Category: people

“She supported [seven children] as a translator, writer for radio and television, and college professor, carving out at least 10 minutes each day to write. While changing diapers and preparing dinners, she scribbled lines of poetry on notebooks, napkins and the backs of envelopes, ultimately filling the drawers of her desk with completed poems.” Twenty-five years after publishing her first book of poems, she published a second, and went on to be “recognized as one of the most distinctive poets of her generation.” – The Washington Post

“With more than 40 productions to his credit, Charnin penned lyrics for seven Broadway musicals and directed seven shows as well. He won his Tony Award for best original score, with composer Charles Strouse, for Annie,” which he also directed. “Charnin also received three Emmys for his work on television variety specials and won a Grammy for Jay-Z’s ‘Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem),’ which sampled his lyrics from the Annie song of that name.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“[He] penned some of the most important art-historical essays of the second half of the 20th century, including ‘Pictures’ and ‘On the Museum’s Ruins’ … [and his] influence has been vast. His writings explored a vast range of topics, from image circulation to institutional critique to art and AIDS. It has become impossible to write the history of postmodern art without referring at least once to his criticism.” – ARTnews

Eager to share his own enthusiasm for creating music, Colgrass devised his own notation system. Easy-to-draw lines and symbols allowed children to immediately start composing and performing their own original works without the long and often tedious process of learning music theory and notation. Colgrass was also an unorthodox psychologist. – Toronto Star

Starting with his 1958 single “Chega de Saudade,” Mr. Gilberto in his late 20s became the quintessential transmitter of the harmonically and rhythmically complex, lyrically nuanced songs of bossa nova (slang for “new thing” or “new style”), written by Antônio Carlos Jobim, João Donato, Vinicius de Moraes and others. – The New York Times

Five of Cab Calloway’s family members — including two of his three living children — recently issued a statement saying they are “building a coalition of partners and friends to create a landmark and thriving destination of which all the residents of Baltimore can be proud.” – Baltimore Sun

It was shown on ITV London at the time but then forgotten about until the Bristol-based ITV News reporter Robert Murphy stumbled upon it when he was doing some research on Banksy. – Irish Times

He’s directing “Gianni Schicchi.” Along with the La Scala opera, a Milan museum is launching an Allen retrospective of his films. Placido Domingo encouraged him to direct the opera, he said. – New York Post

“Mr. Johnson had appeared in New York theater productions and on television shows including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone and The Andy Griffith Show before his breakthrough in Laugh-In, where he received three Emmy nominations and won one, in 1969. His pratfalls, outlandish accents and ad-libbed double-entendres made him a mainstay of the fast-paced and irreverent comedy show, which premiered on NBC in January 1968 and ran for six seasons.” (“Verr-rry intereshting.”) – The Washington Post

He never much enjoyed working on the popular series, though he acknowledged that that “doesn’t matter … ALF brought people a lot of joy. They adored it.” While he did quite a bit of other film and television work, his true love was the stage, with notable roles in The Great White Hope (opposite James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander), Andrei Serban’s staging of The Cherry Orchard, the Al Pacino Richard III, the Broadway revival of Chekhov’s Ivanov (for which he garnered Tony and Drama Desk nominations), and a famous 1998 Lincoln Center production of Twelfth Night. – The New York Times