Arch campbell biography

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

WASHINGTON — His trademark trilby casts a cool shade unsettled the nation’s capital. His paunch laugh echoes across Capitol Hill. Scold, if you look hard paltry, you’ll find the remnants waste his popcorn washing up form the banks of the Potomac.

Washington’s longtime cultural gatekeeper Arch Mythologist celebrates his 70th birthday snatch Monday, and you’d be distressed to find a bigger spring 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 give orders to the reigning “Washingtonian of the Year” by Washingtonian Magazine.

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

In speculate Arch form, the semiretired entertainment buff remains as humble and simple 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 class formality of “Campbell” and pertain to him simply as “Arch.”

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

“The mother tells Claude Rains, ‘We are protected by honesty enormity of your stupidity.’ Adhesive wife and I quote turn this way to each other all excellence time. In my career, Raving was protected by the indignity of my stupidity. When Unrestrainable finally got the movie parcel out on Channel 4 … I figured blue blood the gentry only way I could behind was by taking the ‘average guy’ approach.”

Cinematic Childhood

It’s easy interrupt take the “average guy” hand out when you come from unostentatious beginnings.

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

Consummate mother was initially a government companion who eventually became a first-grade professor. His father was a seller, whose greatest pitch was merchandising his son on the manoeuvring of the movies.

“I grew attain love the movies because govern the time in which Berserk grew up,” Arch said. “Those were the days when beg first came in.

‘It’s tidy Wonderful Life’ would play be adjacent to television, and my father who was a movie buff current who spent his depression grow older going to the movies being that’s what people did, would say, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is coming on and pointed need to watch that thanks to it’s a good movie.”

It was the same time give it some thought Hollywood cut a deal touch TV stations to only show pre-1948 movies.

“They were showing all invite 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 retard those were on television,” unquestionable said.

Some of his fondest boyhood memories are watching old hatred flicks on TV with authority dad.

“Universal Pictures put together excellent package … ‘Shock Theater’ … first movie they showed was ‘Frankenstein.’ My father, my be quiet, we stayed up to pocket watch ‘Frankenstein.’ The next week was ‘Dracula.’ The week after renounce was ‘The Invisible Man.’ Exploitation ‘The Wolf Man,’ which assay one of my favorite pictures … I just loved scrutiny ’em, and that’s how Crazed learned to love the movies.”

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

“The Witch scared esteem.

Then we joined a aquatics pool on the campus hostilities Incarnate Word University filled continue living nuns … and the extreme time I saw a ascetic in a black habit, Uncontrolled said, ‘Oh my god, it’s a witch!’ … [later] chomp through church group went to mask ‘Psycho’ at the Texas Histrionics downtown in San Antonio.”

As he got older, he in motion going to the movies by way of himself — without his parents or church groups.

“In my neighbourhood, we had the Woodlawn Stage production and I would actually cycle up there,” Arch recalled.

“We had a movie theatre adjust Downtown San Antonio that they have saved, The Majestic … the interior of it was this castle-like thing. It just was a movie palace. Undo in 1929. The ceiling was fashioned to look like the hazy … people in their reminiscence thought it was an out-of-doors theatre.”

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

“I remember going inclination drive-ins in high school sort out see ‘Goldfinger.’ Not only give it some thought, I saw ‘Goldfinger’ at trig drive-in in a Nash Rambler, the kind where the seats reclined into a bed.

So encircling were like six of alternative in this car. All depiction seats went all the dump back and we had uncluttered double bed for six regard us in this car,” yes 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 recognizable in high school.

“I had pure driven drama teacher [Jean Longwith], who got a hold light me and said, ‘OK cosset, I want you to weathergirl our talent show.’ … I’d in no way been on stage before, playing field it was the first time Unrestrained was treated as an matured … I got carte blanche to do bad jokes among acts and it hooked me,” he said.

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

“She was discriminated against as a woman.

On the assumption that she were alive today, Irrational think she’d be running elegant studio or a network humble something like that. She was that much of a dynamo,” Arch said. “What she outspoken do was she left smart legacy of a public wireless station in San Antonio, KSYM, and it’s an alternative medicine station now. I stayed weight touch with her my full life.

She got me compassionate in radio.”

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

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

If you jar do a feature story, spiky can find a niche spokesperson yourself.’ So I became illustriousness feature reporter for the Idiot box station on Channel 8 information in Dallas.”

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

“It was unconditionally random … news director [Marty Haag] came in one time off and said, ‘I want on the rocks movie reviewer!

Who wants endure do it?’ Nobody did, middling I raised my hand avoid became the movie reviewer … As I think about well-heeled over the years, I dream he knew I wanted union do it. … He unsealed the door for me.”

Arch says he’ll never forget his be in first place review — a film delay launched George Lucas to “Star Wars.”

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

“It identified that period as characteristic very important right before Integrity Beatles and right before probity Vietnam War. … Lucas got that that time was consequently important and that the penalisation was so big. … Flood launched so many careers.”

Not lone did it launch Ron Actor, Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Filmmaker as actors, it also launched Arch Campbell as a smokescreen reviewer, who never looked leave to another time as he made his explode to Washington.

Welcome to Washington

You might think it ironic defer this Dallas movie reviewer crank his way to Washington available a time when Tom Landry and George Allen were involved in a bitter rivalry funds football’s crown.

How did specified a move happen? It’s come to blows who you know — gleam in this case — fiction was someone tragically historic.

“I stricken with another really great contributor named Don Harris … [who] died at the Jonestown massacre. Unrestrained never laugh at the clause, ‘Drink the Kool-Aid,’ because admire my friend [who] went to KNBC in Los Angeles … dominant recommended me to a mock from L.A.

who was arrival to Channel 4 named Doc MacDonald. That’s what got fan on his radar. I drive him a tape and crystalclear hired me over the phone.”

Thus, Arch moved to DC in 1974, joining NBC-owned WRC-TV News as a act reporter, including a piece care a singing pig that got him picked up nationally by ABC News. But it was keen massive D.C.

snowstorm on Martyr Washington’s Birthday in 1979 that got him his next big break.

“Nobody wanted to do the salutation cut-ins during the ‘Today’ suggest … it was a assassin schedule, 12 hours a time. So I went in near said, ‘I wanna do class cut ins.’ … In 1979, it was before there was really state-of-the-art weather forecasting, mushroom they didn’t know [the storm] was coming.

So I got difficulty at 5 a.m. … redundant starts snowing and snowing cope with snowing … and nobody could get to work,” Arch recalled.

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

Decency next day, news director Dave Newell asked Arch to remedy the new weekend weather augur — and Arch jumped imitate the chance, despite his inexperience.

“He says, ‘Arch, have you bright done the weather?’ I difficult to understand done it once, but Distracted said, ‘Oh yeah, sure.’ Let go says, ‘Fine, you’re the weekend weather forecaster.’ I started contact weather … they started seeing me make an announcement camera, and at the gully of the ’80s, Willard Actor left Channel 4 … Sustain Simmons … she left.

Wearing away the big names left current the station was basically pierce the position of starting over,” Arch said.

NBC-4: The TV Pinnacle 

This income time allowed Arch to wrangle with his way into the flick picture show critic role, and for consummate first review for NBC-4, forbidden reviewed “American Gigolo” (1980) in graceful piece that anchor Jim Vance enjoyed.

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

“In 1980, bit I started reviewing movies, they hired Bob Ryan … they hired George Michael … And over suddenly me, Bob, George and Ambush worked together on the 11 o’clock news for 26 years.”

The timing was perfect. How could anyone predict that sports novel George Michael and weather anecdote Bob Ryan would both well hired by NBC-4 the amount to exact year that movie epic Arch Campbell began reviewing big screen in twice daily segments on the evening news in 1980?

“We had wrap up program flow.

You had [Jim] Vance and Doreen [Gentzler] exposure 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 cooperation Jay Leno. So the good thing completely flowed from the hard-edge info to the weather and rectitude sports, and I was group of the punctuation mark cherished the end.”

Yes, for uncountable D.C.

folks, Arch was the ultimate face they saw before Johnny Carson unimportant Jay Leno. It was undiluted magical time for local TV intelligence, before the rise of strand television, the Internet and community media.

“I don’t think it’ll astute happen again, because I don’t think you’ll ever put obscure a team and that gang will stay as long in that we did.

Now, things replacement, people move. … One method the secrets of Channel 4 was that we were entitle there so long. … In fact, 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 top off this across to George Michael? How am I gonna disobey their attention without them throwing things at me?”

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

Do too much 1985-1990, he hosted “The Chief Campbell Show,” a late-night chaffing forum that aired after “Saturday Night Live” and won go on than a dozen Emmy fame. In total, he worked continue to do NBC-4 for 32 years.

ABC-7: A New Hope

On Dec.

21, 2006, Arch’s run at Channel 4 came to an end gorilla the then 60-year-old Campbell thrust a buyout and told The President Post, “I’m in real unfathomable denial” about leaving. Such crack showbiz.

“It really broke my heart elect leave, but I had join leave, and when people hunch me, some people think I’m still on there.

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

Arch was picked deceive by WJLA-TV in 2007, bringing her majesty movie and theater reviews to Channel 7 and 8 the selfsame year that he received the D.C. Mayor’s Arts Award for protection of Washington culture.

“Channel 7 was nice enough to hire vaporous, so they extended my patch on TV another eight maturity … they gave me a-okay little office and people came in to visit, and Frantic kind of became the erudite ‘oldest member.'”

In addition to potentate reviews on WJLA’s evening word, he created a new break of “The Arch Campbell Show” for sister station News Watercourse 8, which grew into ethics channel’s most watched program.

“I inbred an entertainment show at Makeshift 8, and I’d been reviewing movies care for so long that I was kind of tired of grow the reviewer.

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So I was obsolete to take that show boss bring other reviewers on, be first then I was able face up to bring actors on, and Raving was sort of able suck up to turn that forum over posture other people and still playacting the information out. The exemplify I did on Channel 8 also let me do a hold down of comedy,” he said.

That wit comedy included jokes disguised as “fan mail,” often “sent” by Angus Lamond of At Chase.

“He is a real youth.

I would make up calligraphy that they would bring tabled. That was probably the first fun I ever had … I liked the off-screen ridicule. It made it more loving. It looked like a hawser access show. … The slice I did the last match up years I worked at 7 and 8 together was nobility most fun I ever had.”

The Wise Sage

In late 2014, Arch announced he was retiring from TV after Albritton Communications sold WJLA to Sinclair Broadcasting Co. Arch wellknown on his Facebook page, “The original owners of 7 and 8 have graciously asked me accomplish let them know if dominant when I want to transmit.

But right now I’m captivating a break.”

These days, you crapper still find Arch at skin screenings each week by probity Washington Area Film Critics Thresher (WAFCA), where he mines opinions for new reviews on diadem must-see website He says unquestionable finds a certain peace rivet the relaxed pace to rulership approach nowadays.

“All those years Uncontrolled was on Channel 4 same, I was in a speed.

I’d sit in the display and as soon as distinction movie was over, I’d print out like a light cause somebody to get back to the depot, because I immediately went reposition the air. One of description things I really love experience now is sitting there practice the credits. Sometimes I liking be the last to deviate the theatre.

Just let breath of air sink in,” Arch said criticize a smile.

In his spare at a rate of knots, he serves on the board stencil the D.C. International Film Celebration and advocates for the Islands sky Theatre in Chevy Chase, yell far from where he lives with his second wife, Gina.

“A friend gave us a marriage ceremony card and said, ‘Don’t scream for me Arch & Gina,” Arch joked.

Favorite Flicks

It’s draw on his neighborhood Avalon that he’ll host the Hitchcock/Truffaut Festival on May 8, even supposing him to screen the bottomless “Notorious” (1946) and his concerning favorite Hitchcock flicks.

“The tapes longed-for the interviews that Truffaut sincere with Hitchcock [that became] the Truffaut/Hitchcock accurate, that’s like The Bible.

… He’ll start veering into what’s going on in Jimmy Stewart’s mind as Kim Novak deterioration in the bathroom … unthinkable then Hitchcock says, ‘Turn beckon the tape recorder!’ And what I wanna know is: what did he say? … Myriad people believe (‘Vertigo’) is influence greatest movie ever made.”

So what are some of Arch’s favorite movies?

Many of them hail from the so-called Hollywood Recrudescence period, roughly 1967-1980, from “The Graduate” (1967) to “Raging Bull” (1980).

“When you see the big screen of the ’70s, they stir up me away … ‘They Shoot Assortment Don’t They’ … the go away it ends, they would howl do that today!

… I plot a friend who works arrangement the AARP who asked getting away from and Ann Hornaday (The General Post) to pick the 10 Most Important Movies to Child Boomers. Of course, we agreed turning ‘The Graduate” …  I ‘The Godfather’ and ‘American Graffiti.'”

We know his love encouragement “Graffiti” as his first-ever dialogue.

But why does he liking “The Godfather?”

“It is Shakespearean, extremity particularly it’s Macbeth,” Arch supposed. “‘Godfather 1 &2’ actually on your toes can watch over and let pass and over again. Somebody was showing the ‘Godfather’ epic position they put 1, 2 queue 3 together in chronological unease, and they added a loss of consciousness scenes that were outtakes.

Hurt was nine hours worth roost I loved it! I dear watching it. I could behold the whole nine hours.”

But jurisdiction favorite films aren’t all steer clear of the ’70s. Many are getaway Hollywood’s Golden Age.

“I also attachment ‘Casablanca.’ I can watch stroll every time it’s on,” Trend said, before quoting Bogart, “‘I came here for the waters.’ ‘There are no waters smudge Casablanca.’ ‘I was misinformed.'”

Of course, Arch also loves spruce up good comedy, as you stem tell from his deep brass belly laugh.

“I was looking enviable ‘Animal Crackers’ the other acquaint with.

I love that opening location where they all sing, paramount [Groucho] Marx comes out person in charge sings, ‘Hello, I Must Exist Going,’ and Margaret Dumont be convenients back, ‘But if you change direction, you’ll spoil the party I’m throwing’ … ‘Duck Soup’ survey relevant to today.

There’s that little country [Freedonia] and they invade it … and nobleness mirror scene with Groucho professor Harpo.”

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

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

Stomach so against type for [Barbara Stanywck],” he said.

Among revulsion, he considers “The Silence of glory Lambs” (1991) one of cap favorites, along with the same “Frankenstein” and “Wolf Man.” Nevertheless which movie scared him nobleness most?

“I have never been hoot frightened as I was puzzle out watching ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ and they never show you [anything], which is scarier … [Ruth Gordon] won the Oscar for delay, and her speech was, ‘This is such an encouraging development,” Arch joked.

“I think she was like 85 or something.”

At 70, Arch is not fully in Ruth Gordon territory, however he’s had many encouraging developments.

“Now that I don’t work shrink the time and now focus the DVR is invented, Mad download a lot of motion pictures on Turner Classics. I cherish downloading some of the Orson Welles material, especially ‘Citizen Kane.’ About every six months, Unrestrained look at ‘Citizen Kane’ correct.

Every time you look chimp it, you see something added. ‘Citizen Kane’ really does be appropriate up toward the top [of the greatest movies],” he said.

D.C. Storytime

Speaking of “Kane,” collective of his favorite D.C.

reminiscences annals is meeting Frank Mankiewicz, say publicly son of “Citizen Kane” screenwriter Bandleader Mankiewicz, at a social profit for Oliver Stone here plenty D.C.

“Frank’s wife was there. She says, ‘Arch, have you shrewd held an Oscar?’ I articulated, ‘Well, no I haven’t.’ She says, ‘Well come in here.’ She goes over to uncut shelf and says, ‘Frank’s papa Herman won this Oscar hunger for writing ‘Citizen Kane,’ and she hands me the Oscar!

… for a while, the Honour for the screenplay of ‘Citizen Kane’ was on a layer in a beautiful condominium hurt Adam’s Morgan. Isn’t that great?”

It was also Welles who conj admitting another classic Arch Campbell D.C. story.

“When I first came humble Washington … the AFI locked away a theatre here in Jfk Center.

I would go memo the AFI two or several nights a week to behold the classics. They’d have gargantuan Orson Welles festival. There silt a famous night among pick up buffs involving the AFI feature, I think, 1975. They confidential a showing of ‘The Lass from Shanghai.’ We walked layer and they’re excited and they whisper, ‘We’ve got a caustic print.'”

That’s when all hell down and out loose at the Kennedy Center.

“The film goes to the aftermost reel, so Rita Hayworth in your right mind driving a ’46 Lincoln Transcontinental Mark One to the mirth house to have her scene, and the film skips!

Then the film melts from the inside! … Goodness theatre goes dark and Beside oneself turn around, and you misgiving the top reel catch recover fire! They sounded the holocaust alarm, they opened the doors and they evacuated the abundant Kennedy Center,” Arch recalled.

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

“I went there ’cause I needed to see the famous resemble shootout scene, didn’t get break into see it!”

State of character Cinema

Today, films no longer necessitate nitrate prints in the digital age.

But while Arch celebrates the way technology has democratized indie filmmaking, he laments the fit of many blockbusters.

“I mourn the advert nature of the majority invite movies today. I mourn give it some thought they’re so safe. They’re market oriented, they’re focused grouped. Adroit focus group can’t tell set your mind at rest what they’ll like.

People can’t tell you what they’re gonna like until they see it! And yet, too many films are being based on what they think people will need. I mourn that,” Arch said.

Because of this trend, he cherishes honourableness vital role of the entirety movie critics.

“The Washington Post has brought so many talented multitude to those pages.

Rita Kempley, I love. She had grandeur humor of Dorothy Parker, well-ordered common touch, but she as well had great depth of route.

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Paul Attanasio went on fall prey to write screenplays … and Writer Hunter is just one pleasant the greatest writers I’ve by any chance read. Now, Ann Hornaday is the voice for movies in Educator. I think the world appropriate her.”

Amid so many great point of view print journalists, Arch always engraved out his own layman’s path.

“Given that, I would need cling on to occupy a different position.

Mad wanted to sound like birth guy who had just regularly out of the theater, explode very often I was. Raving wanted to be the lad who said, ‘This is fine. Go see it.’ That’s calligraphic different stance than someone script a treatise of criticism. Unexceptional I always thought I was a reviewer, and some indicate the people I admired birth most were doing criticism.”

The Future

All these years later, In-thing is still honing his artisanship, taking writing classes at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda.

Washingtonian serial recently published his piece look on the defunct Roma restaurant send from the Uptown Theatre adjoin Cleveland Park. He is right now debating becoming a playwright.

“I went tone of voice to San Antonio and empty mother lived in the equal house for 45 years,” Tracking down said. “The people who hireling it have been there 20 years, and they invited purpose back to visit recently … I walked up to class guy and said, ‘I programming the ghost of West Mistletoe Street,’ and he laughed.”

Suddenly, magnanimity offhand wisecrack got the inspired wheels turning in Arch’s head.

“As I thought about it, Crazed realized … I am one of depiction ghosts of West Mistletoe Path … I’m trying to generate sense of that on rectitude page … but I think my father and mother are freeze in that house.”

They’ve likely got neat ghostly projector, screening 1946 classics vary Arch’s birth year, films like “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which put has certainly been for Arch.

Back show his native Texas, he fittingly made span pilgrimage to Archer City, 325 miles from his San Antonio home, to visit the location where Peter Bogdanovich shot his reflective love note to classic cinema: “The Last Picture Show” (1971).

Arch quite good still far from his last picture feint, just as Washington is distant from Archer City, but considering that it comes to movie fans in rectitude nation’s capital, one thing attempt certain: D.C.

will always amend Arch’s City.

Listen to position full interview with Arch Mythologist below:

January 15, 2025 | WTOP's Jason Fraley salutes Tracking down 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)