When we went [to Iran], it was obvious that while you probably couldn't stand on a street corner and denounce the Shah, Iran seemed to be a rather free society. Particularly women were free. Tehran, anyway, seemed to be a largely westernized city, or modernized city, I should say, because you definitely felt you were in the Middle East — prosperous, thriving, and growing. So many of the people we met — admittedly we met mostly the upper classes — were Christians, Jews and Baha'is, all of whom were forced out or killed when the Ayatollahs came in. I mean, my point of view on Iran is coming from a different place than I think a lot of others.

Were you surprised by anything you saw there?

I was surprised to the degree of how open the society was and modern. And, you know, on the superficial level, the life in the northern part of Iran then was rather enchanted because these people were successful and making money.

We went to a polo match. We went to a state dinner that the brother of Fereydoun Hoveyda, who was the prime minister, Amir Abbas Hoveyda — it just happened while we were there — he had a state dinner for Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan. And that was fascinating, but still kind of haunting. I remember the toast Bhutto and Hoveyda made to each other about the eternal friendship of Pakistan and Iran, and both of those men were gone in a couple years time. Hoveyda assassinated by the Ayatollahs and Bhutto executed by the Pakistani generals.

We went one day to the souq, or bazaar, which was in southern Tehran and there were a few women in chadors. We went to Isfahan and there were a few more people in chadors, but everything was totally peaceful, and prosperous and clean. Everything seemed normal and nice. I never heard the word "shiites" in the 10 days we were there.

How did you describe what you saw in Iran to your friends?

It reminded me of Beverly Hills, except that they had Persian carpets by their pools. Caviar was plentiful, as it was in the Iranian Embassy in the U.S. Hoveyda ran the most sophisticated embassy in New York in terms of the social life because he had been a film critic for Cahiers du cinéma in Paris. So he would give dinners for François Truffaut, Rudolf Nureyev — many cultural figures — people like Lena Horne and Sidney Lumet. I remember one of the first times I met Rupert Murdoch was at a dinner there. It'd be a mix of diplomats, business people, socialites, entertainment people, artists. I mean his parties were great — they were really interesting.

What did Andy think of Iran?

Well, Andy was like, "Oh gee, oh wow, how glamorous." He loved the fact that we could call room service at the Hilton Hotel and get caviar all day long for $10 an order. We met Barry Goldwater in the lobby of the Hilton. Again, Andy's politics are different. I was republican and Andy was a democrat — we would kind of tease each other about it. Barry Goldwater, I remember we thought he was so good looking. He had the white hair. He was wearing a white suit with a black bolo tie, white shirt. He came over and introduced himself to Andy, which was sort of remarkable because the press always portrayed Barry Goldwater as this ultra right-winger, this John Bircher, and they always left out the part that his family was half Jewish and they work in the retail business, which would spoil the John Bircher label people tried to pin on him.