Kennedy Center Honors Recipients
by Sylviastel | created - 18 Jul 2012 | updated - 9 months ago | Public2001
1. Fred Astaire
Actor | The Towering Inferno
Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. Fred entered show business at age 5. He was successful both in vaudeville and on Broadway in partnership with his sister, Adele Astaire. After Adele retired to marry in 1932, Astaire headed to Hollywood. ...
1978
2. Marian Anderson
Soundtrack | The Great Debaters
Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the first of three sisters in the family. Her father, named John Anderson, was a salesman at a railroad station. Her mother, named Anna Anderson, was a schoolteacher. From the age of six, Anderson sang in the ...
1978
3. George Balanchine
Actor | Playhouse 90
George Balanchine was a Georgian-American ballet dancer and one of the foremost choreographers of the 20th century. Regarded as the founder of American ballet, he established and led the New York City Ballet for more than three decades.
Balanchine was born Georgy Melitonovich Balanchivadze, the son ...
1978
4. Richard Rodgers
Soundtrack | The Talented Mr. Ripley
He met Lorenz Hart in 1918 who was to write lyrics for Richard for the next 25 years. The produced many successful songs and musicals such as 'Pal Joey' and 'The Boys From Syracuse'. In 1943 Richard teamed up with Oscar Hammerstein to make a musical version of the play 'How Green Was Your Valley' ...
1978
5. Arthur B. Rubinstein
Composer | Stakeout
Arthur B. Rubinstein was born on March 31, 1938 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was a composer, known for Stakeout (1987), WarGames (1983) and Nick of Time (1995). He was married to Barbara Ferris. He died on April 23, 2018 in the USA.
1978
6. Aaron Copland
Soundtrack | He Got Game
Aaron Copland is an Academy Award-winning composer (The Heiress (1949)), author, conductor, lecturer and educator. He was educated at public schools and was a music student of his sister and later Leopold Wolfson, Victor Wittgenstein, Clarence Adler, Rubin Goldmark and Nadia Boulanger. In 1925, he ...
1979
7. Ella Fitzgerald
Soundtrack | Sphere
On Saturday, June 15th, 1996, an era in jazz singing came to an end, with the death of Ella Fitzgerald at her home in California. She was the last of four great female jazz singers (including Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae) who defined one of the most prolific eras in jazz vocal ...
1979
8. Henry Fonda
Actor | 12 Angry Men
This remarkable, soft-spoken American began in films as a diffident juvenile. With passing years, he matured into a star character actor who exemplified not only integrity and strength, but an ideal of the common man fighting against social injustice and oppression. He was born in Grand Island, ...
1979
9. Martha Graham
Writer | Lamentation
American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham was a revolutionary artist of modern dance in the early 20th century. Born in Allegheny, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in May 1894, her family moved to California when she was 10. She was inspired at that early age to become a dancer when she ...
1979
10. Tennessee Williams
Writer | A Streetcar Named Desire
Tennessee Williams met long-term partner Frank Merlo in the summer of 1948 (Merlo died of lung cancer in the fall of 1963). Though separated briefly in 1961 and again in 1962, the two were partners for 15 years. Merlo acted as his personal manager/secretary.
Williams spent much of his most prolific ...
1979
11. Leonard Bernstein
Soundtrack | New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts
Renowned composer ("West Side Story", "Candide", "On The Town"), conductor, arranger, pianist, educator, author, TV/radio host, educated at the Boston Latin School and Harvard University (BA) with Walter Piston. Edward Burlingame Hill and A. Tillman Merritt. He studied piano with Helen Coates, ...
1980
12. James Cagney
Actor | Angels with Dirty Faces
One of Hollywood's preeminent male stars of all time, James Cagney was also an accomplished dancer and easily played light comedy. James Francis Cagney was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, to Carolyn (Nelson) and James Francis Cagney, Sr., who was a bartender and amateur ...
1980
13. Agnes de Mille
Agnes de Mille was born on September 18, 1905 in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Oklahoma! (1955), The Ragamuffin (1916) and Carousel (1956). She was married to Walter Foy Prude. She died on October 7, 1993 in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York ...
1980
14. Lynn Fontanne
Actress | The Magnificent Yankee
Lynn Fontanne was a British actress of French and Irish descent. She spend most of her acting career in the United States, and she is considered among the great leading ladies of American theatre. She formed an acting duo with her husband Alfred Lunt (1892-1977). Fontanne had few film roles, but ...
1980
15. Leontyne Price
Soundtrack | Romeo + Juliet
Leontyne Price was born on February 10, 1927 in Laurel, Mississippi, USA. She is an actress, known for Romeo + Juliet (1996), The Metropolitan Opera Presents (1977) and NBC Television Opera Theatre (1949). She was previously married to William Warfield.
1980
16. Count Basie
Soundtrack | Pearl Harbor
The famed composer ("One O'Clock Jump", "Two O'Clock Jump", "Jumpin' at the Woodside"), pianist, songwriter and bandleader began as an accompanist to vaudeville acts. He joined the Bennie Moten orchestra in Kansas City, later organizing his own orchestra and performing on radio. In 1936 he came to ...
1981
17. Cary Grant
Actor | North by Northwest
Once told by an interviewer, "Everybody would like to be Cary Grant", Grant is said to have replied, "So would I."
Cary Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach on January 18, 1904 in Horfield, Bristol, England, to Elsie Maria (Kingdon) and Elias James Leach, who worked in a factory. His early years in ...
1981
18. Helen Hayes
Actress | Airport
Known as "The First lady of the American Theater", Helen Hayes had a legendary career on stage and in films and television that spanned over eighty years. Hayes was born in Washington, D.C., to Catherine Estelle "Essie" Hayes, an actress who worked in touring companies, and Francis van Arnum Brown,...
1981
19. Jerome Robbins
Writer | West Side Story
Jerome Robbins was one of the founding members of the Ballet Theatre when it was formed in 1940 portraying a variety of roles for several years before devising his own creations such as 'Fancy Free' about 3 sailors on leave in New York which marked a long association with Leonard Bernstein. With ...
1981
20. Rudolf Serkin
Soundtrack | Slaughterhouse-Five
Rudolf Serkin was born on March 28, 1903 in Eger, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Cheb, Czech Republic]. He was married to Irene Busch. He died on May 8, 1991 in Guilford, Vermont, USA.
1981
21. George Abbott
Writer | The Pajama Game
Legendary Broadway writer/producer/director George Abbott was born in 1887 in Forestville, New York. His father was mayor of Salamanca, New York, for two terms. In 1898 his family moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Abbott attended Kearney Military Academy. The family returned to New York, where Abbott...
1982
22. Lillian Gish
Actress | The Night of the Hunter
Lillian Diana Gish was born on October 14, 1893, in Springfield, Ohio. Her father, James Lee Gish, was an alcoholic who caroused, was rarely at home, and left the family to, more or less, fend for themselves. To help make ends meet, Lillian, her sister Dorothy Gish, and their mother, Mary Gish, ...
1982
23. Benny Goodman
Soundtrack | Allied
The King of Swing! Famed clarinetist, composer ("Stompin' at the Savoy") and conductor, educated at the Lewis Institute in Chicago and a student of Schillinger and Schoepp. He was a clarinetist with the orchestras of Bix Beiderbecke, Jules Herbuveaux, Arnold Johnson and Ben Pollack, and also played...
1982
24. Gene Kelly
Soundtrack | Singin' in the Rain
Eugene Curran Kelly was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the third son of Harriet Catherine (Curran) and James Patrick Joseph Kelly, a phonograph salesman. His father was of Irish descent and his mother was of Irish and German ancestry.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the largest and most powerful studio in...
1982
25. Eugene Ormandy
Soundtrack | True Lies
Eugene Ormandy conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra for 44 years, one of the longest tenures of a maestro and one orchestra. The Philadelphia under Ormandy's direction wad extremely popular, winning two Grammy Awards and being awarded three gold records for sales exceeding 500,000 units.
The maestro...
1982
26. Katherine Dunham
Actress | Star Spangled Rhythm
Dancer, choreographer, composer and songwriter, educated at the University of Chicago. She made world tours as a dancer, choreographer, and director of her own dance company. She directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance in New York, and was artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University. ...
1983
27. Elia Kazan
Director | On the Waterfront
Known for his creative stage direction, Elia Kazan was born Elias Kazantzoglou on September 7, 1909 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey). Noted for drawing out the best dramatic performances from his actors, he directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins. He ...
1983
28. Frank Sinatra
Actor | From Here to Eternity
Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants Natalina Della (Garaventa), from Northern Italy, and Saverio Antonino Martino Sinatra, a Sicilian boxer, fireman, and bar owner. Growing up on the gritty streets of Hoboken made Sinatra determined to work hard to get ahead. ...
1983
29. James Stewart
Actor | Vertigo
James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Ruth (Johnson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. He was of Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and some English descent. Stewart was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy, where he ...
1983
30. Virgil Thomson
Composer | Louisiana Story
One of the driving forces, both as critic and musician, of 20th century American music, Thomson studied music at both Harvard University and elsewhere in the Boston area before moving to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger in 1921. After spending a short time in his native land, he returned to ...
1983
31. Lena Horne
Soundtrack | Cabin in the Sky
Lena Calhoun Horne was born June 30, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York. In her biography she stated that, on the day she was born, her father was in the midst of a card game trying to get money to pay the hospital costs. Her parents divorced while she was still a toddler. Her mother left later in order ...
1984
32. Danny Kaye
Soundtrack | The Danny Kaye Show
Danny Kaye left school at the age of 13 to work in the so-called Borscht Belt of Jewish resorts in the Catskill Mountains. It was there he learned the basics of show biz. From there he went through a series of jobs in and out of the business. In 1939, he made his Broadway debut in "Straw Hat Revue,...
1984
33. Gian Carlo Menotti
Writer | The Medium
Gian Carlo Menotti was born on July 7, 1911 in Cadegliano-Viconago, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and composer, known for The Medium (1951), Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951) and Great Performances (1971). He was married to Samuel Barber. He died on February 1, 2007 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
1984
34. Arthur Miller
Writer | The Crucible
Arthur Asher Miller was born on October 17, 1915, in New York City, one of three children born to Augusta (nee Barnett) and Isidore Miller. His family was of Austrian Jewish descent. His father manufactured women's coats, but his business was devastated by the Depression, seeding his son's ...
1984
35. Isaac Stern
Soundtrack | Fiddler on the Roof
Isaac Stern was born on July 21, 1920 in Kremenets/Krzemieniec, Ukrainian People's Republic [now Kremenets, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for Fiddler on the Roof (1971), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and Humoresque (1946). He was married to Linda Reynolds, Vera Lindenblit and ...
1984
36. Merce Cunningham
Director | Variations V
Merce Cunningham was born on April 16, 1919 in Centralia, Washington, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Variations V (1966), Deli Commedia (1984) and Merce Cunningham (1998). He was married to John Cage. He died on July 26, 2009 in New York City, New York, USA.
1985
37. Irene Dunne
Actress | The Awful Truth
Irene Marie Dunne was born on December 20, 1898, in Louisville, Kentucky. She was the daughter of Joseph Dunne, who inspected steamships, and Adelaide Henry, a musician who prompted Irene in the arts. Her first production was in Louisville when she appeared in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the age...
1985
38. Bob Hope
Actor | The Ghost Breakers
Comedian Bob Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham, London, England, the fifth of seven sons of Avis (Townes), light opera singer, and William Henry Hope, a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. His maternal grandmother was Welsh. Hope moved to Bristol before emigrating with his parents...
1985
39. Alan Jay Lerner
Writer | An American in Paris
Playwright/lyricist Alan Jay Lerner was born into a wealthy New York City retailing family. His professional association with Frederick Loewe started in 1942 when they teamed up to write "Life of the Party". Their first Broadway success was the 1947 musical fantasy "Brigadoon." Lerner adapted work ...
1985
40. Frederick Loewe
Music_department | Camelot
Frederick Loewe's parents were Austrian; he studied music with Ferruccio Busoni, Eugene D'Albert and N. Reznicek and he was awarded the Hollander Medal in Berlin. He came to the US in 1924 and joined ASCAP in 1941; in 1942, he gave a piano recital at Carnegie Hall. His chief musical collaborator ...
1985
41. Beverly Sills
Actress | Live from Lincoln Center
This vibrant, fine-humored coloratura was able to accomplish what most others of her ilk could or would not do -- she humanized opera and made it approachable to the masses. There were no diva-like traits in this star and the public absolutely adored her for it. Dubbed "America's Queen of Opera" in...
1985
42. Lucille Ball
Actress | I Love Lucy
The woman who will always be remembered as the crazy, accident-prone, lovable Lucy Ricardo was born Lucille Desiree Ball on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York, the daughter of Desiree Evelyn "DeDe" (Hunt) and Henry Durrell "Had" Ball. Her father died before she was four, and her mother worked ...
1986
43. Ray Charles
Actor | The Blues Brothers
A tragic fate may have given this visionary a heightened sensitivity, perception, awareness, even expansion to his obvious musical gifts that he may have never touched upon had he not suffered from his physical affliction. Whatever it was, Ray Charles revolutionized American music and was ...
1986
44. Hume Cronyn
Actor | Cocoon
Hume Cronyn was a Canadian actor with a lengthy career. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in "The Seventh Cross" (1944).
Cronyn was born to a prominent family. His father was politician Hume Blake Cronyn (1864-1933), Member of Parliament for London, ...
1986
45. Jessica Tandy
Actress | Driving Miss Daisy
A beloved, twinkly blue-eyed doyenne of stage and screen, actress Jessica Tandy's career spanned nearly six and a half decades. In that span of time, she enjoyed an amazing film renaissance at age 80, something unheard of in a town that worships youth and nubile beauty. She was born Jessie Alice ...
1986
46. Yehudi Menuhin
Soundtrack | L'ultimo bacio
Yehudi Menuhin was born on April 22, 1916 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The Last Kiss (2001), The Magic Bow (1946) and Prevenge (2016). He was married to Diana Menuhin and Nola Nicholas. He died on March 12, 1999 in Berlin, Germany.
1986
47. Antony Tudor
Antony Tudor was born on April 4, 1908 in London, England, UK. He was a director and production designer, known for In a Monastery Garden (1932), Folio (1955) and The Tempest/II (1939). He died on April 19, 1987 in New York City, New York, USA.
1986
48. Perry Como
Soundtrack | The Perry Como Show
In a singing (and sometimes acting) career that spanned over six decades, the name Perry Como has come to mean that warm, smooth, easy-listening, general-audience, slow-flame romance that characterized popular music in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. It has also come to represent an overall good feeling....
1987
49. Bette Davis
Actress | All About Eve
Ruth Elizabeth Davis was born April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts, to Ruth Augusta (Favor) and Harlow Morrell Davis, a patent attorney. Her parents divorced when she was 10. She and her sister were raised by their mother. Her early interest was dance. To Bette, dancers led a glamorous life, but...
1987
50. Sammy Davis Jr.
Actor | The Cannonball Run
Sammy Davis Jr. was often billed as the "greatest living entertainer in the world".
He was born in Harlem, Manhattan, the son of dancer Elvera Davis (née Sanchez) and vaudeville star Sammy Davis Sr.. His father was African-American and his mother was of Cuban and African-American ancestry. Davis Jr....
1987
51. Nathan Milstein
Actor | Nash Airflyte Theatre
Nathan Milstein was born on December 31, 1904 in Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for Nash Airflyte Theatre (1950), Music for You (1951) and Great Music from Chicago (1959). He was married to Teresa Kaufman. He died on December 21, 1992 in London, ...
1987
52. Alwin Nikolais
Composer | Zelt
Alwin Nikolais was born on November 25, 1910 in Southington, Connecticut, USA. He was a composer and director, known for Zelt (1969), The Company (2003) and Motel (1989). He died on May 8, 1993 in New York City, New York, USA.
1987
53. Alvin Ailey
Ailey was born in the rural town of Rogers, Texas, USA. His childhood memories and experiences often informed his choreography; the most notable of his works was "Blues Suite", "Cry" (choreographed for Judith Jamison), and "Revelations", a ballet based on Ailey's observations and experiences in ...
1988
54. George Burns
Actor | Oh, God!
George Burns was an American actor, comedian, singer, and published author. He formed a comedy duo with his wife Gracie Allen (1895-1964), and typically played the straight man to her zany roles. Following her death, Burns started appearing as a solo performer. He once won an Academy Award for Best...
1988
55. Myrna Loy
Actress | The Thin Man
Myrna Williams, later to become Myrna Loy, was born on August 2, 1905 in Helena, Montana. Her father was the youngest person ever elected to the Montana State legislature. Later on her family moved to Radersburg where she spent her youth on a cattle ranch. At the age of 13, Myrna's father died of ...
1988
56. Alexander Schneider
Soundtrack | Slaughterhouse-Five
Alexander Schneider was born on October 21, 1908 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was married to Geraldine Page and Gerda Benfey. He died on February 2, 1993 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
1988
57. Roger L. Stevens
Roger L. Stevens was born on March 11, 1910. He is known for West Side Story (1961), Deathtrap (1982) and Boom! (1968). He died on February 3, 1998.
1988
58. Harry Belafonte
Actor | Bobby
Harold George Belafonte was born on March 1, 1927 in New York City. He was educated at the New York Dramatic Workshop. He grew up in Jamaica, British West Indies, and did folk-singing in nightclubs and theaters, and on television and records. His debut was at the Village Vanguard in New York. Also,...
1989
59. Claudette Colbert
Actress | It Happened One Night
One of the brightest film stars to grace the screen was born Emilie Claudette Chauchoin on September 13, 1903, in Saint Mandé, France where her father owned a bakery at 57, rue de la République (now Avenue Général de Gaulle). The family moved to the United States when she was three. As Claudette ...
1989
60. Alexandra Danilova
Alexandra Danilova was born on November 20, 1903 in Peterhoff, Russia. She was an actress, known for Live from Lincoln Center (1976), The Turning Point (1977) and Spanish Fiesta (1942). She was married to Kazimir Kokich and Giuseppe Massera. She died on July 13, 1997 in New York City, New York, USA.
1989
61. Mary Martin
Soundtrack | Peter Pan
Originally a dance instructor, she came to Broadway during the Depression to begin her career as a professional actress. A daughter of Texas, she originally began work as a dance instructor until a local evangelical-adherent burned down her studio citing her work as being too sinful for human ...
1989
62. William Schuman
Composer | Omnibus
William Schuman was born on August 4, 1910 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer, known for Omnibus (1952), Night Journey (1960) and Eye on New York (1956). He died on February 15, 1992 in Manhattan, New York, USA.
1989
63. Dizzy Gillespie
Soundtrack | The Talented Mr. Ripley
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie, along with Charlie Parker, ushered in the era of Be-Bop in the American jazz tradition. He was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, and was the youngest of nine children. He began playing piano at the age of four and received a music scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute ...
1990
64. Katharine Hepburn
Actress | The Lion in Winter
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was born on May 12, 1907 in Hartford, Connecticut to a suffragist, Katharine Martha (Houghton), and a doctor, Thomas Norval Hepburn, who both always encouraged her to speak her mind, develop it fully, and exercise her body to its full potential. An athletic tomboy as a ...
1990
65. Risë Stevens
Actress | Going My Way
One of the great voices of the Metropolitan Opera, New York-born mezzo-soprano Rise (pronounced REE-za) Stevens made her debut with the company in 1939 as Octavian in Richard Strauss's "Der Rosenkavalier" in a tour performance in Philadelphia. Her other notable roles in 21 years with the company ...
1990
66. Jule Styne
Soundtrack | Funny Girl
Jule Styne was born on December 31, 1905 in London, England, UK. He was a composer and producer, known for Funny Girl (1968), Die Hard (1988) and The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). He was married to Margaret Ann Bissett Brown and Ethel Rubenstein. He died on September 20, 1994 in New York City, New ...
1990
67. Billy Wilder
Writer | The Apartment
Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city's largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929 and wrote scripts for many ...
1990
68. Roy Acuff
Soundtrack | Night Train to Memphis
Roy Acuff was born on September 15, 1903 in Maynardville, Tennessee, USA. He was an actor, known for Night Train to Memphis (1946), Home in San Antone (1949) and Smoky Mountain Melody (1948). He was married to Mildred Louise Douglas. He died on November 23, 1992 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
1991
69. Betty Comden
Soundtrack | On the Town
Songwriter ("New York, New York", "Lonely Town", "The Party's Over", "Just in Time"), author and actress. educated at New York University with a Bachelor of Science degree. While a student, she acted with the Washington Square Players. She was a member of the Revuers, a night club act which also ...
1991
70. Adolph Green
Soundtrack | On the Town
Songwriter ("New York, New York", "The Party's Over", "Just in Time", "Make Someone Happy"), author and actor, educated at City College of New York. While he was a student, he acted with the Washington Square Players and had a part in the road company of "Having a Wonderful Time". A member of The ...
1991
71. Fayard Nicholas
Actor | The Pirate
Fayard Nicholas was one-half of The Nicholas Brothers, a famous African-American tap dancing team who appeared in several movies and became one of the famous and most beloved dance team of all time. Both brothers appeared in films such as An All-Colored Vaudeville Show (1935), The Pirate (1948) and ...
1991
72. Harold Nicholas
Actor | Tap
Harold Nicholas, the younger half of the world famous Nicholas Brothers dance team, is known as one of the world's greatest dancers. He and his brother Fayard Nicholas were established superstars at Twentieth Century Fox with their astounding dance numbers in the studios musicals features. Harold ...
1991
73. Gregory Peck
Actor | To Kill a Mockingbird
Eldred Gregory Peck was born on April 5, 1916 in La Jolla, California, to Bernice Mae (Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, a chemist and druggist in San Diego. He had Irish (from his paternal grandmother), English, and some German, ancestry. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child...
1991
74. Robert Shaw
Soundtrack | The American President
Robert Shaw was born on April 30, 1916 in Red Bluff, California, USA. He is known for The American President (1995), The Scarlet Letter (1995) and Voyage of Time: Life's Journey (2016). He died on January 25, 1999 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
1991
75. Lionel Hampton
Soundtrack | Allied
Lionel Hampton is an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader.
Hampton was born in Louisville, Kentucky and was raised by his grandmother. In the 1920s, he took xylophone lessons and began playing drums and later flute and percussion at Holy Rosary Academy near Chicago. ...
1992
76. Paul Newman
Actor | The Hustler
Screen legend, superstar, and the man with the most famous blue eyes in movie history, Paul Leonard Newman was born on January 26, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, the second son of Arthur Sigmund Newman (died 1950) and Theresa Fetsko (died 1982). His elder brother was Arthur S. Newman Jr., named for ...
1992
77. Joanne Woodward
Actress | Rachel, Rachel
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward was born on February 27, 1930, in Thomasville, Georgia, to Wade Woodward and Elinor Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward in a modest household. Her one older brother, Wade Jr., who was the favorite of her father, eventually became an architect. Elinor Woodward was a ...
1992
78. Ginger Rogers
Actress | Kitty Foyle
Ginger Rogers was born Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence, Missouri on July 16, 1911, the daughter of Lela E. Rogers (née Lela Emogene Owens) and William Eddins McMath. Her mother went to Independence to have Ginger away from her husband. She had a baby earlier in their marriage and he ...
1992
79. Mstislav Rostropovich
Soundtrack | The Accountant
Mstislav Rostropovich was a Russian cellist, pianist, conductor, pedagogue and political figure whose international performances and public appearances symbolized the struggle of intellectuals against the rigid Soviet Communism.
He was born Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich on March 27, 1927, in ...
1992
80. Paul Taylor
Great Performances: Dance in America
Paul Taylor was born on July 29, 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He is known for Great Performances: Dance in America (1976), The Wrecker's Ball: Three Dances by Paul Taylor (1996) and Singer Presents Burt Bacharach (1971). He died on August 29, 2018 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, ...
1992
81. Johnny Carson
Soundtrack | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson, the legendary "King of Late Night TV" who dominated the medium's nether hours for three decades, was born in Corning, Iowa, but moved with his family to nearby Norfolk, Nebraska when he was eight years old. He was the son of Ruth E. (Hook) and Homer Lloyd "Kit" Carson, a manager of ...
1993
82. Arthur Mitchell
Producer | Dance Theatre of Harlem: Fall River Legend
Arthur Mitchell was born on March 27, 1934 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Dance Theatre of Harlem: Fall River Legend (1989), Playhouse 90 (1956) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1967). He died on September 19, 2018 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
1993
83. Georg Solti
Soundtrack | Apocalypse Now
Sir Georg Solti was a renowned orchestra and opera conductor, best known as the music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who set a since-surpassed record by winning 31 Grammy Awards. He was born György Stern in Budapest, Hungary (his Germanic last named was changed under the country's ...
1993
84. Stephen Sondheim
Soundtrack | Dick Tracy
He did his pre college training at George School, Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, then was in a class of 50 at Williams College majoring in music as an undergraduate distinguishing himself by writing a book, lyrics and music for two college shows based on the adaption of 'Beggar on Horseback'....
1993
85. Marion Williams
Soundtrack | Fried Green Tomatoes
Marion Williams was born on August 29, 1927 in Miami, Florida, USA. She was an actress, known for Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), A Fall from Grace (2020) and Small Time (1990). She died on July 2, 1994 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
1993
86. Kirk Douglas
Actor | The Final Countdown
Cleft-chinned, steely-eyed and virile star of international cinema who rose from being "the ragman's son" (the name of his best-selling 1988 autobiography) to become a bona fide superstar, Kirk Douglas, also known as Issur Danielovitch Demsky, was born on December 9, 1916 in Amsterdam, New York. ...
1994
87. Aretha Franklin
Actress | The Blues Brothers
Grammy-winning Queen of Soul and the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Barbara Vernice (Siggers) and C. L. Franklin, a Baptist minister, who preached at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit for over thirty ...
1994
88. Morton Gould
Soundtrack | To the Wonder
Composer ("American Salute", "Pavanne"), conductor, pianist and arranger, educated at New York University and a music student of Abby Whiteside and Vincent Jones. At six, he had his first composition published ("Just Six"), and thereafter concertized until age 17. He was a staff arranger for Radio ...
1994
89. Harold Prince
Harold Prince was born on January 30, 1928 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and writer, known for West Side Story (1961), The Phantom of the Opera (2004) and Cabaret (1972). He was married to Judith Arlene Chaplin. He died on July 31, 2019 in Reykjavik, Iceland.
1994
90. Pete Seeger
Soundtrack | Just Cause
Sixteen-year-old Pete Seeger enrolled at the Avon Old Farms School in Connecticut and then decided to become a hermit. His life since then has been one social cause after another, buoyed by an almost indefatigable career as a self-described "sing-along leader."
During the 1930s he attended Harvard, ...
1994
91. Jacques d'Amboise
Actor | Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Jacques D'Amboise was trained in the School of American Ballet before joining the New York City Ballet in 1950. He soon went on to become a principal dancer. For over 3 decades, he danced with NYCB. During that time, he also choreographed several ballets. In 1976, D'Amboise founded the National ...
1995
92. Marilyn Horne
Soundtrack | Strange Days
Marilyn Horne was born on January 16, 1934 in Bradford, Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress, known for Strange Days (1995), Carmen Jones (1954) and Orlando furioso (1990). She was previously married to Henry Lewis and Nicola Zaccaria.
1995
93. B.B. King
Actor | Blues Brothers 2000
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 - May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimmering vibrato and staccato picking that influenced many ...
1995
94. Sidney Poitier
Actor | In the Heat of the Night
Sidney Poitier was a native of Cat Island, Bahamas, although born, two months prematurely, in Miami during a visit by his parents, Evelyn (Outten) and Reginald James Poitier. He grew up in poverty as the son of farmers, with his father also driving a cab in Nassau. Sidney had little formal ...
1995
95. Neil Simon
Writer | The Odd Couple
Neil Simon was born on July 4, 1927 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Odd Couple (1968), Murder by Death (1976) and The Goodbye Girl (1977). He was married to Elaine Joyce, Diane Lander, Marsha Mason and Joan Baim. He died on August 26, 2018 in ...
1995
96. Edward Albee
Soundtrack | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Edward Albee was born on March 12, 1928 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He was a writer, known for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), A Delicate Balance (1973) and Qui a peur de Virginia Woolf? d'Edward Albee (2011). He died on September 16, 2016 in Montauk, New York, USA.
1996
97. Benny Carter
Soundtrack | Raging Bull
Saxophonist, songwriter ("Because of You", "Hot Toddy", "Cow Cow Boogie"), conductor, arranger and composer, educated at Wilberforce University in theology. He was a saxophonist in Horace Henderson's Wilberforce Collegians, then played in the orchestras of Fletcher Henderson and Chick Webb. He went...
1996
98. Johnny Cash
Soundtrack | The Johnny Cash Show
Johnny Cash was born February 26, 1932, in Kingsland, Arkansas, to Carrie Cash (Rivers) and Raymond Cash. He made his first single, "Hey Porter", for Sun Records in 1955. In 1958 he moved to Columbia Records. He had long periods of drug abuse during the 1960s, but later that decade he successfully ...
1996
99. Jack Lemmon
Actor | The Apartment
Jack Lemmon was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Mildred Lankford Noel and John Uhler Lemmon, Jr., the president of a doughnut company. His ancestry included Irish (from his paternal grandmother) and English. Jack attended Ward Elementary near his Newton, MA home. At age 9 he was sent to Rivers ...
1996
100. Maria Tallchief
Actress | Million Dollar Mermaid
Maria Tallchief was born on January 24, 1925 in Fairfax, Oklahoma, USA. She was an actress, known for Million Dollar Mermaid (1952), Camera Three (1955) and Your Show of Shows (1950). She was married to Henry D. Paschen Jr., Elmourza Natirboff and George Balanchine. She died on April 11, 2013 in ...
1996
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