PEOPLE

Film Critic Gene Shalit Dies At 100

Shalit started on Today in 1970, according to NBC's report on his passing, and became its arts editor in 1973, interviewing celebrities and reviewing books as well as films. His role on the show was reduced in his later years and he retired at age 84 in 2010, saying, "It's ​enough already." - CBC

Jazz Pianist Abdullah Ibrahim Dead At 91

“In an extraordinarily accomplished career that spanned eight decades, Ibrahim helped bring bebop stylings to South Africa, and he bonded with Duke Ellington, who produced one of his early, influential recordings. In his later years, he became an idol and an inspiration to new generations of jazz pianists.” - NPR

Jane Yolen, Award-Winning Author Of Some 450 Books, Has Died At 87

"Yolen never encountered a genre she didn’t like; among her early books was a history of kites. Yet running through almost all her writing was a strong through-line of deep psychological insight and a sense of wonder.” - The New York Times

Dito Van Reigersberg, Philly’s Beloved Theatre Founder And Performer, Has Died At 53

“Antic yet elegant, Mr. van Reigersberg was closely associated with two important strands of 21st-century performance: devised physical theater — in which an ensemble works together to create a script through improvisation — and a playful, let-the-chest-hair-show take on drag.” - The New York Times

Gene Shalit, Legendarily Moustached Today Show Film Critic, Has Died At 100

After moving over from the book critic desk, “Shalit proved to be a spirited counterbalance to the heavier news of the day, entertaining audiences with celebrity interviews and insights into moviegoing choices during his ‘Critic’s Corner’ segment.” - The Hollywood Reporter

What’s Behind The Intense Interest In Celebrity Estate Sales?

The growing trend for auctions of deceased famous people’s personal items – which has boomed ever since the hugely popular Marilyn Monroe estate sale in 1999 – has even attracted its own portmanteau: “deleb” as in dead celebrity. - The Guardian

David Hockney, 88

“Over a seven-decade career, Hockney explored and reimagined classical portraiture, landscape painting and pop art, working in painting, collage, photography and digital drawing. … One of the most popular and critically lauded British artists of his” — and perhaps any — “generation, his works sold for record prices at auction.” - AP

Photographer Duane Michals, 94

“In a career that spanned six decades and crisscrossed artistic and commercial contexts, Michals challenged photographic convention and innovated new forms; he is best known for building sequential, frame-by-frame narratives that pair photographs with handwritten text to poetic effect.” - Frieze

How Do You Prepare For The NBA Finals? Wembanyama Sketches In Gramercy Park

As seen in a viral video posted to Instagram on Tuesday, Wembanyama and his sister Eve, who also plays professional basketball, but in Europe, were spotted in Gramercy Park, one of just two private parks in New York City, sketching a statue of Edwin Booth. - ARTnews

Julio Le Parc, Pioneer Of Moving Op Art, Has Died At 97

“He focused on kinetic sculpture … and the geometric optical illusions of Op Art, infusing them with regional influences” — he was Argentine, though he spent his career in Paris — “and often overtly political content, … pioneer(ing) a form of socially conscious, audience-friendly sculpture and vibrantly colorful, politically engaged painting.” - The New York Times

French Superstar Patrick Bruel Detained By Police Over Multiple Sexual Assault Charges

“The singer became a major star across the French-speaking world in the 1980s and 1990s with a string of hits that became part of French popular culture. He also appeared in more than 40 film and television productions. … (He faces) allegations by at least 13 women of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault.” - AP

Wilma “Billie” Tisch, 98, One Of New York’s Leading Cultural Philanthropists

The wife of Larry Tisch, one of the brothers who made Loews into a conglomerate, she oversaw the donation of millions of dollars to Jewish and cultural organizations, notable among them the WNYC Foundation, the Tisch Children’s Zoo in Central Park, and the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. - The New York Times

What Steven Spielberg Has Taught Critic Wesley Morris

“Thank you for daring and caring and trying to show us the light, to keep the lights on, as the artistic system you worshiped and symbolized and helped redefine renounces itself.” - The New York Times

Anthony Stewart Head, Star Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer And Ted Lasso, Has Died At 72

“One of his most formative experiences, he said, was seeing Tim Curry in the musical The Rocky Horror Show while in drama school as a teenager. He told The Guardian that it ‘ignited something in my core.’” - The New York Times

What Marjane Satrapi Did For Iranian Women

“Satrapi was a spokesperson for our trauma, our upbringing and our particular flavour of shame, repression and outspokenness. She made us legible to our western peers in our 20s and 30s, and I was sure she would do it again in middle age.” - The Guardian (UK)

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