Ileane Rudolph

Claire Danes, Michael J. Fox, Mariska Hargitay, Dolly Parton, Tom Selleck, Barbara Walters and Oprah Winfrey are only a few of the names that make up the seemingly infinite list of luminaries Ileane Rudolph has interviewed. Some of her fondest memories include watching Christopher Meloni dancing like a fool to a bootlegged tape (remember them?) of his favorite band Tool, Chris Noth graciously offering a tour of his apartment filled with beautiful momentos of his travels, Joan Rivers posing at a photo session with her tiny dog Spike to a rock soundtrack that she requested, having an intimate lunch with an intense, almost unknown young Angelina Jolie, at high tea with Walters and Diane Sawyer and being hugged by the Supernatural boys Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. Who wouldn’t love that? Then there was the time she chatted about beauty contests with Donald J. Trump in his office at Trump Tower, but that’s another story. You may have caught her talking Survivor—she tromped around the Amazon observing the cast—Oprah’s accomplishments as a television icon—she was invited to one of the talk show queen’s final appearances-- Mary Tyler Moore’s life story--and Xena: the Warrior Princess’s brass breastplates-- in her many TV appearances. Though she has never had a pet, (ok, she had a parakeet that keeled over after one day) she was privileged to be a judge at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival thanks to her many stories about wildlife shows. And she was deeply moved to be at the site of the World Trade Towers on 9/12/2001 to interview the emotionally shattered TV news photographers who had filmed the attack and its aftermath. Ileane is currently a Senior Writer at TV Guide Magazine.