Here's this week's question and answer...
Participation--not just a semi-warm body in a chair opposite you, but someone who is listening to the questions and really trying to communicate an answer, with enthusiasm and rapport.
Content--not just the cliches or memorized responses they gave the last interviewer, but something fresh and interesting, preferably heartfelt but definitely intriuging.
Humanity--not just the groomed image of the star (though they will have that if they have made it far enough to be interviewed AS a star), but a real person with the normal quirks, charms, and thoughts just like you and me.
Courtesy--not just to me or other media people who can do them some good, but to the many people who flutter around them constantly whether in their own employ, the studio's, or the place we happen to be in at that time.
With all of that in in mind, my favorite interview is easy: Robin Williams. You've heard the term "comic genius" tossed around, but until you have spent time with Robin and watched him take off on a tangent about whatever was around him at that moment, and come up with constantly funny and sometimes inspired lines, you can't appreciate the word "genius." He told me that he hears much of his stuff--those lines he's not reworking from an earlier riff--at the same time the listener does, and I believe him. There's no time for anything else to happen.
But more than that: he's also the kindest, sweetest star I've met. He's as thoughtful to the waiter who serves him and to the fans who approach him as the power brokers who can make him richer. It surprised a lot of people to hear that he was voluntarily going to pay for Christopher Reeves' medical bills (at a reported half a million dollar a year) out of friendship. It didn't surprise me; he's not only a genius, he's a good man.
P.S. I'm pleased to report that Robin's newest film, opening March 8, is more than good. It's probably the funniest film in the past five years. It's a remake of the original French film, La Cage aux Folles (forget the silly musical), and that was an excellent farce. This one, The Birdcage, is even better, and Robin--although as funny as you would expect--is not even the funniest thing in the film (picture Gene Hackman as an arch-conservative senator in a dress). Trust me on this. Your ribcage will hurt from laughing at The Birdcage; mine did.