Kennedy Center Honors Recipients
by Sylviastel | created - 18 Jul 2012 | updated - 10 months ago | Public2001
101. Lauren Bacall
Actress | To Have and Have Not
Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City. She was the daughter of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a Romanian Jewish immigrant, and William Perske, who was born in New Jersey, to Polish Jewish parents. Her family was middle-class, with her father working as a ...
1997
102. Bob Dylan
Soundtrack | Renaldo and Clara
Robert Allen Zimmerman was born 24 May 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota; his father Abe worked for the Standard Oil Co. Six years later the family moved to Hibbing, often the coldest place in the US, where he taught himself piano and guitar and formed several high school rock bands. In 1959 he entered the...
1997
103. Charlton Heston
Actor | Ben-Hur
With features chiseled in stone, and renowned for playing a long list of historical figures, particularly in Biblical epics, the tall, well-built and ruggedly handsome Charlton Heston was one of Hollywood's top leading men of his prime and remained active in front of movie cameras for over sixty ...
1997
104. Jessye Norman
Soundtrack | Wild at Heart
Jessye Norman was born on September 15, 1945 in Augusta, Georgia, USA. She was an actress, known for Wild at Heart (1990), The Hours (2002) and Choke (2008). She died on September 30, 2019 in New York City, New York, USA.
1997
105. Edward Villella
Actor | Playhouse 90
Edward Villella was born on October 1, 1936 in Bayside, Long Island, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Playhouse 90 (1956), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1967) and Brigadoon (1966). He is married to Linda Carbonetto. They have two children. He was previously married to Janet ...
1997
106. Bill Cosby
Actor | The Cosby Show
Bill Cosby is one of the world's most well-known entertainers and comedians. William Henry Cosby, Jr. was born on July 12, 1937, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Anna Pearl (Hite), a maid and William Henry Cosby, Sr., a U.S. Navy sailor. After 10th grade, Cosby joined the Navy and completed high ...
1998: rescinded in 2018.
107. Fred Ebb
Soundtrack | Chicago
Fred Ebb was born on April 8, 1928 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Chicago (2002), Cabaret (1972) and Shame (2011). He died on September 11, 2004 in New York City, New York, USA.
1998
108. John Kander
Soundtrack | Chicago
John Kander was born on March 18, 1927 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. He is a composer and writer, known for Chicago (2002), Cabaret (1972) and Shame (2011). He has been married to Albert Stephenson since 2010.
1998
109. Willie Nelson
Soundtrack | The Dukes of Hazzard
This versatile, eclectic, rather wanderlust country crossover star known for his classic ballads ("Always On My Mind"), autobiographical road songs ("On the Road Again") and catchy rhythms ("Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys") started out life as Willie Hugh Nelson on April 30, ...
1998
110. André Previn
Music_department | My Fair Lady
German-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor André George Previn (born Andreas Ludwig Priwin, in Berlin) was for eight decades a hugely influential and prolific figure in jazz, as well as classical and film music. Being Jewish, Previn's family was forced to leave Hitler's Germany in ...
1998
111. Shirley Temple
Actress | The Little Colonel
Shirley Temple was easily the most popular and famous child star of all time. She got her start in the movies at the age of three and soon progressed to super stardom. Shirley could do it all: act, sing and dance and all at the age of five! Fans loved her as she was bright, bouncy and cheerful in ...
1998
112. Victor Borge
Actor | Higher and Higher
Pianist, composer, songwriter, entertainer and actor, educated at Borgerdydskolen and the Conservatory of Copenhagen. He studied with Egon Petri and Frederic Lammond. His concert career began in 1922, and he performed in a musical revue in 1934, and in films by 1937. Arriving in the US in 1940, he ...
1999
113. Sean Connery
Actor | The Rock
The tall, handsome and muscular Scottish actor Sean Connery is best known as the original actor to portray James Bond in the hugely successful movie franchise, starring in seven films between 1962 and 1983. Some believed that such a career-defining role might leave him unable to escape it, but he ...
1999
114. Judith Jamison
Art_department | Great Performances
Judith Jamison was born on May 10, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress, known for Great Performances (1971), The Cosby Show (1984) and A Tribute to Alvin Ailey (1990). She was previously married to Miguel Godreau and Barry Feinstein.
1999
115. Jason Robards
Actor | All the President's Men
Powerful and highly respected American actor Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Hope Maxine (Glanville) and stage and film star Jason Robards Sr. He had Swedish, English, Welsh, German, and Irish ancestry. Robards was raised mostly in Los Angeles. A star athlete at ...
1999
116. Stevie Wonder
Soundtrack | Wild Wild West
Born Stevland Hardaway Judkins in Saginaw, Michigan, United States, to Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway. Due to being born six weeks premature, Stevie Wonder was born with a condition called retinopathy of prematurity, which made him blind. Stevie Wonder, even with this disability, made his ...
1999
117. Mikhail Baryshnikov
Actor | The Turning Point
Boyishly cute, diminutive and strong as a bull, but as graceful as any gazelle or swan, Mikhail Baryshnikov is a household name even to non-balletomanes. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and biggest names in dance.
Mikhail began his ballet studies in his native Riga, Latvia. He was ...
2000
118. Chuck Berry
Soundtrack | Men in Black
Charles Edward Anderson Berry was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive with songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll ...
2000
119. Plácido Domingo
Soundtrack | The Book of Life
Although born in Madrid, Spain, Placido Domingo spent a major portion of his life living in Mexico City where he graduated from the Mexico City Conservatory. His first operatic performance was in a staging of La Traviata in Monterrey playing Alfredo. He was then a Tenor for the Israel National ...
2000
120. Clint Eastwood
Actor | Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood was born May 31, 1930 in San Francisco, to Clinton Eastwood Sr., a bond salesman and later manufacturing executive for Georgia-Pacific Corporation, and Ruth Wood (née Margret Ruth Runner), a housewife turned IBM clerk. He grew up in nearby Piedmont. At school Clint took interest in ...
2000
121. Angela Lansbury
Actress | The Manchurian Candidate
Angela Lansbury was born in 1925 into a prominent family of the upper middle class living in the Regent's Park neighborhood of London. Her father was socialist politician Edgar Isaac Lansbury (1887-1935), a member of both the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Labour Party. Edgar ...
2000
122. Julie Andrews
Actress | The Sound of Music
Julia Elizabeth Wells was born on October 1, 1935, in England. Her mother, Barbara Ward (Morris), and stepfather, both vaudeville performers, discovered her freakish but undeniably lovely four-octave singing voice and immediately got her a singing career. She performed in music halls throughout her...
2001
123. Van Cliburn
Self | Live from Lincoln Center
Van Cliburn was born Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Jr. on July 12, 1934, in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA. His mother, named Rildia Bee O'Bryan, had been taught piano by Arthur Friedheim, a pupil of Franz Liszt. Cliburn began taking piano lessons at the age of three from his mother, who was strict and ...
2001
124. Quincy Jones
Producer | The Color Purple
Considered to be one of the greatest minds in music and television history, Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. was born on March 14, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son of Sarah Frances (Wells), a bank executive, and Quincy Delight Jones, Sr., a carpenter.
Jones found his love for music while he was ...
2001
125. Jack Nicholson
Actor | Chinatown
Jack Nicholson, an American actor, producer, director and screenwriter, is a three-time Academy Award winner and twelve-time nominee. Nicholson is also notable for being one of two actors - the other being Michael Caine - who have received an Oscar nomination in every decade from the '60s through ...
2001
126. Luciano Pavarotti
Soundtrack | Yes, Giorgio
Luciano Pavarotti was a best-selling classical singer and humanitarian known for his most original and popular performances with the 'Three Tenors' and 'Pavarotti & Friends'.
He was born on October 12, 1935, in Modena, Emilia-Romagna, in Northern Italy. He was the first child and only son of two ...
2001
127. James Earl Jones
Actor | Rogue One
Widely regarded as the one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native USA and internationally, James Earl Jones was born on January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. At an early age, he started to take dramatic lessons to calm himself down. It appeared to work as he has since starred ...
2002
128. James Levine
Music_department | Fantasia 2000
James Levine was born on June 23, 1943 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He was a director, known for Fantasia 2000 (1999), The Metropolitan Opera Presents (1977) and A Classic Tale. Music for Our Children (2001). He died on March 9, 2021 in Palm Springs, California, USA.
2002
129. Chita Rivera
Actress | Chicago
An accomplished and versatile actress/singer/dancer, Chita Rivera has won two Tony Awards as Best Leading Actress in a Musical and received eight additional Tony nominations for an exceptional 10 Tony nominations. She recently starred in The Visit, the final John Kander/Fred Ebb/Terrence McNally ...
2002
130. Paul Simon
Soundtrack | One-Trick Pony
Born on October 13, 1941, in Newark New Jersey, Paul Simon is one of the greatest singer/songwriters ever. In 1957, he and high school pal, Art Garfunkel, wrote and recorded the single, "Hey Schoolgirl", under the name "Tom and Jerry". After some failures, they broke up. Simon still wrote and ...
2002
131. Elizabeth Taylor
Actress | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was considered one of the last, if not the last, major star to have come out of the old Hollywood studio system. She was known internationally for her beauty, especially for her violet eyes, with which she captured audiences early in her youth and kept the world hooked ...
2002
132. James Brown
Actor | The Blues Brothers
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 - December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer, and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honorific nicknames "Godfather of Soul", "Mr. Dynamite", and ...
2003
133. Carol Burnett
Soundtrack | The Carol Burnett Show
The entertainment world has enjoyed a six-decade love affair with comedienne/singer Carol Burnett. A peerless sketch performer and delightful, self-effacing personality who rightfully succeeded Lucille Ball as the carrot-topped "Queen of Television Comedy," it was Burnett's traumatic childhood that...
2003
134. Loretta Lynn
Soundtrack | The New Mutants
Loretta Lynn was born on April 14, 1932 in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, USA. She was a music artist and actress, known for The New Mutants (2020), High Crimes (2002) and Logan Lucky (2017). She was married to Oliver Lynn. She died on October 4, 2022 in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, USA.
2003
135. Mike Nichols
Director | The Graduate
He, along with the other members of the "Compass Players" including Elaine May, Paul Sills, Byrne Piven, Joyce Hiller Piven and Edward Asner helped start the famed "Second City Improv" company. They used the games taught to them by fellow cast mate, Paul Sills 's mother, Viola Spolin. He later ...
2003
136. Itzhak Perlman
Music_department | Ying xiong
Probably the pre-eminent violinist of our time, Itzhak Perlman is known for his brilliant technique, direct interpretation and precision. Mr. Perlman's recordings include not only all standard violin repertoires but those of contemporary composers. He has appeared with every major orchestra in the ...
2003
137. Warren Beatty
Actor | Reds
Since starring in his first film, Splendor in the Grass (1961), Warren Beatty has been said to have demonstrated a greater longevity in movies than any actor of his generation. Few people have taken so many responsibilities for all phases of the production of films as producer, director, writer, ...
2004
138. Ossie Davis
Actor | Do the Right Thing
Ossie Davis was born on December 18, 1917 in Cogdell, Georgia, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Do the Right Thing (1989), Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) and Grumpy Old Men (1993). He was married to Ruby Dee. He died on February 4, 2005 in Miami Beach, Florida, USA.
2004
139. Ruby Dee
Actress | American Gangster
Ruby Dee was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist and civil rights activist. She is best known for originating the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of A Raisin in the Sun (1961).
She also starred in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Cat People (1982), ...
2004
140. Elton John
Soundtrack | Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Sir Elton John is one of pop music's great survivors. Born 25 March, 1947, as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, he started to play the piano at the early age of four. At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. His first band was called Bluesology. He later auditioned (...
2004
141. Joan Sutherland
Actress | Live from the Metropolitan Opera
Joan Sutherland was born on November 7, 1926 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was an actress, known for The Metropolitan Opera Presents (1977), Spectre (2015) and Carlito's Way (1993). She was married to Richard Bonynge. She died on October 10, 2010 in Montreux, Switzerland.
2004
142. John Williams
Composer | Jurassic Park
As one of the best known, awarded, and financially successful composers in US history, John Williams is as easy to recall as John Philip Sousa, Aaron Copland or Leonard Bernstein, illustrating why he is "America's composer" time and again. With a massive list of awards that includes over 52 Oscar ...
2004
143. Tony Bennett
Actor | Muppets Most Wanted
Tony Bennett, one of the legends of jazz and popular music who served during the Second World War and then developed a career spanning over half a century, is now giving another concert tour across the United States and Europe.
He was born Anthony (Antonio) Dominick Benedetto on August 3, 1926, in ...
2005
144. Suzanne Farrell
Actress | A Midsummer Night's Dream
Suzanne Farrell was born on August 16, 1945 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. She is an actress, known for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1967), Romeo e Giulietta (1972) and Davidsbündlertänze (1981). She was previously married to Paul Mejia.
2005
145. Julie Harris
Actress | The Haunting
One of the finest classical and contemporary leading ladies ever to grace the 20th century American stage, five-time Tony Award winner Julie Harris was rather remote and reserved on camera, finding her true glow in front of the theatre lights. The freckled, red-haired actress not only was nominated...
2005
146. Robert Redford
Actor | The Natural
Born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, to Charles Robert Redford, an accountant for Standard Oil, and Martha Redford, Charles Robert Redford, Jr. was a scrappy kid who stole hubcaps in high school and lost his college baseball scholarship at the University of Colorado because of ...
2005
147. Tina Turner
Soundtrack | Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
With almost fifty years in the music business, Tina Turner became one of the most commercially successful international female rock stars. Her sultry, powerful voice, her incredible legs, her time-tested beauty and her unforgettable story all contributed to her legendary status.
Born to a ...
2005
148. Andrew Lloyd Webber
Soundtrack | The Phantom of the Opera
Andrew Lloyd Webber is arguably the most successful composer of our time. He is best known for stage and film adaptations of his musicals Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Cats (1994), Evita (1996), and The Phantom of the Opera (2004).
He was born on March 22, 1948, in South Kensington in London, ...
2006
149. Zubin Mehta
Soundtrack | Manhattan
Zubin Mehta was born on April 29, 1936 in Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India. He is an actor, known for Manhattan (1979), Cold Pursuit (2019) and Strictly Ballroom (1992). He has been married to Nancy Kovack since July 19, 1969. He was previously married to Carmen Lasky.
2006
150. Dolly Parton
Soundtrack | The Porter Wagoner Show
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946 in Pittman Center, Tennessee and raised in Sevierville, Tennessee to Avie Lee Parton, a housewife & Robert Lee Parton, a tobacco farmer. At 12, she was appearing on Knoxville TV and at 13, she was already recording on a small label and appearing at ...
2006
151. Smokey Robinson
Soundtrack | Big Time
Multi-talented performer/writer/producer Smokey Robinson's career, and life, is inextricably tied up with Motown Records' founder Berry Gordy (his first two children are named Tamla, for the Gordy-owned label Smokey recorded for, and Berry, for Gordy himself). He and Gordy have had a professional ...
2006
152. Steven Spielberg
Producer | Schindler's List
One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema, Steven Spielberg is Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. He has an extraordinary number of commercially successful and critically acclaimed credits to his name, either as a director, ...
2006
153. Steve Martin
Writer | Roxanne
Steve Martin was born on August 14, 1945 in Waco, Texas, USA as Stephen Glenn Martin to Mary Lee (née Stewart; 1913-2002) and Glenn Vernon Martin (1914-1997), a real estate salesman and aspiring actor. He was raised in Inglewood and Garden Grove in California. In 1960, he got a job at the Magic ...
2007
154. Diana Ross
Soundtrack | The Wiz
Best known as the the lead singer of the popular 1960s singing group The Supremes, Diana Ernestine Earle Ross was born on March 26, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan, the second of six children of African-American parents Ernestine Lillian (Moten), a schoolteacher, and Fred Earl Ross, who served in the ...
2007
155. Leon Fleisher
Music_department | Camera Three
Leon Fleisher was born on July 23, 1928 in San Francisco, California, USA. He is known for Camera Three (1955), Why Competitions (2011) and Wittgenstein's Repertoire. He was married to Dorothy Druzinsky and Risselle Rosenthal. He died on August 2, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
2007
156. Martin Scorsese
Producer | Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Charles Scorsese was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City, to Catherine Scorsese (née Cappa) and Charles Scorsese, who both worked in Manhattan's garment district, and whose families both came from Palermo, Sicily. He was raised in the neighborhood of Little Italy, which later ...
2007
157. Brian Wilson
Soundtrack | Love & Mercy
Brian Douglas Wilson was born on June 20th 1942 and has gone on to become one of, if not the greatest, musical geniuses in the world. It was while growing up, while being physically and psychologically abused by his father, that he discovered music as a way of shutting out all hurt and pain that he...
2007
158. Morgan Freeman
Actor | Driving Miss Daisy
With an authoritative voice and calm demeanor, this ever popular American actor has grown into one of the most respected figures in modern US cinema. Morgan was born on June 1, 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee, to Mayme Edna (Revere), a teacher, and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, a barber. The young Freeman...
2008
159. George Jones
Soundtrack | Ad Astra
George Jones was born on September 12, 1931 in Saratoga, Texas, USA. He was a music artist and actor, known for Ad Astra (2019), Only the Brave (2017) and Crazy Heart (2009). He was married to Nancy Sepulveda, Tammy Wynette, Shirley Ann Corley and Dorothy Bonvillion. He died on April 26, 2013 in ...
2008
160. Barbra Streisand
Actress | Yentl
Barbra Streisand is an American singer, actress, director and producer and one of the most successful personalities in show business. She is the only person ever to receive all of the following: Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe, Cable Ace, National Endowment for the Arts, and Peabody awards,...
2008
161. Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp was born on July 1, 1941 in Portland, Indiana, USA. She is a director and actress, known for Amadeus (1984), Hair (1979) and Great Performances: Dance in America (1976).
2008
162. Pete Townshend
Music_department | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Born in Chiswick, London just ten days after the German surrender in 1945, Townshend grows up in a typical middle-class home. His parents, Cliff and Betty Townshend, are both musicians, and as a child he accompanies them on dance band tours. Townshend starts playing guitar at 12. He goes to art ...
2008
163. Roger Daltrey
Actor | Lisztomania
Roger Daltrey is noted as a founder of the legendary rock band The Who. After leaving London's Acton County Grammar School in 1963, he formed a skiffle band called The Detours, then displayed an early genius by putting together unusual elements into a world-class performance. The unusual elements ...
2008
164. Mel Brooks
Actor | Spaceballs
Mel Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. He served in WWII, and afterwards got a job playing the drums at nightclubs in the Catskills. Brooks eventually started a comedy act and also worked in radio and as Master Entertainer at Grossinger's Resort before going to ...
2009
165. Dave Brubeck
Soundtrack | Inland Empire
Dave Brubeck was born on December 6, 1920 in Concord, California, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Inland Empire (2006), Baby Driver (2017) and Constantine (2005). He was married to Iola Brubeck. He died on December 5, 2012 in Norwalk, Connecticut, USA.
2009
166. Grace Bumbry
Soundtrack | The Hudsucker Proxy
Grace Bumbry was born on January 4, 1937 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She was an actress, known for The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Carmen (1968) and Aïda (1977). She was married to Erwin Jaeckel. She died on May 7, 2023 in Vienna, Austria.
2009
167. Robert De Niro
Actor | Cape Fear
One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French. He was trained ...
2009
168. Bruce Springsteen
Soundtrack | Blinded by the Light
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born September 23, 1949 in Long Branch, New Jersey, USA. His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, worked as a bus driver, and was of Irish and Dutch ancestry. His mother, Adele Ann (Zerilli), worked as a legal secretary, and was of Italian descent. He has an...
2009
169. Merle Haggard
Soundtrack | Wag the Dog
Merle Haggard was born on April 6, 1937 in Bakersfield, California, USA. He was a music artist and actor, known for Wag the Dog (1997), The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) and Jack Reacher (2012). He was married to Theresa Ann Lane, Debora J Parret, Leona Bell Williams, Bonnie Owens and Billie ...
2010
170. Jerry Herman
Soundtrack | Mystery Men
Grammy award-winning songwriter ("Hello Dolly!" [1965]), composer and author, educated at the University of Miami (Bachelor of Arts) and the Parsons School of Design. His stage scores include "I Feel Wonderful" and "Parade" (off-Broadway), "Night Cap" (for night clubs), and "Milk and Honey", "Mame"...
2010
171. Bill T. Jones
Director | Still Here
Bill T. Jones was born on February 15, 1952 in Bunnell, Florida, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Still/Here (1996), National Theatre Live: Fela! (2011) and FELA! Ten-Twenty (2021).
2010
172. Paul McCartney
Soundtrack | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sir Paul McCartney is a key figure in contemporary culture as a singer, composer, poet, writer, artist, humanitarian, entrepreneur, and holder of more than 3 thousand copyrights. He is in the "Guinness Book of World Records" for most records sold, most #1s (shared), most covered song, "Yesterday," ...
2010
173. Oprah Winfrey
Producer | The Oprah Winfrey Show
Oprah Gail Winfrey , often known simply as Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which was the highest-rated television program of its kind in history and ...
2010
174. Barbara Cook
Actress | Thumbelina
Barbara Cook is best-loved and remembered for her work on the Broadway stage. An amazing singer and refreshingly impulsive actress, she made her debut at age 23 in the musical "Flahooley". Roles in "Plain and Fancy" and, the most famous flop of all time, "Candide" followed. In 1957, she created her...
2011
175. Neil Diamond
Soundtrack | The Jazz Singer
Neil Leslie Diamond was born in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York City, on January 24, 1941. His father, Akeeba "Kieve" Diamond, was a dry-goods merchant. Both he and wife Rose were Jewish immigrants from Poland. The Diamond family temporarily relocated to Cheyenne, Wyoming, because of...
2011
176. Sonny Rollins
Soundtrack | Project Power
Sonny Rollins was born on September 7, 1930 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Project Power (2020), Metro (1997) and The French Dispatch (2021).
2011
177. Meryl Streep
Actress | Out of Africa
Considered by many critics to be the greatest living actress, Meryl Streep has been nominated for the Academy Award an astonishing 21 times, and has won it three times. Meryl was born Mary Louise Streep in 1949 in Summit, New Jersey, to Mary Wolf (Wilkinson), a commercial artist, and Harry William ...
2011
178. Yo-Yo Ma
Soundtrack | Wo hu cang long
Yo-Yo Ma was born on October 7, 1955 in Paris, France. He is a music artist and actor, known for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Mission: Impossible (1996) and Ex Machina (2014). He has been married to Jill Alison Hornor since May 20, 1978. They have two children.
2011
179. Buddy Guy
Soundtrack | In the Electric Mist
Buddy Guy was born on July 30, 1936 in Lettsworth, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for In the Electric Mist (2009), Idiocracy (2006) and Nothing to Lose (1997).
2012
180. Dustin Hoffman
Actor | Tootsie
Dustin Lee Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California, to Lillian (Gold) and Harry Hoffman, who was a furniture salesman and prop supervisor for Columbia Pictures. He was raised in a Jewish family (from Ukraine, Russia-Poland, and Romania). Hoffman graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955, ...
2012. One of the world's most famous actors in classic films like "The Graduate," "Kramer v. Kramer," and "Rain Man" only to name a few. He's a film star overall!
181. Led Zeppelin
Soundtrack | The Song Remains the Same
Led Zeppelin are a popular British band best known for their iconic "Stairway to Heaven" as well as for co-creating the music genre of heavy metal. Since their nine albums were recorded between 1968 and 1979, Led Zeppelin has been one of the most popular bands of all time, having sold more than 300...
2012: A first for the Kennedy Center Honors to name the band, Led Zeppelin, among the honorees. They include John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant.
182. John Paul Jones
Soundtrack | The Song Remains the Same
John Paul Jones was born on January 3, 1946 in Sidcup, Kent, England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for The Song Remains the Same (1976), The Adam Project (2022) and Small Soldiers (1998). He has been married to Maureen Jones since 1967. They have three children.
2012
183. Jimmy Page
Soundtrack | The Song Remains the Same
Jimmy Page was born on January 9, 1944 in Heston, Middlesex, England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for The Song Remains the Same (1976), Godzilla (1998) and The Adam Project (2022). He was previously married to Jimena Gomez-Paratcha, Patricia Ecker and Charlotte Martin.
2012
184. Robert Plant
Soundtrack | The Song Remains the Same
Prior to Hobbstweedle (a pickup blues band formed to honour a gig at West Midlands College Of Education) Robert was the frontman for The Band of Joy - featuring Percy, John Bonham, Paul Lockey (bass), Chris Brown (keyboards) and Kevyn Gammond (guitar). The BOJ were on verge of making a record deal ...
2012
185. David Letterman
Writer | Late Show with David Letterman
Television would never be the same after David Letterman made his second attempt at a show in 1982. But his career before becoming host of the show was quite an interesting and long one.
Letterman was born in Broad Ripple, a neighborhood in Indianapolis, to Dorothy Marie (Hofert), a church secretary...
2012
186. Natalia Makarova
Actress | Spyashchaya krasavitsa
Named "prima ballerina absolutta," as well as "first lady of ballet," heavily praised for her legendary superhuman work in ballet. She, along with Baryshnikov, Nureyev, Nijinsky and Malakov remain as evidence that he finest ballet dancer of any generation will always be a Russian.
With her shapely ...
2012. A Russian born and trained ballerina, she has danced all over the world from Russia, London, and finally in New York City where she lives. The dancing world wouldn't be the same without her. She's considered to be one of the finest female ballet dancers ever to grace the stage.
187. Martina Arroyo
Actress | A Bread Factory: Part One
Martina Arroyo was born on February 2, 1937 in New York, USA. She is an actress, known for A Bread Factory, Part One (2018), The Odd Couple (1970) and Luna (1979).
2013
188. Herbie Hancock
Soundtrack | 'Round Midnight
Herbie Hancock is an American actor that was born. Herbert Jeffery Hancock, on April 12, 1940, Chicago, IL. He is best known as a piano player, jazz star, and a composer. He has won many Grammy Awards and has performed with many famous musicians beginning with Miles Davis in the 1960s. He achieved ...
2013: A brilliant musician!
189. Billy Joel
Soundtrack | Oliver & Company
William Martin Joel is an American singer, pianist, composer and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his single and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since the 1970s, having released 12 pop and rock studio albums from 1971...
2013: His songs are sung and legendary over the last few decades. He's an American music icon, legend, and the piano man.
190. Shirley MacLaine
Actress | Terms of Endearment
Shirley MacLaine was born Shirley MacLean Beaty in Richmond, Virginia. Her mother, Kathlyn Corinne (MacLean), was a drama teacher from Nova Scotia, Canada, and her father, Ira Owens Beaty, a professor of psychology and real estate agent, was from Virginia. Her brother, Warren Beatty, was born on ...
2013: One of America's most successful actresses and stage performers from musicals to serious film. She's done it all in a lifetime and maybe several.
191. Carlos Santana
Soundtrack | La Bamba
Carlos Santana is a Mexican guitarist, composer, singer and band-leader who helped to shape the concept of "world music" by his experiments with blending many styles of music from a multitude of ethnic sources.
He was born Carlos Augusto Alves Santana on July 20, 1947, in Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco,...
2013
192. Al Green
Soundtrack | Scrooged
Al Green was born on April 13, 1946 in Forrest City, Arkansas, USA. He is a music artist and actor, known for Scrooged (1988), Hellboy (2004) and He's Just Not That Into You (2009). He was previously married to Shirley Kyles.
2014
193. Tom Hanks
Producer | Cast Away
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California, to Janet Marylyn (Frager), a hospital worker, and Amos Mefford Hanks, an itinerant cook. His mother's family, originally surnamed "Fraga", was entirely Portuguese, while his father was of mostly English ancestry. Tom grew up in what he has ...
2014
194. Patricia McBride
Actress | A Midsummer Night's Dream
Patricia McBride was born on August 23, 1942 in Teaneck, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress, known for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1967), The Nutcracker (1964) and Festival (1960). She is married to Jean-Pierre Bonnefous. She was previously married to Carmen Capalbo.
2014
195. Sting
Soundtrack | The Emperor's New Groove
Sting was born Gordon Matthew Sumner on 2 October, 1951 in Wallsend, North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, the eldest of four children of Audrey (Cowell), a hairdresser, and Ernest Matthew Sumner, an engineer and milkman. He received his name from a striped sweater he wore which looked like a bee...
2014
196. Lily Tomlin
Actress | Nashville
Lily Tomlin was born September 1, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, to Lillie Mae (Ford) and Guy Tomlin, who moved to Michigan from Paducah, Kentucky, during the Great Depression. Her mother was a nurse's aide and her father was a factory worker. She graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1957, and ...
2014
197. Carole King
Soundtrack | A League of Their Own
Carole King is an American composer and singer-songwriter.
She is the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the USA, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1955 and 1999. King also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making ...
2015: A songwriter who can write not only memorable tunes but unforgettable messages in her songs and a singer as well.
198. George Lucas
Writer | Star Wars
George Walton Lucas, Jr. was raised on a walnut ranch in Modesto, California. His father was a stationery store owner and he had three siblings. During his late teen years, he went to Thomas Downey High School and was very much interested in drag racing. He planned to become a professional racecar ...
2015: A visionary film-maker who has accomplished and dedicated a whole culture to the Stars Wars success.
199. Rita Moreno
Actress | West Side Story
Rita Moreno is one of the very few performers to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy, thus becoming an EGOT. She was born Rosita Dolores Alverío in the hospital in Humacao, Puerto Rico on December 11, 1931 (but raised in nearby, smaller Juncos, which had no hospital), to seamstress Rosa ...
2015: A non-stop working actress, singer, and dancer who's accomplished so much in one lifetime. Still going strong and playing Fran Drescher's mother in the latest sitcom.
200. Seiji Ozawa
Soundtrack | Being John Malkovich
Seiji Ozawa was born on September 1, 1935 in Shenyang, China. He was an actor, known for Being John Malkovich (1999), The Right Stuff (1983) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999). He was married to Miki Irie and Kyoko Edo. He died on February 6, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan.
2015:
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