Last year the 67-year-old actor retired after receiving a formal diagnosis of aphasia. His condition has now worsened: he's suffering progressive loss of nerve cells in his brain's frontal and temporal lobes. There is currently no treatment for the disorder. - The Hollywood Reporter
This campaign against Rowling is as dangerous as it is absurd. The brutal stabbing of Salman Rushdie last summer is a forceful reminder of what can happen when writers are demonized. And in Rowling’s case, the characterization of her as a transphobe doesn’t square with her actual views. - The New York Times
He was artistic director at some of the German-speaking world's most illustrious institutions: Hamburg's Thalia Theater, the Ruhrtriennale, the Salzburg Festival, and the Berlin State Opera. He also staged productions at many of the world's leading opera houses, including an acclaimed 2000 Fidelio at the Met. - The New York Times
"I realized when I came along, I wasn't Meryl Streep who had been put into a bikini. I was somebody that got rocketed into the spotlight and superstardom overnight. I knew this was going to give me an opportunity and I should make the best of it." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
"The revelation by Rodolfo Reyes, a Neruda nephew, is the latest turn in one of the great debates of post-coup Chile. The long-stated official position has been that Neruda died of complications from prostate cancer, but the poet’s driver argued for decades that he was poisoned." - AP
"As well as composing, he has done important work as a conductor (of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw amongst others), teacher (his students include Georg Friedrich Haas), musicologist (creating a complete edition of Berg's Lulu) and administrator (Founding Director, in 1958, of the new music ensemble die reihe). - Gramophone
Along with racism, and other setbacks in her industry,"It’s something that can either make you bitter ... or it’s something you can look at, not take personally, then push against." - The Guardian (UK)
Seacat "put her own spin on techniques she had learned under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio to help Laura Dern, Marlo Thomas, Mickey Rourke and numerous other stars achieve some of their best performances." - The New York Times
Saura, who made brilliant films like Cría Cuervos and a ballet adaptation of García Lorca's Blood Wedding (part of his "Flamenco Trilogy"), was forced "to endlessly make films amid the threat of Spanish censors." He received an honorary Goya days before his death. - The Hollywood Reporter
As Inventor of the Future reveals, “Bucky” had a penchant for claiming sole authorship over projects within his orbit, even when they were largely realized through the diligent labor and intellectual rigor of others. - The Nation
Bacharach may have been a uniter, not a divider, but surely it’s easy to hear the complexity underneath that ease. The unpredictability and the equally wondrous rightness of so many of his key melodies are what keep them evergreen. - Chicago Tribune
At age 23, she and college pal Barbara Holdridge launched Caedmon Records with an LP of Dylan Thomas reading A Child's Christmas in Wales. The label went on to great success, recording writers reading their work and actors reading plays, creating the market for literature in audio. - MSN (The Washington Post)
"One of the last of the great popular songwriters of the 20th century, ... he created songs that became standards in their own right. They were classy, catchy, commercial and musically complex, and scores of them became hits during a career that lasted more than 50 years." - BBC
"If you've enjoyed the arts scene in downtown Providence, the popularity of Trinity Rep paved the way for that. If you went on a class field trip to the theatre in Rhode Island, that was probably Project Discovery." - The Providence Journal
