"Despite the outpouring of national pride over Oe's win, his principal literary themes evoke deep unease (in Japan). A boy of 10 when World War II ended, Oe came of age during the American occupation. - AP
His opera Life Is a Dream had a difficult birth: the company that commissioned it closed before it was produced, and Spratlan was reduced to raising money himself for performances of the second act -- which became the first opera to win a Pulitzer in 40 years. - MSN (The Boston Globe)
"In an epic that began with Walk to the End of the World (1974) and concluded 25 years later, ... Charnas conceived a dystopic world in which an escaped female slave, Alldera, leads the rebellious Free Fems to brutally conquer and enslave their former male masters." - The New York Times
"He and his peers have achieved immense success, but still don’t know how to cope with the cultural shifts that naturally occur over a long career. Instead they want to keep the conditions that gave rise to their success forever preserved so they can say whatever." - The New York Times
"Critics called his storylines ludicrous and his special effects schlocky, … but many of his films turned a profit and gained a cult following, attracting later generations of moviegoers … (with) mutant ants, 60-foot giants, rampaging grasshoppers and a bloodthirsty spider that proves too big to squash." - MSN (The Washington Post)
Kohn Pedersen Fox, the firm which he co-founded and served as president and number-one salesman, designed such celebrated buildings as the World Bank headquarters in DC, Procter & Gamble headquarters in Cincinnati, and skyscrapers from London and New York to Seoul and Shanghai. - MSN (The Washington Post)
"Once hailed as among the finest actors of his generation, Blake became better known as the center of a real-life murder trial, a story more bizarre than any in which he acted. Many remembered him not as the rugged, dark-haired star of Baretta, but as a spectral, white-haired murder defendant." - AP
He was already a successful designer for opera and ballet (who got his start with David Hockney) when, in the 1990s, he started writing stories about a pig for his niece Olivia. He published his first Olivia book in 2000, and the series became a juggernaut. - MSN (The Washington Post)
A revered actor in his native Israel, he had a respectable list of stage and screen credits there and internationally, but he was indelibly associated with Tevye the Dairyman, whom he played in the West End, on Broadway, in the movie film, and elsewhere, performing the role more than 3,500 times. - Variety
Molly Johnson has achieved at the highest level in Canada, with the awards to match: “I gotta say I was depressed. It saddened me, initially, deeply, that here I am in this stage of my career and I still can’t really pay my bills." - Toronto Star
“He brought the attitude of a businessman and an entrepreneur to a sector that, as you well know, is much less focused on that than on the present moment.” - Artnet
"For close observers, the story of Adams, 65, has taken a stunning turn — though in a manner that had been foreshadowed in recent years as the cartoonist rebranded himself as a provocateur, routinely making headlines for his polarizing views on politics, race and other aspects of identity." - MSN (The Washington Post)
"He was one of a long line of screen performers whose brilliance was shadowed by shocking offenses that employers were willing to factor into the hiring process because of his track record of superlative performances. His life was filled with reprieves and second chances." - Vulture
During red carpets for her second Oscar nomination, 29 years after her first, the actor has to remain guarded. "It’s an attempt to remain poised in the midst of a whirlwind. It’s being grateful, thankful. And I think all that comes across as being regal." - Washington Post
The Uruguayn-born "Viñoly was at once a 24-7 architecture geek and a bon vivant with a penchant for French wines. ... He was also a classically trained pianist who gave recitals in a music pavilion on his property in Water Mill, N.Y., on eastern Long Island." - The New York Times
