The creator of Peter Rabbit was more than a writer of children's tales about fuzzy animals. She did professional-quality zoological illustration, carried out serious studies of insects and mushrooms, and was a landscape preservationist who bought many properties in the Lake District to keep them rural. - The New York Times
The former Cincinnati mayor, who once said that he didn't mind being called the "grandfather of trash TV," hosted a "tabloid talk show known for outrageous arguments, thrown chairs and physical confrontations between sparring couples and homewreckers." - CNN
"Panahi, 62, is best known for films including The White Balloon, The Circle and Taxi Tehran – and for spending his career under close observation by Iran's government. His travel ban was first imposed in 2009." Rumors are that he has gone to France, possibly for the Cannes Festival. - The Guardian
"(He) was born to Jamaican immigrants, grew up in poverty in Depression-era Harlem and became a major Black crossover success in popular music. He went on to smash a series of barriers during five decades as a movie, TV and stage star." - MSN (The Washington Post)
A stiletto-heeled, stiletto-tongued persona who might well have been the spawn of a ménage à quatre involving Oscar Wilde, Salvador Dalí, Auntie Mame and Miss Piggy, Dame Edna was not so much a character as a cultural phenomenon. - The New York Times
"A notation-based reconstruction movement took hold around the turn of the 21st century, but Lacotte — ahead of his time — had already been defending a freer style of revival, informed by historical sources yet unconstrained by them." - Financial Times
The US-born Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi was escorted out of the 16th-century Villa Aurora by police on Thursday after receiving an eviction order amid a long-running inheritance dispute with the three sons of her late husband, Nicolò, who was the property’s last owner. - The Guardian
His Stonewall Inn Editions was the first gay imprint at a major publisher (St. Martin's Press), where "(he) released canonical titles by ... Larry Kramer, Paul Monette, Edmund White and Randy Shilts, including And the Band Played On, his bestselling 1987 chronicle of the AIDS epidemic." - MSN (The Washington Post)
After making several previous missteps, prosecutors in New Mexico decided to withdraw the involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor upon the discovery of new evidence about the gun in the incident. However, the state attorneys made a point of saying that they don't consider Baldwin to be exonerated. - AP
As the artistic director and chief executive officer at Roundabout, Mr. Haimes had an extraordinarily long and effective tenure. He led the organization for four decades, turning the nonprofit company into a major player on Broadway, where it now runs three of the 41 theaters. - The New York Times
"(His) cartoons were an unmistakable fixture in The New Yorker and other magazines for more than 60 years. … He considered his work a form of doodling sociology. He was especially interested in people who were irony deficient." - MSN (The Washington Post)
"The judge hearing the wrongful death lawsuit against actor Alec Baldwin and an array of producers linked to a fatal film set shooting agreed Monday to seal from public view the terms of a proposed settlement agreement in the case that benefits the son of slain cinematographer Halyna Hutchins." - AP
"(She was a freelance) oboist for the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke's who turned her experiences in the classical music world into the best-selling and critically lauded memoir," which became a hit Amazon Prime series. - Deadline
Jamal's "trademark was an ingeniously airy approach to classic pop standards such as 'Love for Sale,' 'A Gal in Calico' and 'Don’t Blame Me' or in his own groove-inflected compositions such as 'Ahmad’s Blues,' a song that became part of the jazz repertoire." - Washington Post
Pollack, a transgender activist and tarot creator and interpreter as well, observed that "people think things like comic books, science fiction, can’t have an intellectual framework. But of course these are often a place where many ideas and issues and taboos can be examined." - Washington Post
