Rajinikanth even worked briefly as a porter in his youth before checking bus passengers’ tickets. Now he’s Tamil-language cinema’s number-one superstar and one of the best-paid actors in Asia, with 170 film credits, 50,000 fan clubs and even a temple or two dedicated to him. - BBC (MSN)
“Besides (the 131-seat Tow Theater at Lincoln Center, he) funded a performing arts center at Brooklyn College; journalism programs at Columbia University and City University of New York; the Tow Center for Developmental Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering; and the Tow Youth Justice Institute in West Haven, Conn.” - The New York Times
By making the announcement of honorees himself, Trump is taking on the role of producer/showman, elevating the attention to the show, which has aired on CBS since its origin yet is hardly a ratings blockbuster. - Deadline
He became so ubiquitous that, as he put it in Interview magazine last year, “I was one of the artists that was blamed for the ’80s.” - The New York Times
“Mr. White had an immeasurable impact on the theatre industry through the Center, kickstarting the careers of countless playwrights, performers, directors, composers, and more.” - Playbill
For two decades, Ms. de Menil was a costume designer for the avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson, who died on July 31. An art collector herself, she was a patron of Willem de Kooning as well as the choreographer Twyla Tharp. She introduced the Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry to New York. - The New York Times
“Jordan was that rarest bird, a singer — a white singer, a ‘chick singer’ — who earned the trust and admiration of geniuses like Mingus and Parker. ‘Charlie Parker referred to her ‘million-dollar ears’ and other jazzmen would always include her in their exceedingly small list of real jazz singers,’ wrote Nat Hentoff.” - The Gig
Ric Grenell, a former Trump ambassador to Germany and longtime Republican attack dog, is “only occasionally at the Kennedy Center,” a source told CBS News. However, his alleged lack of presence at the Kennedy Center hasn’t stopped him from collecting a salary of $175,000, per tax records. - The Daily Beast
Robby Hoffman "recently received her first acting Emmy nomination — for the role of Randi” on Hacks. It was relatively quick success, after she ditched accounting for acting (yes, really). - The New York Times
Morgan “arrived in Paris in 1948, having dropped out of Juilliard after the French nightclub impresario Bernard Hilda offered her a chance to sing at his venue on the Champs Élysées.” When she returned to the States, it was with a French-inflected flair. - The New York Times
She went from taking classes from Graham at age 9 to dancing leading parts in Graham's works — then teaching those works to Batsheva (the only other company permitted to perform them), where she stayed for 13 years. Hodes held key teaching positions at both Graham's and Paul Taylor's companies. - The New York Times
“(He) recovered from a galling pan of the Beatles for his college newspaper to become a founding editor of Rolling Stone and a pioneering rock journalist, capturing the pinwheel vibrancy of Swinging London and flower-power San Francisco.” - The New York Times
What made Wilson’s divergence from theatrical and classical conventions so powerful was his clear reverence for them — the careful, conscientious approach he took to turning things upside down. - Washington Post (MSN)
Glorya Kaufman, the philanthropist who transformed dance in Los Angeles through the establishment of an eponymous dance school at USC as well as a prominent dance series at the Music Center, among many other initiatives, has died. She was 95. - Los Angeles Times
