Host Celeste Headlee with our first mystery guest, who works as a voiceover artist.

Host Celeste Headlee with our first mystery guest, who works as a voiceover artist.

We kick off a new series called "No Notes" where Celeste Headlee interviews a mystery guest. She talks with one of the most familiar voices in the world.  We also talk with an actor who holds the world record for playing monsters and aliens, even if he sometimes doesn't speak at all.  And we bid goodbye this weekend to one of the most successful dramas in PBS history. 

Bill Blair is sometimes called the "Alien Actor." You may not recognize him, but he's played more than 200 roles that require special make up or prosthetics. It's a distinction that landed him a Guinness World Record for 'Most Special Effect Make-up Characters Portrayed in a Career.' He’s in Savannah this week for GnomeCon, an annual sci-fi and gamer conference. We talked with him about the art of transformation. 

Actor Bill Blair tells us about his life behind the makeup.

All next week, we feature artists from this year's lineup at the Stopover Music Festival in Savannah. Athens based singer/songwriter T. Hardy Morris is one of the featured acts. GPB's own Grant Blankenship and Chris Nylund of the Field Note Stenographers talked with Morris before a recent Macon show. And we pay our respects to "Downton Abbey."

After six seasons, the PBS series comes to an end Sunday. We re-visit a conversation with the show's executive producer, Rebecca Eaton. She explains how the show almost never happened. 

Rebecca Eaton tells us about her long journey to Downton Abbey.

We introduce a new series called "No Notes." Every so often, On Second Thought producers find a guest who has a great story to tell, but host Celeste Headlee doesn’t know anything about the guest before they come in for an interview. The first person we’re featuring has a famous voice, but does not have a household name. 

Celeste tallks with our first mystery guest, who has a household voice.

Plus, there’s a special jam session that happens in Fayetteville, Georgia every Wednesday afternoon. The musicians are cancer patients who come together at Piedmont Fayette Hospital. They form a drum circle. The rhythms they make together helps relieve stress and create community. Producer Linda Chen dropped in on a drum circle session and brings us a head-bobbing audio postcard.

Guests: