Ingrid Lemme got her dream by finally getting a long-awaited interview with Bill O’Reilly, famous host of “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox TV. She interviewed the opinionated and controversial news host on her “American Dream Show” on September 26 at Gurney’s Inn. It will be airing on WVVH-TV, Channel 78, on October 2, at 7 p.m.

“I’ve always wanted to interview you, ever since you started coming to Gurney’s about six years ago,” Lemme told the tall O’Reilly as he sat across from her on the set, with the ocean beaches in the background. She had met O’Reilly and his wife at Gurney’s, where he agreed to be on her show, but it took a few years before they could arrange their schedules to match.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am that you’re on my show today,” Lemme beamed. “We want to hear all about your life and your fabulous news career.”

As with all her shows, Lemme asked her guest about his family background and how they came to this country to live their American Dream. O’Reilly talked about how he was born in Brooklyn and was raised in Levittown, the son of parents of Irish descent.

“My Mom told us to be home before the streetlights came on, and my Dad, a man of few words, had only two things to say—“Don’t get arrested, and pass your grades in school,” said O’Reilly.

As a youth, he climbed trees, played hockey and baseball, and learned how to handle himself and survive in conflict. He told one great story about how he and his friends had hit baseballs into a neighbor’s yard, and the neighbor got mad and refused to give them back.

“So one day we climbed up a tree and tied an alarm clock to the branches outside this guy’s window, and set it for midnight,” he said. “We waited in the bushes, and when it went off, all the lights came on, the baby cried, and the police came. But we ran away, and to this day, no one knew about it until I wrote my book,” he laughed. This story is in his latest of eight books, which he brought to the set. It is called, “A Bold, Fresh Piece of Humanity: A Memoir.”

Lemme asked about his education, to which he said he graduated from St. Brigid’s School where he “annoyed” the nuns, and later from a boy’s Catholic school in Mineola. He went to Marist College to play football, and took his junior year abroad in London, “where the world opened up for me,” he recalled. He traveled to other countries, which paved the way for him to later become an international journalist.

After graduation, he taught for two years in Miami, but he said he “knew there was something else for me,” and he went to Boston University for his Masters in Broadcast Journalism. He later went on to get a degree in Public Administration from Harvard University.

“I covered four wars during the 1980’s,” he explained to Lemme. “I went to Israel, Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, El Salvador, and I’ve seen the best and the worst—I almost got killed a few times.”

O’Reilly admitted he felt lucky to have “gotten in on the last wave of being sent all over the world to cover the news,” since today it has gotten so expensive and with modern technology reporters are not sent out as much.

In his extensive years as a TV journalist for stations around the country from Scranton, to Dallas, Denver, Portland, Hartford and Boston, O’Reilly has interviewed several presidents, from Richard Nixon to George Bush, Bill Clinton, and most recently, Barack Obama. He also hosted “Inside Edition.”

“President Nixon stayed at Gurney’s, in the Skipper’s Cottage,” Lemme informed him. “He wrote his inauguration speech here.”

O’Reilly didn’t know that, but he remembered how he was in sixth grade during the Nixon-Kennedy debates, and he couldn’t decide who he liked better, because his father favored Nixon and his Mom favored Kennedy.

Lemme triggered laughter from her audience when she asked O’Reilly, “Do you think you are opinionated?” To which he answered, “Do I THINK?”

O’Reilly said what separates him from other TV interviewers is that he does not just ask a question of them, but rather, he gives his opinion and then asks them to comment.

"Both President Obama and Hillary Clinton held their own in my interviews,” he said. “But if Obama comes back on my show, I will push him to the limit and there’s a potential for disaster.”

In his interview, O’Reilly showed that he is one tough Irish guy. But he also showed a softer side, talking about his fond memories of his family, baseball, and of some of the people he interviewed. “And I wanted to come on your show, Ingrid,” he said. “Because you’re a nice person, and I always like coming to Gurney’s and Montauk.”

For his upcoming interview shows, check the website at www. americandreamshow.com 

Bill O'Reilly on The American Dream Show