Bill Moyers interviews Jonathan Miller

 


 



http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05042007/watch3.html

A critic once described the mind of Jonathan Miller as "a turmoil of sizzling wires, connecting drama with anthropology, literature with quantum physics, linguistics with genetic theory."

The son of a distinguished child psychiatrist, Miller studied natural sciences at St John's College, Cambridge and qualified as a Doctor of Medicine in 1959.

At University, Miller was a member of the comedy troupe, the Cambridge Footlights, from which he was invited to join the satirical production, "Beyond the Fringe," with Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett and Peter Cook, which many regard as the antecedent to Monty Python and Saturday Night Live.

Since his detour away from medicine, Miller has spent forty years directing theater, opera and film for many of the most distinguished companies in London and New York, such as The National Theater, The Royal Shakespeare Company, BBC Television, The Metropolitan Opera Company and many others.

He was awarded the honorary title Doctor of Letters by Cambridge University and, in 1997, was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in London.

His recent documentary, "A Brief History of Disbelief," airs this month on PBS station.