR DRIVER: I don't think you can put into words what he meant to this sport. You know, I think that he was such a huge inspiration to so many people that wanted to get into this sport or were in this sport -- I mean, he set the bar. He was amazing on the race track but he also had an incredible fan base. I mean, people just loved him.
Some of them hated him too, but he brought this sport, I think, to a whole new level and it was exciting to have him out there and you know, there's no doubt in my mind this sport can continue to go on and be successful but that doesn't mean it's going to go on exactly the same as it did.
RICHARD PETTY: You know, the deal was that everybody thinks they're race car drivers, people sitting in the grand stand or whatever and everybody says, well, why don't he move him out of the way? Well Earnhardt would move them out of the way. And the deal was he was a very exciting driver, where ever he was at on the racetrack there was going to be some excitement and that's what the fans wanted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING: Just as Dale Earnhardt left his mark on racing, Carroll O'Connor left his on American television.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, ALL IN THE FAMILY)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Are you saying, Arch, that Nixon rules because if divine right?
CARROLL O'CONNOR, ACTOR: It's a damn sight better than your divine left.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: The man who turned Archie Bunker into a cultural icon died on June 21. We talked with his friends and colleagues, some by phone, some face to face.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Let's discuss his talent. How would you assess him?
NORMAN LEAR: My God, in the role of Archie Bunker, he made me laugh in places I didn't know I had.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, ALL IN THE FAMILY)
O'CONNOR: If you are going to have a change of life you have got to do it right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN STAPLETON, ACTRESS: I think he's one of the finest actors that our country ever had.
KING: Really?
STAPLETON: Oh, yes. Well look at the versatility that we can see even now on reruns in his other work too. It's marvelous. The range he had.
KING: What kind of person was he?
STAPLETON: Warm. Delightful. Great sense of humor. Very gentle man. Really adorable, huggable.
ROB REINER, ACTOR: Aside from the fact that he was an incredible actor and created probably the most indelible character ever in the history of American television, he was more than that. He was an intellect and he was a writer and he understood theatre and how a play is constructed and he brought all of those talents to bear as well.
KING: How is he going to be remembered, Larry?
LARRY HAGMAN, ACTOR: As just one of the funniest and kindest actors for us the kindest but most amusing and creative actors ever.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: Barely a week after we lost Carroll O'Connor, two time Oscar winner, Jack Lemmon also passed away. Hilarious comedy, heartbreaking drama, he did them all. Co-stars Kevin Spacey and Shirley McClain (ph) shared their memories with us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIRLEY MCCLAINE, ACTRESS: First of all he was this great artist of the human landscape, of course we all know the comedy, the drama and he sort of used himself as the brush for painting what human emotions were. But I never found any neurosis in Jack.
I never found any kind of you know, star (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and after work we would have his jug of martinis and talk about life and he would discuss magic time and he was the most decent -- I guess he and Tom Hanks will be in the same place together up there.
KEVIN SPACEY, ACTOR: Do you know about magic time? What that means?
KING: No.
SPACEY: Magic time is something that Jack said before every take on a film. And he did it under his breath so a lot of us who worked with him...
KING: So he would say, ready for this scene?
SPACEY: They would be rolling a speed and just under his breath Jack would usually just breath, just about ready to do the scene, you'd just hear him just say, it's magic time.
MCCLAIN: Or if sometimes he wanted to get into the mood and it was a bombastic scene he would scream out magic time.
KING: But of all the superstars wouldn't you say, David, he was a regular guy?
DAVID: He was such a regular guy, he was the kind of guy he would walk down the street and anybody would feel like they could go up to Jack and say hello and shake his hand and he...
KING: He would.
DAVID: ... and greeted them warmly. I mean, he welcomed them and he was incredible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: I don't think Jack Lemmon ever said magic time when he was a guest on our show. But every conversation with him was special. Special's the word for our interviews with Washington Post's Catherine Graham too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Deep Throat.
CATHERINE GRAHAM "THE WASHINGTON POST": Yes.
KING: Do you know who it was?
GRAHAM: No. I still don't.
KING: Do you want to know?
GRAHAM: Well one side did -- I was having lunch with Woodward because I decided after quite a while that I'd really better get to know (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and I said to him, you know, who's deep throat and he looked so stricken that I said, don't worry, I don't really want to know. I don't want the responsibility and I didn't really.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: The former publisher and Pulitzer Prize winner died July 17. ABC's Barbara Walters, a very good friend, remembered her this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA WALTERS, REPORTER: I want to just talk a little bit about the human side of Catherine Graham because we're all going to hear what a superior publisher she was and how courageous she was but she is an inspiration and I -- and that's sort of a crummy thing to say and you say it about many people. But she was especially to women.
This was a woman who's father had bought the newspaper, the Washington Post when it was kind of upping paper. She was born to wealth, she married an enormously charismatic man named Phil Graham, adored him, had four children and stayed in the shadows. I mean she wasn't supposed to do anything except be a wife and a mother, very shy, very insecure.
He had an illness, manic depression, at the time when there was no treatment and even at one point in his madness he left her and came back and then horribly he shot himself. He committed suicide. And everybody expected her to retire, to sell the paper, to stay in the background, and she didn't. With this terrible shyness she told me once, Larry, that she had to rehearse for days just to say Merry Christmas. And look what she...
KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
WALTERS: She never appreciated herself, I don't think and never got over that insecurity. But what a try.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Catherine Graham's funeral service was held on July 23 at Washington National Cathedral. Thousands paid their respects. Including some of the biggest names in the press and American politics. That's it for our LARRY KING LIVE Review of 2001 before September 11.
We leave you on this New Year's Eve with the incredible saxophonist, David Callas (ph). His latest album is David Callas (ph) and Friends, A Smooth Jazz Christmas. And here on New Year's Eve, what better for him to play than Old Lange Syne. Thanks for watching. Happy New Year. Good night.
(MUSIC)
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