Many years ago when I was still living in Des Moines I used to enjoy watching the early cable TV channels. One of my favorites was the American Movie Channel. They would show old movies and quite often the films were introduced by Nick Clooney. I remember thinking that this guy really knew what he was talking about. I never imagined that some years later I would get a chance to interview him.
In 2002 Nick published a book that revealed that he knew even more about movies than I ever imagined. We had a lively discussion that day about his book "The Movies That Changed Us: Reflections on the Screen" and we digressed into some other areas that our audience surely anticipated.
Nick has had a long and illustrious career in TV and radio in the Cincinnati region. Then there are his famous relatives. In our conversation we talked about his son George Clooney and the physical shortcoming that kept George from attempting to become a professional baseball player. Nick's sister was the late Rosemary Clooney. She had quite the career as a singer and actor. Nick told a wonderful story about the time Rosemary came back to their hometown in Kentucky for the premiere of one of her movies and how she addressed the sad fact that their local movie theater was still keeping the audience segregated by race.
This was my only interview with Nick Clooney.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, and Wright Memorial Public Library.
