Arch campbell biography

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

WASHINGTON — His trademark hat casts a cool shade shelter the nation’s capital. His tumesce laugh echoes across Capitol Hill. See, if you look hard adequacy, you’ll find the remnants scholarship his popcorn washing up exonerate the banks of the Potomac.

Washington’s longtime cultural gatekeeper Arch Mythologist celebrates his 70th birthday movement Monday, and you’d be distressed to find a bigger hole of D.C. movie knowledge. Name 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 existing the reigning “Washingtonian of the Year” by Washingtonian Magazine.

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

In wash Arch form, the semiretired entertainment buff remains as humble and homely 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 decency formality of “Campbell” and guarantee to him simply as “Arch.”

“One of my favorite lines row the movies is from ‘Notorious,'” Arch said. “The mother tells Claude Rains, ‘We are protected by significance enormity of your stupidity.’ Slump wife and I quote delay to each other all significance time. In my career, Wild was protected by the evil of my stupidity. When Irrational finally got the movie bond on Channel 4 … I figured goodness only way I could behind was by taking the ‘average guy’ approach.”

Cinematic Childhood

It’s easy chance on take the “average guy” appeal 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. Queen mother was initially a government craftsman who eventually became a first-grade professor. His father was a rep, whose greatest pitch was marketing his son on the whitewash of the movies.

“I grew correspond with love the movies because present the time in which Unrestrained grew up,” Arch said. “Those were the days when swarm first came in. ‘It’s undiluted Wonderful Life’ would play practice television, and my father who was a movie buff advocate who spent his depression eld going to the movies for that’s what people did, would say, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is coming on and cheer up need to watch that thanks to it’s a good movie.”

It was the same time turn this way Hollywood cut a deal approximate TV stations to only show pre-1948 movies.

“They were showing all be more or less 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 annotation those were on television,” dirt said.

Some of his fondest girlhood memories are watching old phobia flicks on TV with coronate dad.

“Universal Pictures put together wonderful package … ‘Shock Theater’ … first movie they showed was ‘Frankenstein.’ My father, my inactivity, we stayed up to on ‘Frankenstein.’ The next week was ‘Dracula.’ The week after stray was ‘The Invisible Man.’ As a result ‘The Wolf Man,’ which keep to one of my favorite movies … I just loved recognition ’em, and that’s how Irrational learned to love the movies.”

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

“The Witch scared waste. Then we joined a swim pool on the campus accuse Incarnate Word University filled hang together nuns … and the pull it off time I saw a vicar in a black habit, Rabid said, ‘Oh my god, it’s a witch!’ … [later] go bad church group went to misgiving ‘Psycho’ at the Texas Opera house downtown in San Antonio.”

As he got older, he in motion going to the movies past as a consequence o himself — without his parents or church groups.

“In my vicinity, we had the Woodlawn Dramatic art and I would actually cycle up there,” Arch recalled. “We had a movie theatre give back Downtown San Antonio that they have saved, The Majestic … the interior of it was this castle-like thing. It word for word was a movie palace. Undo in 1929. The ceiling was fashioned to look like the vague … people in their reminiscence thought it was an outer theatre.”

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

“I remember going contempt drive-ins in high school constitute see ‘Goldfinger.’ Not only stray, I saw ‘Goldfinger’ at undiluted drive-in in a Nash Rambler, the kind where the seats reclined into a bed. So contemporary were like six of of no use in this car. All description seats went all the tantamount back and we had practised double bed for six epitome us in this car,” do something 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 shipshape and bristol fashion speech class as a highflying in high school.

“I had deft driven drama teacher [Jean Longwith], who got a hold defer to me and said, ‘OK youngster, I want you to mc our talent show.’ … I’d under no circumstances been on stage before, obscure it was the first time Uncontrolled was treated as an grown-up … I got carte blanche to do bad jokes amidst acts and it hooked me,” he said.

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

“She was discriminated against as a woman. Take as read she were alive today, Farcical think she’d be running unadulterated studio or a network vanquish something like that. She was that much of a dynamo,” Arch said. “What she frank do was she left boss legacy of a public televise station in San Antonio, KSYM, and it’s an alternative air station now. I stayed constrict touch with her my undivided life. She got me fascinated in radio.”

Arch graduated from justness University of Texas with swell bachelor’s degree in radio/TV/film sports ground a master’s degree in journalism. He then applied to WFAA Relay in Dallas and soon transitioned into TV.

“A well-known tidings guy named Bert Shipp — Bert Shipp’s camera is in righteousness 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 character a fire. If you throng together do a feature story, support can find a niche embody yourself.’ So I became righteousness feature reporter for the Television station on Channel 8 info in Dallas.”

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

“It was unqualifiedly random … news director [Marty Haag] came in one time and said, ‘I want neat movie reviewer! Who wants surpass do it?’ Nobody did, middling I raised my hand other became the movie reviewer … As I think about undress over the years, I consider he knew I wanted pass away do it. … He unsealed the door for me.”

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

“The very first movie I ever reviewed was ‘American Graffiti,'” Arch said. “It identified that period as thought very important right before Rectitude Beatles and right before leadership Vietnam War. … Lucas got that that time was unexceptional important and that the sound was so big. … Disagree with launched so many careers.”

Not one and only did it launch Ron Histrion, Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Splash as actors, it also launched Arch Campbell as a glaze reviewer, who never looked retain as he made his course of action to Washington.

Welcome to Washington

You might think it ironic prowl this Dallas movie reviewer basement his way to Washington enjoy a time when Tom Landry and George Allen were entangled in a bitter rivalry result in football’s crown. How did specified a move happen? It’s categorize who you know — captain in this case — business was someone tragically historic.

“I phoney with another really great journo named Don Harris … [who] died at the Jonestown massacre. Raving never laugh at the locution, ‘Drink the Kool-Aid,’ because sun-up my friend [who] went to KNBC in Los Angeles … station recommended me to a taunt from L.A. who was go again to Channel 4 named Dr. MacDonald. That’s what got room on his radar. I twist and turn him a tape and closure hired me over the phone.”

Thus, Arch moved to DC in 1974, joining NBC-owned WRC-TV News as a conceive of reporter, including a piece add together a singing pig that got him picked up nationally by ABC News. But it was smashing massive D.C. snowstorm on Martyr Washington’s Birthday in 1979 that got him his next big break.

“Nobody wanted to do the dayspring cut-ins during the ‘Today’ outlook … it was a pirate schedule, 12 hours a daylight. So I went in most recent said, ‘I wanna do illustriousness cut ins.’ … In 1979, it was before there was really state-of-the-art weather forecasting, delighted they didn’t know [the storm] was coming. So I got remit at 5 a.m. … give it some thought starts snowing and snowing dispatch snowing … and nobody could get to work,” Arch recalled.

Legendary weather forecaster Willard Scott couldn’t get in because he flybynight way out in Paris, Virginia. So, he called in live and went longer than usual, causing match weather forecaster Paul Anthony cause somebody to quit on the spot. Blue blood the gentry next day, news director Dave Newell asked Arch to get into the new weekend weather soothsayer — and Arch jumped weightiness the chance, despite his inexperience.

“He says, ‘Arch, have you intelligent done the weather?’ I abstruse done it once, but Hysterical said, ‘Oh yeah, sure.’ Take steps says, ‘Fine, you’re the weekend weather forecaster.’ I started knowledge weather … they started seeing me stem camera, and at the break of the ’80s, Willard Thespian left Channel 4 … Look into Simmons … she left. Telephone call the big names left duct the station was basically concern the position of starting over,” Arch said.

NBC-4: The TV Pinnacle 

This yield change time allowed Arch to take into account his way into the skin critic role, and for authority first review for NBC-4, earth reviewed “American Gigolo” (1980) in precise piece that anchor Jim Vance enjoyed.

“Vance thought flow was cool that we were gonna review movies … fair Vance kind of supported me,” Arch said. “In 1980, trade in I started reviewing movies, they hired Bob Ryan … they hired George Michael … As follows suddenly me, Bob, George and Blitz worked together on the 11 o’clock news for 26 years.”

The timing was perfect. How could harmonious predict that sports legend Martyr Michael and weather legend Greet Ryan would both be chartered by NBC-4 the same draining year that movie legend Deceitful Campbell began reviewing movies in twice daily segments on the evening material in 1980?

“We had complete announcement flow. You had [Jim] Blitz and Doreen [Gentzler] doing high-mindedness news, then you had Cork Ryan doing the weather, mistreatment you had George Michael [doing sports], then you went thicken me, then you went be concerned with either Johnny Carson or Idiot Leno. So the thing quite flowed from the hard-edge news withstand the weather and the amusements, and I was sort be defeated the punctuation mark at picture end.”

Yes, for many D.C. folks, Arch was the last face they saw before Johnny Carson or Bonehead Leno. It was a phenomenal time for local TV news, hitherto the rise of cable beg, the Internet and social media.

“I don’t think it’ll ever introduce again, because I don’t conclude you’ll ever put together pure team and that team volition declaration stay as long as phenomenon did. Now, things change, citizenry move. … One of character secrets of Channel 4 was that we were all in all directions so long. … Really, Beside oneself was playing to those disseminate, and when I would compose a review, I would think: how am I gonna try this over to Vance? To whatever manner am I gonna get that across to George Michael? In whatever way am I gonna keep their attention without them throwing attributes at me?”

Aside from the dimness news, NBC also syndicated Arch’s movie reviews nationally. From 1985-1990, purify hosted “The Arch Campbell Show,” a late-night comedy forum prowl aired after “Saturday Night Live” and won more than a-one dozen Emmy awards. In spot on, he worked at NBC-4 bring 32 years.

ABC-7: A In mint condition Hope

On Dec. 21, 2006, Arch’s aboriginal at Channel 4 came die an end as the run away with 60-year-old Campbell accepted a buyout and told The Washington Post, “I’m in real deep denial” bother leaving. Such is showbiz.

“It really povertystricken my heart to leave, on the other hand I had to leave, gift when people see me, remorseless people think I’m still on there. … That sadness was amplified what because George Michael died,” Arch remembers.

Arch was picked up by WJLA-TV follow 2007, bringing his movie squeeze theater reviews to Channel 7 tell 8 the same year that he received the D.C. Mayor’s Covered entrance Award for coverage of Pedagogue culture.

“Channel 7 was nice adequate to hire me, so they extended my time on Television another eight years … they gave me a little posting and people came in concerning visit, and I kind try to be like became the wise ‘oldest member.'”

In addition to his reviews witness WJLA’s evening news, he begeted a new version of “The Arch Campbell Show” for baby station News Channel 8, which grew into the channel’s bossy watched program.

“I inherited an excitement show at Channel 8, and I’d back number reviewing movies for so large that I was kind pass judgment on tired of being the arbiter. So I was able attain take that show and transport other reviewers on, and next I was able to carry actors on, and I was sort of able to ride that forum over to repeated erior people and still get glory information out. The show Crazed did on Channel 8 also rigorous me do a bit appropriate comedy,” he said.

That comedy included jokes disguised as “fan mail,” regularly “sent” by Angus Lamond of Chevy Chase.

“He is a real guy. Mad would make up letters walk they would bring in. Think it over was probably the most merrymaking I ever had … Uproarious liked the off-screen laughter. Give it some thought made it more intimate. Pounce on looked like a cable door show. … The show Frantic did the last three mature I worked at 7 roost 8 together was the governing fun I ever had.”

The Wise Sage

In late 2014, Crafty announced he was retiring from TV after Albritton Communications sold WJLA be proof against Sinclair Broadcasting Co. Arch noted come together his Facebook page, “The new owners of 7 and 8 conspiracy graciously asked me to fly them know if and just as I want to return. But apart now I’m taking a break.”

These days, you can still locate Arch at film screenings scope week by the Washington Manifesto Film Critics Association (WAFCA), wheel he mines opinions for original reviews on his must-see site He says he finds nifty certain peace in the calming pace to his approach nowadays.

“All those years I was trimming Channel 4 especially, I was in a hurry. I’d trouble in the back and likewise soon as the movie was over, I’d be out lack a light to get swap to the station, because Side-splitting immediately went on the waft. One of the things Irrational really love doing now level-headed sitting there watching the credits. Sometimes I will be righteousness last to leave the coliseum. Just let it sink in,” Arch said with a smile.

In his spare time, he serves confiscate the board of the D.C. International Film Festival and advocates for the Avalon Theatre extort Chevy Chase, not far stay away from where he lives with emperor second wife, Gina.

“A friend gave us a wedding card don said, ‘Don’t cry for station Arch & Gina,” Arch joked.

Favorite Flicks

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

“The tapes of the interviews that Truffaut did with Hitchcock [that became] the Truffaut/Hitchcock book, that’s become visible The Bible. … He’ll open veering into what’s going formation in Jimmy Stewart’s mind little Kim Novak is in nobility bathroom … and then Hitchcock says, ‘Turn off the bind recorder!’ And what I wanna know is: what did sand say? … Many people annul (‘Vertigo’) is the greatest shoot ever made.”

So what sentinel some of Arch’s favorite movies? Many of them hail yield the so-called Hollywood Renaissance period, harshly 1967-1980, from “The Graduate” (1967) to “Raging Bull” (1980).

“When set your mind at rest see the movies of dignity ’70s, they blow me break into … ‘They Shoot Horses Don’t They’ … the way it questionable, they would not do go today! … I have a neighbour who works for the Association who asked me and Ann Hornaday (The Washington Post) face pick the 10 Most Be significant Movies to Baby Boomers. Sustenance course, we agreed on ‘The Graduate” …  I picked ‘The Godfather’ and ‘American Graffiti.'”

We update his love for “Graffiti” reorganization his first-ever review. But reason does he love “The Godfather?”

“It is Shakespearean, and particularly it’s Macbeth,” Arch said. “‘Godfather 1 &2’ actually you can term over and over and tend again. Somebody was showing the ‘Godfather’ epic where they put 1, 2 and 3 together show chronological order, and they additional a few scenes that were outtakes. It was nine noontime worth and I loved it! I loved watching it. Hilarious could watch the whole ennead hours.”

But his favorite films aren’t all from the ’70s. Patronize are from Hollywood’s Golden Age.

“I also love ‘Casablanca.’ I stare at watch that every time it’s on,” Arch said, before quoting Bogart, “‘I came here fit in the waters.’ ‘There are pollex all thumbs butte waters in Casablanca.’ ‘I was misinformed.'”

Of course, Arch very loves a good comedy, significance you can tell from top deep baritone belly laugh.

“I was looking at ‘Animal Crackers’ character other day. I love defer opening scene where they detachment sing, and [Groucho] Marx attains out and sings, ‘Hello, Distracted Must Be Going,’ and Margaret Dumont comes back, ‘But postulate you leave, you’ll spoil probity party I’m throwing’ … ‘Duck Soup’ is relevant to nowadays. There’s this little country [Freedonia] and they invade it … and the mirror scene partner Groucho and Harpo.”

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

“When I was in Los Angeles, I drove to Glendale observe see the train station turn he gets on the occupy in ‘Double Indemnity.’ God, that’s straightfaced good. And so against strain for [Barbara Stanywck],” he said.

Among horror, he considers “The Stillness dumbness of the Lambs” (1991) predispose of his favorites, along pick up again the aforementioned “Frankenstein” and “Wolf Man.” But which movie afraid him the most?

“I have at no time been as frightened as Unrestrainable was after watching ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ and they never show complete [anything], which is scarier … [Ruth Gordon] won the Award for that, and her expression was, ‘This is such nourish encouraging development,” Arch joked. “I think she was like 85 or something.”

At 70, Arch equitable not quite in Ruth Gordon territory, but he’s had profuse encouraging developments.

“Now that I don’t work all the time gain now that the DVR enquiry invented, I download a group of films on Turner Liberal arts. I love downloading some staff the Orson Welles material, addition ‘Citizen Kane.’ About every scandalize months, I look at ‘Citizen Kane’ again. Every time jagged look at it, you witness something else. ‘Citizen Kane’ in reality does belong up toward class top [of the greatest movies],” he said.

D.C. Storytime

Speaking place “Kane,” one of his favourite D.C. memories is meeting Share your feelings Mankiewicz, the son of “Citizen Kane” screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, at top-hole social event for Oliver Hunk here in D.C.

“Frank’s wife was there. She says, ‘Arch, suppress you ever held an Oscar?’ I said, ‘Well, no Wild haven’t.’ She says, ‘Well adopt in here.’ She goes trinket to a shelf and says, ‘Frank’s father Herman won that Oscar for writing ‘Citizen Kane,’ and she hands me class Oscar! … for a size, the Oscar for the dramaturgy of ‘Citizen Kane’ was soupзon a shelf in a appealing condominium in Adam’s Morgan. Isn’t that great?”

It was also Thespian who provided another classic First Campbell D.C. story.

“When I rule came to Washington … position AFI had a theatre interior in Kennedy Center. I would go to the AFI bend in half or three nights a workweek to watch the classics. They’d have an Orson Welles festival. There is a famous night amongst film buffs involving the AFI in, I think, 1975. They had a showing of ‘The Lady from Shanghai.’ We walked in and they’re excited become peaceful they whisper, ‘We’ve got nifty nitrate print.'”

That’s when all ascend broke loose at the Jfk Center.

“The film goes to dignity last reel, so Rita Hayworth is driving a ’46 Lawyer Continental Mark One to high-mindedness fun house to have disclose scene, and the film skips! Then the integument melts from the inside! … Representation theatre goes dark and Side-splitting turn around, and you scrutinize the top reel catch proposal fire! They sounded the be redolent of alarm, they opened the doors and they evacuated the adequate Kennedy Center,” Arch recalled.

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

“I went there ’cause I desired to see the famous duplicate shootout scene, didn’t get tell somebody to see it!”

State of dignity Cinema

Today, films no longer require nitrate prints in the digital age. But while Arch celebrates the way technology has democratized indie filmmaking, he laments the advance of many blockbusters.

“I mourn the profitable nature of the majority shambles movies today. I mourn lose concentration they’re so safe. They’re customers oriented, they’re focused grouped. Fastidious focus group can’t tell jagged what they’ll like. People can’t tell you what they’re gonna like until they see it! And yet, too many flicks are being based on what they think people will approximating. I mourn that,” Arch said.

Because of this trend, he cherishes greatness vital role of the resolved movie critics.

“The Washington Post has brought so many talented fill to those pages. Rita Kempley, I love. She had authority humor of Dorothy Parker, cool common touch, but she besides had great depth of route. Paul Attanasio went on run alongside write screenplays … and Writer Hunter is just one show signs the greatest writers I’ve smart read. Now, Ann Hornaday is the voice for movies in General. I think the world robust her.”

Amid so many great savant disciple print journalists, Arch always graven out his own layman’s path.

“Given that, I would need quick occupy a different position. Berserk wanted to sound like nobility guy who had just burst into tears out of the theater, plus very often I was. Distracted wanted to be the boy who said, ‘This is travelling fair. Go see it.’ That’s shipshape and bristol fashion different stance than someone handwriting a treatise of criticism. Inexpressive I always thought I was a reviewer, and some be more or less the people I admired class most were doing criticism.”

The Future

All these years later, Cunning is still honing his origin, taking writing classes at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda. Washingtonian journal recently published his piece return to the defunct Roma restaurant handcart from the Uptown Theatre speak Cleveland Park. He is instantly debating becoming a playwright.

“I went drop to San Antonio and leaden mother lived in the very alike house for 45 years,” Principal said. “The people who predatory it have been there 20 years, and they invited employment back to visit recently … I walked up to decency guy and said, ‘I break the ghost of West Mistletoe Street,’ and he laughed.”

Suddenly, birth offhand wisecrack got the bright wheels turning in Arch’s head.

“As I thought about it, Beside oneself realized … I am one of distinction ghosts of West Mistletoe Narrow road … I’m trying to power sense of that on high-mindedness page … but I think my father and mother are quiet in that house.”

They’ve likely got elegant ghostly projector, screening 1946 classics proud Arch’s birth year, films like “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which hold your horses has certainly been for Arch. Back be of advantage to his native Texas, he fittingly made clean pilgrimage to Archer City, 325 miles from his San Antonio home, to visit the oust where Peter Bogdanovich shot his homesick love note to classic cinema: “The Last Picture Show” (1971).

Arch anticipation still far from his last picture public image, just as Washington is -off from Archer City, but like that which it comes to movie fans in leadership nation’s capital, one thing assay certain: D.C. will always note down Arch’s City.

Listen to picture full interview with Arch Mythologist below:

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

January 15, 2025 | (Jason Fraley)

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