BEVERLY HILLS—When Robert Osborne, the star host of Turner Classic Movies, arrives in Hollywood it’s like a visit from the Pope. Mr. Osborne though very modest wields a great deal of power and influence in not only the area of classic Hollywood but also in the current era as well. Beloved and respected by many stars, the giant sat down with Canyon News this week in order to discuss great films, great stars and his enviable position with TCM as host.

Robert J. Osborne Courtesy: Turner Classic Movies

Mr. Osborne and I share a lot of the same friends, interests and love for films. He was busy last week filming at Grauman's Chinese Theatre for the Turner Classic Movies channel and he also spent an evening hosting at the Hollywood Bowl. Mr. Osborne knows that I have been a classic film lover all of my life and even produced and hosted a syndicated series once in this genre. We were very grateful to Mr. Osborne for the valuable time he spent with us in answering some of our questions about movies, TCM and himself.

Every time I see Robert Osborne, I am in awe of his demeanor, his respectful nature and of course how handsome he continues to be. Like fine wine, he’s aging to perfection.

The very busy and private Robert Osborne discusses his love of films with Canyon News readers.

Tommy Garrett Courtesy: Inbar TV Productions

Q-I've always loved Bette Davis. She by far is my favorite actress and in my opinion was superior to any other actress on the silver screen. We both knew Miss Davis, but you knew her much better than I did. What unique thing did Miss Davis have in your opinion that made her so spectacular to the audience?

A-“I think it was her versatility and her theatricality. Despite her small size as a woman, she was bigger than life in what she did on screen. But she was also totally dedicated as an actress and willing to do anything to make it THE BEST. That passion always showed through. The tragedy for Bette was that as she got older there were no longer starring roles which offered her much to work with, and she wasn't interested in playing supporting roles as people like Miriam Hopkins and Sylvia Sidney did, nor was she interested in devoting more time to the stage as Ingrid Bergman and Wendy Hiller did as they grew older, nor was she interested in retiring as Olivia de Havilland and others did.”

Q-TCM is going strong. We love you and your brilliant commentary and guests. Who do you have coming up on "The Essentials" this fall that you are either in awe of or respect their opinion so much that you believe they will add a unique contribution to your show? Recently you had Alec Baldwin on "The Essentials" by the way.

A-“Alec Baldwin is coming back to do another year on ‘The Essentials’. We tape them this September 22-25. He's great to work with—very knowledgeable, funny, high energy. And we will be including several titles we've never shown on TCM before, such as ‘The Snake Pit,’ ‘Leave Her To Heaven,’ ‘The Blue Dahlia’ and others.”

Q-Mr. Osborne, you've been in the industry for decades. Do you see any revival of the great epics in the works? I ask you this because movies are becoming extremely long again, but some are actually worth it and by the time they end you don't feel they were that long at all. That's how we felt watching double features in the old days, so to speak. We could enjoy George Reeve's "Superman" and see "The Wizard of Oz" in the same setting without feeling drained. I also felt this way about recent films like "Titanic" and "A Beautiful Mind."

A-“I foresee more epics but not necessarily ‘great epics.’ With all the competition these days from Hulu, YouTube, NetFlix, TCM, cable, etc., moviemakers will be compelled to make their share of epic-size films that will pull people into theatres. But they are more likely to be action-driven than character-driven, which is what made so many of the epics of the past so memorable and classic, i.e. William Wyler's ‘Ben Hur,’ Stanley Kubrick's ‘Spartacus,’ etc. At TCM as a matter of fact we're going to be doing a salute to the genre of the movie epic with a new documentary on that subject followed by a smorgasbord of epic films.”

Q-My favorite three golden era/classic films are "Rebecca," "Track of the Cat" and "Psycho." Now that you have stopped laughing at me, Mr. Osborne, I'll tell you why. Each is totally different. "Rebecca" was Hitchcock's debut to America and Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine had great chemistry on screen even though it was forced on his part. "Track of the Cat" is every young boy's dream of living out in the wilderness and having such grand events play out around you while fighting to survive them. Then "Psycho" was the perfect horror thriller. Unlike thrillers today, it was absolutely penetrating by what we didn't see and what we all suspected but were wrong. What are your three favorite classic films? And I'm sure you are a bit more refined and less eclectic than I am.

A-“I'd say my three favorite classic films are ‘The Third Man,’ ‘Sunset Blvd.’ and ‘A Place in the Sun’—all dramas—which is strange since I am particularly partial to musicals, my favorite in that genre is ‘Gigi.’ I also like westerns, and not necessarily the lofty ones but the ones considered run-of-the-mill. And I love film noir. But the bottom line is that I love films—period. All kinds. For all kinds of reasons but the main reason is because they entertain me.”

Q-What is it about Judy Garland that holds so solid today? I think she was a great actress, had the best singing voice of any Hollywood star and had soulful eyes. However, she is one of the few stars of yesteryear, deceased that seem to be gaining more fans of every age bracket similar to Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. What was it about Judy that makes her so approachable today in her films?

A-“I think what makes Judy Garland timeless is the fact that every moment she has on screen is an HONEST one. She was a brilliant comedienne, unmatched singer, terrific actress, surprisingly good hoofer; she could do it all. Great power and yet great vulnerability. The sad thing is that, as Vincent Minnelli once said, “MGM only thought of her as a musical machine and never gave her the acting opportunities her talent deserved.” I do think that she was the all-around most talented person that's ever been in films to date, anyway.”

Q-I think I've learned the most about Gary Cooper from you and Clint Walker. Clint loved Gary and says he was so underrated and a few years ago you had his daughter on your show I believe and she really made him real to me. She answered the burning question to me, why was he so likeable on the screen: probably because he was so likeable in life, in person. Who have you learned the most about from a guest on TCM that you didn't quite know about from the beginning?

A-“Probably Leslie Caron. I'd always loved her in her films but until she did the ‘Private Screenings’ interview I had no idea of her life before Hollywood: growing up in Paris during World War II when the Nazis had control of France, the hardships there, the cultural shock of then being transported to MGM in Hollywood where excess was everywhere, in sharp contrast to the tough times in Europe during the war, etc. And she expressed it so touchingly and well.”

Q-So how does a person get invited to appear as a guest on your hit show "The Essentials?" Sign me up!

A-“I'm sure you'd be a great ‘Essentials’ guest - also a great guest programmer. I'm not part of the team that makes those decisions; however, that's what comes of being part of as huge a corporation as Time Warner. But one of the things about TCM is that they are always doing new things and new themes and maybe one day they'll have a whole month devoted to knowledgeable, passionate film reporters and correspondents and, if so, you'd be a smart choice for them to have on.”

A more charming man is rare in the world. Mr. Osborne graciously offered his time and knowledge in order to make us more knowledgeable about films and Hollywood, which is what he does on a daily basis on TCM.