Bill Landry of iconic 'Heartland Series' gets personal in new book

Bill Landry became known for telling the rich stories of the people, places and historical traditions of the local Appalachian area through “The Heartland Series” segments on WBIR-TV Channel 10.

But now that he is retired and in his 70s, this man who was used to telling stories from behind the microphone is telling them from behind the scenes.

While not written like a traditional memoir or autobiography, his new book, titled “A Last Hurrah,” still covers numerous and little-told events of his life, from his growing-up years to his professional career.

“This new book has been in the hopper for about eight years, I guess,” he said of his fourth book since leaving WBIR after helping put together the Heartland Series 1984-2009. “I always thought I’d write it. It’s in four parts, like a music suite.”

Those parts include a summary of some of the stories that never aired on “The Heartland Series” for various reasons, some vignettes of memorable events in his life, some plays or dramatic scenes he wrote or produced over the years, and some poems and other writings he has penned.

Landry, who has spent most of his time in recent years in the Pawleys Island, South Carolina, area with his new wife, Sandra, plans to do some book publicity over the coming weeks in what is being called the East Tennessee Heritage Tour: Bill Landry Legacy. He will also appear in late April at the Great Smoky Mountain Wildflower Pilgrimage in Gatlinburg.

Among the TV stories that never aired as episodes, one deals with a Confederate soldier’s written wartime memories of the home front, writings that were given to Landry by the veteran’s grandson at an event at the Ramsey House in 1989. Because of too many characters and locations to film, and because the series had not started using actors much, it was not produced.

Another one dealt with a woman he interviewed on Oakdale Mountain in Roane County, who told an old and supposedly true tale about an East Tennessee girl who wanted to be a witch. Because it was thought such themes in the Bible Belt might not be well received, the Heartland Series team decided not to do a Halloween-related story after an initial interview. But Landry includes the planned script of the episode, which makes for an eye-catching ghost story.

Many of his stories, one or two of which are expansions of topics covered in other books, deal with the sometimes-scary challenges of simply growing up. For example, he also tells of attending Catholic schools in Chattanooga, including getting hit with a fist by a nun for only mildly disruptive behavior.

And he also talks of being a Chattanooga Mocs college football player in 1969, not long after O.J. Simpson won the Heisman Trophy, and getting a chance to meet the football star while Simpson was in Chattanooga speaking years before being charged with killing his wife. Landry said Simpson came into the Mocs’ training and locker facility to meet some of the team, and Landry perceived that maybe the UC trainer had snubbed Simpson because he is Black.

Landry said he had grown up being taught by his father not to be prejudiced, and the incident bothered him so much that he sought out Simpson later that day and apologized for the behavior of others. But Simpson seemed not to have been bothered by it, and Landry wrote, “This was 50 years ago, and I still don’t know what to make of this conversation, the one I had with O.J. Simpson.”

He also tells some lighter stories, like getting to visit former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker later in his life and hearing some of his tales. One dealt with Baker going into the farm business with some childhood buddies while in college, but the venture did not last too long after one of them accidentally put bags of cement mix instead of the intended fertilizer on a crop of broccoli.

Landry also writes of some of his acting adventures, including putting on a one-man show on Albert Einstein in Oak Ridge in 1978.

The former TV narrator said he wanted to write an honest book of some of his adventures and hopes no one is offended, particularly regarding some of the incidents from his younger years. But as with his TV segments, he wanted to tell the true experiences of an Appalachian person − this time, himself.

“Most of what is written here, I’ve wanted to write for a long time, but couldn’t,” he said. “Perhaps they (some of the people written about) would rather I keep it to myself. But, I can’t.”

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Bill Landry of WBIR's 'Heartland Series' gets personal in new book