Ben Fong-Torres

Acting

Ben Fong-Torres

Born

1945-01-07 (81)

Place of birth

Alameda, California, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

9 titles

Benjamin Fong-Torres (方振豪; Cantonese: Fong Chan Ho; born January 7, 1945) is an American rock journalist best known for his association with Rolling Stone magazine (until 1981) and the San Francisco Chronicle (from around 1982). Ben Fong-Torres was born in Alameda, California, in 1945, and raised in Oakland's Chinatown, where his parents owned a restaurant. He attended San Francisco State College from 1962 through 1966, majored in Radio-TV-Film and served as a reporter and editor of the campus daily. He began writing for Rolling Stone magazine in 1968, in its eighth issue. He had a full-time job at another publication: Pacific Telephone’s employee magazine. By night, he was a volunteer edi…

Known for

Classic Albums poster
7.7

A documentary series about pop and rock albums that are considered the best or most distinctive of a well-known band or musician or that exemplify a stage in the history of music.

Classic Albums

1997

Americathon poster
3.6

In a story told in narrative flashbacks, a young TV consultant is hired by the President of a bankrupt USA to organize a telethon in order to prevent the country from being repossessed by wealthy Native Americans.

Americathon

1979

Joe Cocker: Mad Dog with Soul poster
7.3

The turbulent life of soul and blues singer, the late Joe Cocker. A former gas fitter from Sheffield, catapulted to world stardom in 1969 at Woodstock with his legendary performance of the Beatles song, "A Little Help from My Friends". But in the early 1970s, Joe Cocker's inner demons nearly killed him. Overcoming his struggles with alcohol and drugs, he rebuilt his reputation as "one of the great primal rock and roll vocalists of all time" (Billy Joel's description). The film mixes Joe Cocker's own words, with rare archive. His wife (Pam Cocker) & family, friends and the legendary songwriters and musicians he collaborated with, tell Joe Cocker's story. The film has raw, historic, electric performance footage throughout. Extensive interviews of key people through his life include: Pam Cocker, Ben Fong-Torres (Rolling Stone magazine editor), Randy Newman, Jimmy Webb, Billy Joel, Rita Coolidge, Deric Dyer, Glyn Johns, and numerous others.

Joe Cocker: Mad Dog with Soul

2017

No artwork available
7.0

Organist Korla Pandit was an alluring enigma, a television pioneer and the godfather of exotica music. He never spoke a word on 900 episodes of his groundbreaking 1950s TV program but captured the hearts of countless Los Angeles housewives with his soulful, hypnotic gaze and theatrical performance of popular tunes and East Indian compositions on the newly developed Hammond B3 organ. In the ’90s he resurfaced as a cult figure with the tiki/lounge music aficionados and ended up immortalized in the film Ed Wood. Often pegged as a “man of mystery,” Korla lived up to that billing when he took an amazing secret with him to his grave in 1998—one that is finally revealed in KORLA.

Korla

2015

Classic Albums: The Doors poster
7.7

A future classic was unleashed in January 1967 as the Doors released their eponymously titled debut album. This documentary in the Classic Albums series takes an in-depth look at the album, with commentary from Bruce Botnick, who worked on the album, and the three remaining Doors--guitarist Robbie Krieger, keyboard player Ray Manzarek, and drummer John Densmore. The three band members also play some of their instrumental parts from the album, offering invaluable insight into how the songs were constructed.

Classic Albums: The Doors

2008

Goin' Platinum Presents The Beach Boys poster
NR

A look at the making of The Beach Boys' 24th studio album, "Keepin' the Summer Alive".

Goin' Platinum Presents The Beach Boys

1980

Film credits

2020s · 2 titles

2010s · 3 titles

Joe Cocker: Mad Dog with Soul poster
7.3

The turbulent life of soul and blues singer, the late Joe Cocker. A former gas fitter from Sheffield, catapulted to world stardom in 1969 at Woodstock with his legendary performance of the Beatles song, "A Little Help from My Friends". But in the early 1970s, Joe Cocker's inner demons nearly killed him. Overcoming his struggles with alcohol and drugs, he rebuilt his reputation as "one of the great primal rock and roll vocalists of all time" (Billy Joel's description). The film mixes Joe Cocker's own words, with rare archive. His wife (Pam Cocker) & family, friends and the legendary songwriters and musicians he collaborated with, tell Joe Cocker's story. The film has raw, historic, electric performance footage throughout. Extensive interviews of key people through his life include: Pam Cocker, Ben Fong-Torres (Rolling Stone magazine editor), Randy Newman, Jimmy Webb, Billy Joel, Rita Coolidge, Deric Dyer, Glyn Johns, and numerous others.

Joe Cocker: Mad Dog with Soul

2017

No artwork available
7.0

Organist Korla Pandit was an alluring enigma, a television pioneer and the godfather of exotica music. He never spoke a word on 900 episodes of his groundbreaking 1950s TV program but captured the hearts of countless Los Angeles housewives with his soulful, hypnotic gaze and theatrical performance of popular tunes and East Indian compositions on the newly developed Hammond B3 organ. In the ’90s he resurfaced as a cult figure with the tiki/lounge music aficionados and ended up immortalized in the film Ed Wood. Often pegged as a “man of mystery,” Korla lived up to that billing when he took an amazing secret with him to his grave in 1998—one that is finally revealed in KORLA.

Korla

2015

Doors: Mr. Mojo Risin' - The Story of L.A. Woman poster
6.1

“Mr Mojo Risin’” is the story of the making of the Doors’ last album with Jim Morrison “L.A. Woman”. 2011 is the 40th anniversary both of the album’s release and of the death of Jim Morrison and this programme goes into detail of how the album came about, its recording and what was happening to the band at the time. The story is told through new interviews with the three surviving Doors: Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore plus contributions from Jac Holzman, founder of their label Elektra Records, Bill Siddons, who was their manager, Bruce Botnick, engineer and co-producer of the album and others associated with the Doors at this time. The show includes archive footage of the Doors performing both live and in the studio, classic photographs and new musical demonstrations from the Doors.

Doors: Mr. Mojo Risin' - The Story of L.A. Woman

2012

Series credits