The Television Academy Foundation toasted the 25th anniversary of its acclaimed online archive, “The Interviews: An Oral History of Television,” on Dec. 6 by gathering industry legends.
During the star-studded celebration, it was announced that Access Hollywood will start featuring segments from the prestigious archive and pair the throwback clips with new reflections from today’s change-makers and talent.
The new interview series, which is titled “Access Icons: The Interviews,” premiered at the event and features Emmy-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph.
In the clip, the “Abbott Elementary” star looked back at an interview with Eartha Kitt while speaking with Access Hollywood’s host Scott Evans.
“In my mind anything was possible … If Eartha Kitt was up there playing Catwoman, I could be on TV,” Sheryl explained after watching the old clip.
The star also praised the Television Academy Foundation for her addition into their extensive archive, sharing, “This is truly a high note in the crescendo that has been my career. It is a wonderful place to be. I am very proud to be honored by the Television Academy and to be included. And it is just getting started.”
The Television Academy Foundation has been producing, preserving, and curating oral histories of American television since 1997, amassing one of the largest online archives of its kind. It’s a fully searchable and free-to-screen collection containing some 3,000 hours of uncensored interviews with icons and inventors from television’s earliest days to current stars and visionaries, all of whom chronicle the birth, growth, and ongoing evolution of American television. The complete collection is available as a resource TelevisionAcademy.com/Interviews.
“Our thanks to everyone who helped make the 25th anniversary of our irreplaceable online archive a celebratory occasion, and we salute those individuals whose contributions have been influential in the evolution of television,” Cris Abrego, chair of the Television Academy Foundation, said in a statement.
Adding, “In the years ahead, the Foundation will continue to capture its history, make it available to television fans worldwide, expand preservation efforts, and start a new chapter by prioritizing inclusive representation of its icons and trailblazers.”
Tune into Access Hollywood to catch our new series, “Access Icons: The Interviews.”
“Access Hollywood has been a staple in the entertainment industry for 27 years and has profiled many of the individuals featured by the Television Academy Foundation’s ‘The Interviews’ series,” said Maureen FitzPatrick, Senior Executive Producer of Access Hollywood. “We look forward to this joint endeavor and see the ‘Access Icons’ series as a way to add to these oral history archives while bringing in new and diverse talent who continue to build upon and expand the groundwork that their predecessor’s started and push the entertainment industry forward.”
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