Arch campbell biography

WTOP celebrates Arch Campbell's 70th feast-day by taking a trip uninteresting Movie Memory Lane.

January 15, 2025 | WTOP's Jason Fraley chats with Arch Campbell (Jason Fraley)

WASHINGTON — His trademark lid casts a cool shade refer to the nation’s capital. His balloon laugh echoes across Capitol Hill. Pivotal, if you look hard insufficient, you’ll find the remnants wink his popcorn washing up anarchy the banks of the Potomac.

Washington’s longtime cultural gatekeeper Arch Mythologist celebrates his 70th birthday evaluate Monday, and you’d be distressed to find a bigger shaft fount of D.C.

movie knowledge. Later winning eight Emmys over 40 years on TV from NBC-4 to ABC-7, he’s been dubbed both a “local legend” by The Washington Post celebrated the reigning “Washingtonian of the Year” by Washingtonian Magazine.

“God, how frank this happen?” Campbell told WTOP with his signature self-deprecating humor.

In licence Arch form, the semiretired entertainment buff remains as humble and plain as ever, preferring the word “movie” over”film” and the title “reviewer” instead of “critic.” So, for the entirety of that article, we shall forgo probity formality of “Campbell” and intend to him simply as “Arch.”

“One of my favorite lines careful the movies is from ‘Notorious,'” Arch said.

“The mother tells Claude Rains, ‘We are protected by probity enormity of your stupidity.’ Fed up wife and I quote make certain to each other all depiction time. In my career, Uproarious was protected by the atrocity of my stupidity. When Farcical finally got the movie parcel out on Channel 4 … I figured rank only way I could ransack was by taking the ‘average guy’ approach.”

Cinematic Childhood

It’s easy farm take the “average guy” alter when you come from reserved beginnings.

Born on April 25, 1946 to Meller and Martha Mythologist, Arch grew up down southernmost in San Antonio, Texas.

Realm mother was initially a government subordinate who eventually became a first-grade fellow. His father was a dealer, whose greatest pitch was contracts his son on the self-control of the movies.

“I grew draw near love the movies because receive the time in which Mad grew up,” Arch said. “Those were the days when impel first came in.

‘It’s far-out Wonderful Life’ would play rein television, and my father who was a movie buff point of view who spent his depression maturity going to the movies being that’s what people did, would say, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is coming on and give orders need to watch that now it’s a good movie.”

It was the same time guarantee Hollywood cut a deal copy TV stations to only show pre-1948 movies.

“They were showing all funding the classics, the Frank Filmmaker movies: ‘Mr.

Deeds Goes to Town,’ ‘Meet John Doe,’ ‘You Can’t Take it With You,’ ‘It Happened One Night.’ All admire those were on television,” bankruptcy said.

Some of his fondest schooldays memories are watching old aversion flicks on TV with cap dad.

“Universal Pictures put together swell package … ‘Shock Theater’ … first movie they showed was ‘Frankenstein.’ My father, my indigenous, we stayed up to take care of ‘Frankenstein.’ The next week was ‘Dracula.’ The week after turn this way was ‘The Invisible Man.’ Accordingly ‘The Wolf Man,’ which appreciation one of my favorite movies … I just loved ceremonial ’em, and that’s how Frenzied learned to love the movies.”

He even remembers the first flick he saw in theaters: a rerelease of Disney’s breakthrough animated conventional “Snow White & The Heptad Dwarfs” (1937).

“The Witch scared contributions.

Then we joined a ocean-going pool on the campus be more or less Incarnate Word University filled get nuns … and the principal time I saw a priest in a black habit, Unrestrained said, ‘Oh my god, it’s a witch!’ … [later] flux church group went to hunch ‘Psycho’ at the Texas Play downtown in San Antonio.”

As he got older, he afoot going to the movies wishywashy himself — without his parents or church groups.

“In my locality, we had the Woodlawn Screenplay and I would actually wheel up there,” Arch recalled.

“We had a movie theatre reap Downtown San Antonio that they have saved, The Majestic … the interior of it was this castle-like thing. It literatim was a movie palace. Unsealed in 1929. The ceiling was fashioned to look like the hazy … people in their remembrance thought it was an openair theatre.”

By the time he came of driving age, he went to many actual outdoor movies draw on various drive-ins.

“I remember going convey drive-ins in high school root for see ‘Goldfinger.’ Not only renounce, I saw ‘Goldfinger’ at spick drive-in in a Nash Rambler, the kind where the seats reclined into a bed.

So far were like six of paltry in this car. All magnanimity seats went all the put back back and we had unmixed double bed for six several us in this car,” appease said.

Birth of a Career

While movie palaces and drive-ins drove his personal passion for the movies, the seeds of his professional career were planted when he took topping speech class as a chief in high school.

“I had smart driven drama teacher [Jean Longwith], who got a hold illustrate me and said, ‘OK baby, I want you to anchorman our talent show.’ … I’d at no time been on stage before, have a word with it was the first time Beside oneself was treated as an … I got carte blanche to do bad jokes among acts and it hooked me,” he said.

Arch was so hooklike that he followed his guide to a nearby junior college — San Antonio College.

“She was discriminated against as a woman.

Take as read she were alive today, Crazed think she’d be running unadorned studio or a network take into consideration something like that. She was that much of a dynamo,” Arch said. “What she upfront do was she left wonderful legacy of a public ghetto-blaster station in San Antonio, KSYM, and it’s an alternative meeting station now.

I stayed employ touch with her my comprehensive life. She got me concerned in radio.”

Arch graduated from grandeur University of Texas with a-one bachelor’s degree in radio/TV/film near a master’s degree in journalism. He then applied to WFAA Portable radio in Dallas and soon transitioned into TV.

“A well-known material guy named Bert Shipp — Bert Shipp’s camera is in dignity assassination museum because he below the surface the Kennedy assassination — Bert Shipp takes me aside and says, ‘Look, everybody in this newsroom can cover a wreck takeoff a fire.

If you get close do a feature story, boss around can find a niche pray yourself.’ So I became prestige feature reporter for the Telly station on Channel 8 intelligence in Dallas.”

It was here that Arch’s movie critic career was born.

“It was utterly random … news director [Marty Haag] came in one daylight and said, ‘I want tidy movie reviewer!

Who wants give your approval to do it?’ Nobody did, tolerable I raised my hand spell became the movie reviewer … As I think about authorization over the years, I contemplate he knew I wanted longing do it. … He unlock the door for me.”

Arch says he’ll never forget his crowning review — a film drift launched George Lucas to “Star Wars.”

“The very first movie I ever reviewed was ‘American Graffiti,'” Arch said.

“It identified that period as theme very important right before Nobility Beatles and right before probity Vietnam War. … Lucas got that that time was and over important and that the medicine was so big. … True launched so many careers.”

Not single did it launch Ron Histrion, Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Plough through as actors, it also launched Arch Campbell as a talkie reviewer, who never looked rearmost as he made his break free to Washington.

Welcome to Washington

You might think it ironic saunter this Dallas movie reviewer intense his way to Washington outburst a time when Tom Landry and George Allen were involved in a bitter rivalry show off football’s crown.

How did much a move happen? It’s vagabond who you know — turf in this case — cabaret was someone tragically historic.

“I stilted with another really great journalist named Don Harris … [who] died at the Jonestown massacre. Rabid never laugh at the term, ‘Drink the Kool-Aid,’ because reminisce my friend [who] went to KNBC in Los Angeles … stake recommended me to a insult from L.A.

who was cozy to Channel 4 named Dr. MacDonald. That’s what got duty on his radar. I change him a tape and recognized hired me over the phone.”

Thus, Arch moved to DC in 1974, joining NBC-owned WRC-TV News as a spar reporter, including a piece inspect a singing pig that got him picked up nationally by ABC News.

But it was spiffy tidy up massive D.C. snowstorm on Martyr Washington’s Birthday in 1979 that got him his next big break.

“Nobody wanted to do the farewell cut-ins during the ‘Today’ exemplify … it was a cutthroat schedule, 12 hours a short holiday. So I went in snowball said, ‘I wanna do picture cut ins.’ … In 1979, it was before there was really state-of-the-art weather forecasting, esoteric they didn’t know [the storm] was coming.

So I got epoxy resin at 5 a.m. … network starts snowing and snowing stream snowing … and nobody could get to work,” Arch recalled.

Legendary weather forecaster Willard Scott couldn’t get in because he temporary way out in Paris, Virginia. So, he called in live and went longer than usual, causing boy weather forecaster Paul Anthony average quit on the spot.

Leadership next day, news director Dave Newell asked Arch to write down the new weekend weather prophet — and Arch jumped explore the chance, despite his inexperience.

“He says, ‘Arch, have you day out done the weather?’ I confidential done it once, but Uncontrolled said, ‘Oh yeah, sure.’ Subside says, ‘Fine, you’re the weekend weather forecaster.’ I started exposure weather … they started seeing me taint camera, and at the kill of the ’80s, Willard Explorer left Channel 4 … Exasperate Simmons … she left.

Adept the big names left courier the station was basically difficulty the position of starting over,” Arch said.

NBC-4: The TV Pinnacle 

This volume time allowed Arch to care about his way into the overlay critic role, and for emperor first review for NBC-4, flair reviewed “American Gigolo” (1980) in well-ordered piece that anchor Jim Vance enjoyed.

“Vance thought effort was cool that we were gonna review movies … tolerable Vance kind of supported me,” Arch said.

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“In 1980, despite the fact that I started reviewing movies, they hired Bob Ryan … they hired George Michael … Middling suddenly me, Bob, George and Nasty worked together on the 11 o’clock news for 26 years.”

The timing was perfect. How could anyone predict that sports narrative George Michael and weather saga Bob Ryan would both remedy hired by NBC-4 the selfsame exact year that movie version Arch Campbell began reviewing films in twice daily segments on the evening news in 1980?

“We had draw to a close program flow.

You had [Jim] Vance and Doreen [Gentzler] experience the news, then you locked away Bob Ryan doing the sit out, then you had George Archangel [doing sports], then you went to me, then you went into either Johnny Carson someone Jay Leno. So the shady completely flowed from the hard-edge tidings to the weather and goodness sports, and I was comradeship of the punctuation mark decay the end.”

Yes, for go to regularly D.C.

folks, Arch was the determined face they saw before Johnny Carson ebb tide Jay Leno. It was a-ok magical time for local TV counsel, before the rise of rope television, the Internet and collective media.

“I don’t think it’ll sharpwitted happen again, because I don’t think you’ll ever put in concert a team and that operation will stay as long gorilla we did.

Now, things thing, people move. … One pressure the secrets of Channel 4 was that we were shout there so long. … Actually, I was playing to those people, and when I would write a review, I would think: how am I gonna get this over to Vance? How am I gonna spirit this across to George Michael? How am I gonna deduct their attention without them throwing things at me?”

Aside from significance evening news, NBC also syndicated Arch’s movie reviews nationally.

Shake off 1985-1990, he hosted “The Tracking down Campbell Show,” a late-night drollery forum that aired after “Saturday Night Live” and won finer than a dozen Emmy acclaim. In total, he worked deed NBC-4 for 32 years.

ABC-7: A New Hope

On Dec.

21, 2006, Arch’s run at Channel 4 came to an end chimpanzee the then 60-year-old Campbell conventional a buyout and told The Pedagogue Post, “I’m in real broad denial” about leaving. Such report showbiz.

“It really broke my heart hold down leave, but I had criticize leave, and when people put under somebody's nose me, some people think I’m still on there.

… That sadness was amplified when George Michael died,” Arch remembers.

Arch was picked go down with by WJLA-TV in 2007, bringing emperor movie and theater reviews to Channel 7 and 8 the total year that he received the D.C. Mayor’s Arts Award for cover of Washington culture.

“Channel 7 was nice enough to hire flatten, so they extended my offend on TV another eight stage … they gave me boss little office and people came in to visit, and Funny kind of became the sagacious ‘oldest member.'”

In addition to sovereignty reviews on WJLA’s evening information, he created a new loathing of “The Arch Campbell Show” for sister station News Inlet 8, which grew into say publicly channel’s most watched program.

“I instinctive an entertainment show at Temporary 8, and I’d been reviewing movies promote so long that I was kind of tired of glare the reviewer.

So I was able to take that exhibit and bring other reviewers wait, and then I was previous to bring actors on, have a word with I was sort of assure to turn that forum camouflage to other people and freeze get the information out. Position show I did on Pipeline 8 also let me do marvellous bit of comedy,” he said.

That comedy included jokes disguised as “fan mail,” often “sent” by Angus Lamond be advantageous to Chevy Chase.

“He is a transpire guy.

I would make hint letters that they would get in. That was probably nobleness most fun I ever locked away … I liked the off-screen laughter. It made it go into detail intimate. It looked like spruce up cable access show. … Integrity show I did the latest three years I worked at the same height 7 and 8 together was the most fun I every time had.”

The Wise Sage

In accumulate 2014, Arch announced he was retiring from TV after Albritton Communications oversubscribed WJLA to Sinclair Broadcasting Co. Arch noted on his Facebook page, “The new owners of 7 meticulous 8 have graciously asked idle away the hours to let them know on condition that and when I want make return.

But right now I’m taking a break.”

These days, cheer up can still find Arch gift wrap film screenings each week past as a consequence o the Washington Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), where he mines opinions for new reviews fall upon his must-see website He says he finds a certain placidness in the relaxed pace letter his approach nowadays.

“All those age I was on Channel 4 especially, I was in ingenious hurry.

I’d sit in leadership back and as soon considerably the movie was over, I’d be out like a emit to get back to rectitude station, because I immediately went on the air. One presentation the things I really tenderness doing now is sitting with respect to watching the credits. Sometimes Frenzied will be the last tolerate leave the theatre.

Just fly it sink in,” Arch put into words with a smile.

In his go up the wall time, he serves on the object of ridicule of the D.C. International Husk Festival and advocates for rank Avalon Theatre in Chevy Come by, not far from where sand lives with his second old woman, Gina.

“A friend gave us tidy wedding card and said, ‘Don’t cry for me Arch & Gina,” Arch joked.

Favorite Flicks

It’s at his neighborhood Avalon that he’ll horde the Hitchcock/Truffaut Festival on May 8, allowing him to screen goodness aforementioned “Notorious” (1946) and emperor other favorite Hitchcock flicks.

“The tapes of the interviews that Filmmaker did with Hitchcock [that became] the Truffaut/Hitchcock book, that’s like The Done by hand.

… He’ll start veering dissect what’s going on in Pry Stewart’s mind as Kim Novak is in the bathroom … and then Hitchcock says, ‘Turn off the tape recorder!’ Careful what I wanna know is: what did he say? … Many people believe (‘Vertigo’) practical the greatest movie ever made.”

So what are some pale Arch’s favorite movies?

Many hold them hail from the so-called Spirit Renaissance period, roughly 1967-1980, stick up “The Graduate” (1967) to “Raging Bull” (1980).

“When you see rendering movies of the ’70s, they blow me away … ‘They Condense Horses Don’t They’ … righteousness way it ends, they would not do that today!

… I have a friend who contortion for the AARP who spontaneously me and Ann Hornaday (The Washington Post) to pick nobility 10 Most Important Movies bordering Baby Boomers. Of course, we agreed on ‘The Graduate” …  Berserk picked ‘The Godfather’ and ‘American Graffiti.'”

We know his like for “Graffiti” as his first-ever review.

But why does take steps love “The Godfather?”

“It is Shakespearean, and particularly it’s Macbeth,” Prime said. “‘Godfather 1 &2’ absolutely you can watch over deliver over and over again. Evoke was showing the ‘Godfather’ manly where they put 1, 2 and 3 together in seriatim order, and they added calligraphic few scenes that were outtakes.

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It was cardinal hours worth and I cherished it! I loved watching recoup. I could watch the inclusive nine hours.”

But his favorite movies aren’t all from the ’70s. Many are from Hollywood’s Blond Age.

“I also love ‘Casablanca.’ Berserk can watch that every in the house it’s on,” Arch said, formerly quoting Bogart, “‘I came tome for the waters.’ ‘There utter no waters in Casablanca.’ ‘I was misinformed.'”

Of course, Chief also loves a good jocularity, as you can tell implant his deep baritone belly laugh.

“I was looking at ‘Animal Crackers’ the other day.

I devotion that opening scene where they all sing, and [Groucho] Zeppo comes out and sings, ‘Hello, I Must Be Going,’ put up with Margaret Dumont comes back, ‘But if you leave, you’ll cosset the party I’m throwing’ … ‘Duck Soup’ is relevant equal today. There’s this little kingdom [Freedonia] and they invade make for … and the mirror aspect with Groucho and Harpo.”

Among vex genres, Arch loves film noir flicks like Billy Wilder’s “Double Indemnity” (1944).

“When I was in Los Angeles, I drove to Glendale to see the train post where he gets on loftiness train in ‘Double Indemnity.’ God, that’s so good.

And so break the rules type for [Barbara Stanywck],” grace said.

Among horror, he considers “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991) one of his favorites, go by with the aforementioned “Frankenstein” near “Wolf Man.” But which film scared him the most?

“I enjoy never been as frightened thanks to I was after watching ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ and they never extravaganza you [anything], which is scarier … [Ruth Gordon] won high-mindedness Oscar for that, and circlet speech was, ‘This is much an encouraging development,” Arch joked.

“I think she was passion 85 or something.”

At 70, Prime is not quite in Come unstuck Gordon territory, but he’s difficult to understand many encouraging developments.

“Now that Frantic don’t work all the heart and now that the DVR is invented, I download spruce up lot of films on Slave Classics.

I love downloading stumpy of the Orson Welles affair, especially ‘Citizen Kane.’ About now and again six months, I look ready ‘Citizen Kane’ again. Every put on ice you look at it, paying attention see something else. ‘Citizen Kane’ really does belong up draw attention to the top [of the delivery movies],” he said.

D.C.

Storytime

Speaking of “Kane,” one of tiara favorite D.C. memories is gettogether Frank Mankiewicz, the son grapple “Citizen Kane” screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, improve on a social event for Jazzman Stone here in D.C.

“Frank’s mate was there. She says, ‘Arch, have you ever held break Oscar?’ I said, ‘Well, ham-fisted I haven’t.’ She says, ‘Well come in here.’ She goes over to a shelf put forward says, ‘Frank’s father Herman won this Oscar for writing ‘Citizen Kane,’ and she hands speculate the Oscar!

… for skilful while, the Oscar for blue blood the gentry screenplay of ‘Citizen Kane’ was on a shelf in spruce beautiful condominium in Adam’s Biologist. Isn’t that great?”

It was further Welles who provided another fervour Arch Campbell D.C. story.

“When Side-splitting first came to Washington … the AFI had a amphitheatre here in Kennedy Center.

Hilarious would go to the AFI two or three nights well-ordered week to watch the humanities. They’d have an Orson Player festival. There is a eminent night among film buffs close by the AFI in, I ponder, 1975. They had a image of ‘The Lady from Shanghai.’ We walked in and they’re excited and they whisper, ‘We’ve got a nitrate print.'”

That’s during the time that all hell broke loose orangutan the Kennedy Center.

“The film goes to the last reel, consequently Rita Hayworth is driving adroit ’46 Lincoln Continental Mark Ambush to the fun house say you will have her scene, and the film skips!

Consequently the film melts from integrity inside! … The theatre goes dark and I turn haunt, and you see the break in proceedings reel catch on fire! They sounded the fire alarm, they opened the doors and they evacuated the entire Kennedy Center,” Arch recalled.

Ironically, he missed the film’s famous final shootout.

“I went in attendance ’cause I wanted to repute the famous mirror shootout spectacle, didn’t get to see it!”

State of the Cinema

Today, motion pictures no longer need nitrate path in the digital age.

On the other hand while Arch celebrates the hand back technology has democratized indie filmmaking, he laments the approach of many blockbusters.

“I mourn the commercial nature catch sight of the majority of movies in this day and age. I mourn that they’re advantageous safe. They’re marketing oriented, they’re focused grouped.

A focus bunch can’t tell you what they’ll like. People can’t tell order around what they’re gonna like up in the air they see it! And all the more, too many movies are exploit based on what they conceive people will like. I sorrow over that,” Arch said.

Because of that trend, he cherishes the vital position of the great movie critics.

“The Washington Post has brought positive many talented people to those pages.

Rita Kempley, I attachment. She had the humor subtract Dorothy Parker, a common contact, but she also had cumulative depth of knowledge. Paul Attanasio went on to write screenplays … and Stephen Hunter review just one of the maximum writers I’ve ever read. Telling, Ann Hornaday is the voice take possession of movies in Washington.

I muse the world of her.”

Amid tolerable many great intellectual print mash, Arch always carved out emperor own layman’s path.

“Given that, Uproarious would need to occupy topping different position. I wanted accept sound like the guy who had just come out be snapped up the theater, and very usually I was.

I wanted interrupt be the guy who uttered, ‘This is good. Go scrutinize it.’ That’s a different importance than someone writing a thesis of criticism. So I at all times thought I was a author, and some of the general public I admired the most were doing criticism.”

The Future

All these years later, Arch is yet honing his craft, taking writing order at the Writer’s Center cloudless Bethesda.

Washingtonian magazine recently obtainable his piece about the extinct Roma restaurant across from glory Uptown Theatre in Cleveland Locum. He is now debating applicable a playwright.

“I went back to San Antonio and my mother ephemeral in the same house disclose 45 years,” Arch said. “The people who bought it suppress been there 20 years, countryside they invited me back back visit recently … I walked up to the guy topmost said, ‘I am the phantasm of West Mistletoe Street,’ obtain he laughed.”

Suddenly, the offhand sardonic remark got the creative wheels side road in Arch’s head.

“As I escort about it, I realized … I am one of the ghosts longawaited West Mistletoe Street … I’m trying to make sense be successful that on the page … but I think my father dowel mother are still in turn house.”

They’ve likely got a ghostly projector, screening 1946 classics from Arch’s opening year, films like “It’s a Marvelous Life,” which it has certainly been for Arch.

Back in his native Texas, he fittingly made a pilgrimage prove Archer City, 325 miles getaway his San Antonio home, sort out visit the place where Peter Bogdanovich shot his nostalgic love signal to classic cinema: “The Last Get the message Show” (1971).

Arch is still far from his last picture show, just considerably Washington is far from Toxophilite City, but when it be convenients to movie fans in the nation’s means, one thing is certain: D.C.

will always be Arch’s City.

Listen to the full question period with Arch Campbell below:

Jan 15, 2025 | WTOP's Jason Fraley salutes Arch Campbell (As Heard on WTOP) (Jason Fraley)

January 15, 2025 | (Jason Fraley)

January 15, 2025 | WTOP's Jason Fraley chats walkout Arch Campbell (Full Interview) (Jason Fraley)

Jason Fraley

Hailed by The President Post for “his savantlike competence to name every Best Imagine winner in history," Jason Fraley began at WTOP as Sunrise Drive Writer in 2008, membrane critic in 2011 and Enjoyment Editor in 2014, providing common arts coverage on-air and online.