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American Morning

Talk With Actress and Author Marlo Thomas

Aired August 13, 2002 - 09:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Many of us have words we try to live by. For actress Marlo Thomas, those words came from her father, comedian Danny Thomas, and they helped change her life. Now the star of stage and screen is sharing words of wisdom that have inspired others. More than 100 celebrities and newsmakers have contributed to her book, "The Right Words at the Right Time," which is a national bestseller, many weeks out here.
Marlo Thomas has stopped by to share some of those thoughts with us this morning. Congratulations.

MARLO THOMAS, AUTHOR: Thank you.

ZAHN: Did you ever think this book would do that well?

THOMAS: I'm amazed and thrilled, and the money all goes to Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital, so it makes it even better.

ZAHN: And this is hospital your family has long been involved.

THOMAS: My dad founded it in '62, and it's doing great. We raised $300 million a year, and we save kids from all over the world. So it's really important that we raise money.

ZAHN: And these are kids who really have, in many cases, no safety nets anywhere.

THOMAS: Usually, they come to Saint Judes, and they're told they have four months to live, and we come up with a -- almost a designer vaccine, to try to figure out how we can save them, and we do. We do damn well, 80 percent with AIL, and 90 percent with Hodgkin's Disease and (INTELLIGIBLE) sarcoma. We're doing wonderfully, and also have a lot of kids that are dying, and so that's why we keep doing what we're doing.

ZAHN: I applaud what you are trying to do to save those kids.

THOMAS: Thank you.

ZAHN: Let's talk about this new book and some of pearls of wisdom that famous folk have shared with you. Mohammed Ali for starters.

THOMAS: Mohammed Ali's story is interesting, because my story with my father was a real boost and encouraging words, you know, "run your own race, kid." Those were his words to me at a time of crisis. Mohammed Ali's story was about a teacher who told him he would never amount to anything. And when he won the gold medal in the Olympics and he was like 19 years old, he brought the medal back to the teacher and threw it on the teacher's desk, and said, remember me, you said I was never be going to be nothing? Well, I'm something. I'm the greatest. So I thought that was so fascinating, because we all carry words around on our heads all the time. Some of them are very positive words.

ZAHN: We try to beat down the negative ones, but in this case, that's probably what helped shape him.

THOMAS: It motivated him, it galvanized him, and we're all carrying around negative words that sometimes stop us. So I though how great. I was shocked when I got it. Willie Nelson has negative words in his life. Paul McCartney's words are wonderful, because it's about a song that we all love "Let It Be." His mom had passed away. He was going through a very bad time in his life, a lot of angst, and he was asleep. And in his dreams, his mother came to him, and said, Paul, just let It be, just let it be, and he got up and wrote the song, and you know how it says in the song, "Mother Mary came to me." I'm a Catholic kid, so I thought mother Mary had to be the blessed virgin, but it was his mother's name.

ZAHN: It was.

THOMAS: Mother Mary came to me in a dream. And when you listen to the song now, it's just totally different. You really understand know where he was.

ZAHN: The Beatles are still big in our household. I will have to listen to it again with a whole new view of the lyrics.

Billy Crystal -- what did he have to say?

THOMAS: His about struggling as a comedian and not getting anywhere,a and this great manager came to see him, and he was Woody Allen's manager as well, and Zach Rollins (ph), and he said to him, he watched his act, and Billy was getting all kinds of laughs, and after a while, he came over to his table, and Jack Rollins said, they won't remember who you are tomorrow, because you didn't leave a tip. He said, what do you mean? He said, you didn't leave anything of yourself tomorrow. So the people will not remember if you don't leave a piece of yourself.

But I think Al Pacino's story is one of the most important stories in the book, because he had just become very successful, everything was happening for him, and he started to spiral downward, drinking a lot. And he was out to dinner with Charlie Larton (ph), his teacher and his friend, and Charlie said to him, I want you to be aware of what you're doing. And, Al, said, what do you mean? He said, I want you to be aware how many times you are lifting that glass to your lips, and they were just the right words. If Charlie had said to him, you know, you're becoming a drunk, you should go into AA, all of the things that people get defensive about and don't want to be judged and feel attacked. Instead, he said I want you to be aware of what you're doing, and I was able to really embrace the words, and that's what I found in the book in the lesson I've learned from the book, is that if you don't say it the right way, if you don't use the right words, you won't get through to anybody.

It's true in marriage, with children and colleagues. You can say it at the right time. But if you say, you know, you're drinking too much, you should go into AA, it isn't going to get through, but if you say it in a way that somebody can open up, they can absorb it and do something about it themselves.

ZAHN: I was really struck by how open people were in what they wrote, because a lot of these journeys were very personal and very painful.

THOMAS: Yes, and very personal. I was very touched by that. I think it had a lot to do with Saint Jude's, that people wanted to help the kids, and also to do with Mike Nichols said to me, I wouldn't have ever thought about writing about anything like this if you hadn't asked me, and I'm really glad you asked me to do it, because it gave me an opportunity to think back, and pull out what is it that really shaped my life.

ZAHN: Do I hear a second installment of this, the publishers knocking on your door?

THOMAS: He would like me to do one for teenagers. I would like to do one about regular, ordinary people, because one of the things that happened since the book, all the mail and the e-mail and the radio talk-in shows, people have called with their right words, which is just what I wanted it to do. I wanted people to read the book and find some right words from other people's lives that would change their lives, but that also would make them stir their own memories and hearts, and try to find out what are the words they're carrying around, and people did call in and give me those words.

ZAHN: Your on to something, because I've often thought about the people that Bill and I interview on a day-to-day basis, and there's so much of what they say that is so wise you'd love to use to inspire everybody.

Well, good luck to you.

THOMAS: Thank you.

ZAHN: Thanks for dropping by. The name of the book "The Right Words is the Right Time," all the proceeds going to Saint Jude's Hospital.

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