tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. conversation with the legendary actress and singer diahann carroll. still going strong, she has a new movie out, and, a titled people returning this fall. >> there is a saying that dr. king had. he said, there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only about halfway to completely eliminate hunger and we have work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s.

as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: just to job your memory was the firstll black person to start on tv as a role other than they. over the years,-- other than a maid. nominated fortony-

the musical "no strings." the prime-rred in time soap opera dynasty. her latest movie was just released and so we will take a look at a clip from the movie. >> i forgot that she could move like that. >> it just takes the right man to pull it out of view. >> mom? >> you look too good to be playing somebody's grandma. >> you know i have two grandchildren. they seem to be happy about it. >> they can't say that because

you're their grandmother. >> grandmothers are going to look like me and everyone else they go to the beauty parlor and exercise. life,e rest of my something that is good. still doingre you this? you of our eye contact, you have made your mark, you're in the history books and you are doing television, movies. why are you working so hard? the laurels pinch. [laughter] but if my grandchildren live close to me, i don't think i would work as much but they are in new york. is waiting. but it is a wonderful thing to

be able to watch what is going on. when i don't have that, i am very happy to be busy. , butcertainly coming down i can't let it go completely. do you think you'll be able to let this go completely? >> they may let me go completely. >> there is always that. how are you? the last time you were on was for your memoir. , more you processing chronologically gifted. >> does that mean that i look well? tavis: you look amazing, but we are all getting older. ,ow're you intellectually

spiritually, psychologically, dealing with the process. time job.a full- i will not deny that. into it sodo to put we can be longer. is most important because i lived with the doctors every week. they are keeping me alive. i know i have not missed anything in life. not want to do with any other way. will make me feel much happier.

>> stuff comes across your desk at this point in your career. what is right for you, what is honoring your gift. how do you make those decisions when the projects come to you? >> all of the young man that i will beked with, it their life's work. by one of these gentlemen, it is a strange place for me to be. i would like to be supportive of everything i possibly can and there is another side that says, as we all know, anything thatat?

has to do something we put together, we think it is fantastic for everybody. we usually have to sit down and talk about it. whether it is something for me or for him. receiving these phone calls and talking to some i feel good about that. i feel wanted, needed, and loved. tavis: if the day comes when it is time for you to step off the i saw an invitation come across my desk the other day, he decided to stop acting.

comes for you, will you know it? how will you know it? what will constitute you making the decision that you are hanging it up? >> it is difficult for me to say what i believe is my truth and other people that agree or disagree with me. feel thatdays when i i would be able to accomplish a show on broadway. and there are other days where my brain says, are you kidding? tavis: she is 88 and on broadway. the five shows a week. >> we live different lives.

she loves pineapple juice and i like chardonnay. [laughter] vegetables inny my chardonnay. whatnk it is wonderful, ever it is that makes you feel fulfilled. i think it depends on how you have lived your life. i don't know about consistency in your belief that you can really carry this difficult thing. place to go.d the doctor may say youcan't do that. do you know what you will do to your nervous system? package them as one walking around. i would noty say

suggest that, i am not going to go against their recommendations. tavis: artistically, you still got it. i love it, and that is why i think it is still in my soul. nothing is exciting as pulling something apart and putting it back together the way it pleases you to do so. i went to work with the director that has all the integrity and sensitivity he is feeding tube and taking it apart together. i have done that all my life and i love it. i absolutely think i should not stop just yet. >> tell me about this character you play. >> she is a wonderful lady that i think is very pleased with her

family and what it has become. veered off little bit, she has her own life, and i think so children respect her, and i like her. i identify with her. characteristics are my characteristics, too. she is thedo this, star of the film has a boyfriend who she has to bring home to meet her family. her father is a judge, you are his mother. she has a boyfriend and that is a little portly and doesn't image.fit the bourgeois

.nd so he has to come have you had that experience as a mother? >> where my parents didn't approve or i did not approve? tavis: both. >> my mother did not approve and my father did not approve. that is true. the johnson family, my family name, i was allowed to drive the car to the city to be with my friend for the evening. my father got out of the car and came walking over. he said, get back in the car and follow me. i said, i have discussed this with my mother. i have complete permission.

i have a date. i can have your arrested for harassment. my father said, what? i said, i can. i am not 18 or 21, but i could. he started laughing. with trying to come up something. it was something that worked out well, thank heavens. i have been married several times. i can't say that i prefer one time in my life over another, or my sense of judgment or my parents sense of judgment. they allow you to choose a

eventually. i take your word for it. i would have loved to abet a fly on the wall when you told your daddy, a black man, that you could have him arrested. >> the look on his face was priceless. carry washington is the i want this movie, and to be delicate and how i say this. to be asbled trying charitable and generous as i can be, troubled by a the abc network that carries the show scandal, the overdrive that they have gone into making the comparison between the character -- >> of julia and the scandal

character. tavis: i am troubled by a number of things. on, the series comes role the character plays really was historic. was a historic moment, and i don't know what the purpose is to keep making this comparison. by thatittle bothered because of the distinct differences between the two characters. i won't go deeper than that, but it has been unsettling for me. >> i understand that completely. you are dealing with the characters as they are placed on

paper. something thats i, as an actress and producer, director, mostly. something that i want from the character, and we are looking for some growth. i was a nurse raising a little boy, where is the deep connection between back and a young woman that lives in washington having an affair with the president. a married president. comparison, ithis am not saying she is better or julia is better. the powers that be have changed a great deal,

their primary concern. is thehe primary concern rating. if the success of julia, if it is something they want to tie theyher with the project have created -- tavis: a brilliant creator. i don't like the network trying to spin this comparison. >> i have heard you say this before and i do understand. i was told that the comparison was going to be made. i had to think about it and realize what it is. it is not necessarily the performance. we have to drop everything else

and remember the rating. are any more there concerned with what i hear from you. i agree with you, but i think it is a whole new world. tavis: i think chris rock told the jokelack people are always making comparisons and sometimes the comparisons just don't fit. talking about dr. king and 2paclm x and talking about and biggie. they were not assassinated, they got shot. that comparisons are not always equal. they don't always work. the character is light years

away from the character of julia. strong andters are the script is very interesting. not as much today as it was then, but i think the show has achieved something quite marvelous. that is not that we are tearing is this stage, why beautiful and young successful woman. havingbeing successful, a show produced in created by a black woman, i celebrate all that. , and athis thing professional field about a lot of us could not get into back

and, the black woman sleeping with the president doesn't fit, but -- >> i like that about you. tavis: my producer, dating back , we went back to look at the response when it premiered. it premieres in september and the fall of 68. dr. king has just been assassinated. bobby kennedy has been assassinated. you premier juliet in the fall of 68 and not everybody was celebrating his groundbreaking black woman as a character. some thought it was not hard

hitting enough, the issues we were dealing with at the time, she was above that. what do you recall about the other side, the people that pushed back? >> one of the highest compliments was criticism. the fact that they paid attention in new what it was all about. understand there is no such thing as free to people in your room and asking them to tell a story of what just happened in the next room and another will tell the same story. much untilealize how tyler perry and lion's gate gave me the opportunity to be part of this, i did not realize how much has changed. i think our children stay with

children long as our used to. nomany young people hvave way at all to associate with something called julia. she had the baby. you don't realize what a step that was at that time. what steps? she was a nurse. she had a job and it seemed a lot of white people worked there, too. but they don't do that. powell spoke about what we allow our children to watch on television. he made it known to us that we are responsible for what they watch.

we are creating something that we should be very careful with. as we became more successful, everyone has televisions in each ?oom, why don't you to what wastivity happening when i came along and you came along his not there. it, but it is not there. i don't know if i should be glad of that or if i should be -- tavis: offended by it. how did you handle the push back in real time in 1968? that was a little too soft and made white people feel good about themselves.

>> thank god i had come to this place of trust in my own judgment. you are not going to get everyone. at the move along, i realized talent for and that was, and if you don't see if, you don't get it, is that terrible? >> that is your point of view and the respect that. toas asked to be the person do the induction for your moment. >> she is adorable. tavis: i was honored to be part of that. >> it meant very much to me to have be there, i wanted everyone there in that room to see you and know who you are and what

you are. tavis: the new movie is called peeples. you can catch her and her recurring role as well. you're welcome back any time. it is good to see you. until next time, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with skayhew jeremy investigating u.s. covert actions. and that is next time, see you then. >> there is a saying that dr. king had. he said, there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every

day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only about halfway to completely eliminate hunger and we have work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more.

hello and welcome to this is us. i'm becca king reed and this week we're inside the pacific hotel part of san jose's history park. we're going to look at an exhibit called through my father's eyes. ricardo alvarado was a very talented photographer who took many photograph. his daughter janet found those photos after her father passed away. today we're going to share some of those photos and memories with you. and we'll also meet an incredible woman who is at the forefront of independence. and we're going to