A beloved musical theater performer, singer-songwriter and activist who won a Tony for Hello, Dolly! (opposite Bette Midler) and an Olivier for The Book of Mormon, Creel died just two months after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. - The Hollywood Reporter
The omnipresence of Judi Dench notwithstanding, Smith’s career was substantial and varied—a testament to her flexibility as an actor and to her rigor as an artist. - The New Yorker
“Steeped in a neo-Romantic sensibility that owed as much to John Keats as to the Beat Generation and Bob Dylan, Mr. Kristofferson’s work explored themes of freedom and commitment, alienation and desire, darkness and light.” And then he found a second career in Hollywood. - The New York Times
She helped redefine what that meant, too, especially for women. “The face and body may change, but the spirit need not falter, the desire and ability to do what you love need never abate.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
Rivers is the one who inspired Niki de Saint Phalle’s iconic Nana figures, but in addition, she was "a bohemian saloniste whose lifestyle was a kind of art making.” - The New York Times
Considered by many the greatest British actress of her formidable generation, she won widespread admiration for such stage and screen performances as The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Hedda Gabler and became genuinely beloved for her work in the Harry Potter films and Downton Abbey. - The Washington Post (MSN)
He and his wife started in 1965 with one Tiffany ceramic vase, purchased for $55 (roughly $548 today). By 1971, they opened Macklowe Gallery in Manhattan, ultimately becoming leading sellers for Tiffany glass, Mucha lithographs, and French cameo glass. (That vase, by the way, is now worth $25,000.) - The New York Times
Cash, whose statue is located in the Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection, is the first musician to be represented in the collection. - Washington Post
For decades, Mr. Jameson’s voluminous work — more than 30 books and edited collections as well as reams of journal articles — has been required reading for graduate students (and some precocious undergraduates), not just in literature but also in film studies, architecture and history. - The New York Times
"Golson played an integral role in the transition from bebop to hard bop through his short but vital tenure with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and with his own influential Jazztet. … Few jazz musicians can claim as many bona fide standards to their credit." - WRTI (Philadelphia)
DeMille’s thrillers featured fast-moving plots with everything from “terrorist hijackings, Russian spy schools, gruesome murders, Mafia kingpins, and wartime crimes military malfeasance” - all starting when he picked up writing “as a kitchen-table hobby.” - The New York Times
She sang 748 performances in 56 roles at the Met between 1950 and 1991. Many of those performances were last-minute: for many years she was the company's preferred substitute when a leading soprano cancelled. Ultimately, that position held her back, and she sued the company for age discrimination. - The New York Times
"As a novelist, (he) was often compared with the American writer James A. Michener, who … attempted to capture epic swaths of history in an intimate narrative. But if his vision was Michenerian, his prose was Faulknerian, driven by interweaving, stream-of-conscious narratives." - The New York Times
"Nearly 60 years since his gallery debut, Pettibone remains best known for his works copying modern art superstars like Andy Warhol and Frank Stella. Pettibone’s unwitting final exhibition with Castelli Gallery in 2022 presented 15 new paintings, all interpreting flags by Jasper Johns through Pettibone’s signature reduced scale." - Artnet
