Karl Malden, 97 The Everyman actor, who earned cinematic acclaim in A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront as well as television stardom in The Streets of San Francisco and decades of American Express commercials, said, "I learned in my second year of drama school that I was not a leading man - I was a character actor. So I thought, I'd better be the best character actor around."

Los Angeles Times 07/02/09

email this story | Posted 07/02/09@09:52PM

Harve Presnell, 75, Actor With Two Careers "[T]rained as an opera singer, [he] brought an imposing physical presence - he stood 6 feet 4 inches - and a resplendent voice to the Broadway stage, delivering a star-making performance as Leadville Johnny Brown in The Unsinkable Molly Brown." Unfortunately, "his triumphant debut led to unsatisfactory film roles and a somewhat stunted career appearing in national tours of Broadway musicals" until the "Coen brothers gave him a second Hollywood career as a character actor when they cast him in Fargo in 1996. That role led to a series of meaty film parts, including Gen. George C. Marshall in Saving Private Ryan."

New York Times 07/02/09

email this story | Posted 07/02/09@09:34PM

Shi Pei Pu, 70, Beijing Opera Singer And The Original M. Butterfly "Mr. Shi, who was convicted of espionage in France in 1986 along with his lover, Bernard Boursicot, was believed to be 70. He had also been believed for years to be a woman, at least by Mr. Boursicot, who served time in prison after the affair and became a laughingstock in France."

New York Times 07/02/09

email this story | Posted 07/02/09@09:19PM

Thomas Jefferson, A Young Nation's First Violinist Music was Thomas Jefferson's "particular delight, 'an enjoyment, the deprivation of which . . . cannot be calculated,' he declared in 1785. From early boyhood, he pursued this 'passion of my soul,' studying the violin with a teacher in Williamsburg, Va. By the time he matriculated at the College of William and Mary in 1760, his playing was so fluent that he was invited for weekly chamber music gatherings with the royal governor of Virginia."

Wall Street Journal 07/02/09

email this story | Posted 07/02/09@06:12AM

Pina Bausch, Tender Mother Figure (Yes, Really) Mark Swed: "Again and again Bausch stopped the dancers, praised them and ever so sweetly asked them to start over, as she lithely sidestepped falling bodies. … When the tension became unbearable or it looked as if the dancers would be beaten to a pulp, Bausch flashed a sly smile and handed out cookies. She had baked them that morning. They were delicious."

Los Angeles Times 07/01/09

email this story | Posted 07/01/09@09:31PM

Philip Roth, Dance Remix Sensation When critic James Marcus interviewed Roth for an L.A. Times profile, the author gave a demonstration of what he described as "shouting. Jewish shouting." (Roth was talking about the film version of Goodbye, Columbus.) Marcus liked the demo so much, he remixed it into a dance track. That track is now a "viral sensation" which has been blogged about by The New York Times, Gawker, The Guardian and MediaBistro. (And now it's a ringtone, too.)

MobyLives 07/1/09

email this story | Posted 07/01/09@09:27PM

Farrah Fawcett As Role Model Michelle Cottle: "[M]y six-year-old friends and I … were years away from understanding the concept of 'Jiggle TV,' much less why it might be a bad thing. We liked the guns and the gowns and the karate kicks and the sight of a bunch of really pretty ladies getting the best of the bad guys. And, oh yes, we loved the fact that, week after week, the chicks dashed out to save the day while their faithful handler, John Bosley, functioned as a genial, glorified manservant."

The New Republic 06/26/09

email this story | Posted 06/30/09@09:22PM

Dance-Theatre Innovator Pina Bausch Dies At 68 "Acclaimed German dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch has died at the age of 68. The recipient of numerous awards and prizes, she left her mark as an innovator in the hybrid genre of 'Tanztheater,' or dance theater." Bausch, who died this morning, was diagnosed last week with cancer but had continued working.

Deutsche Welle 06/30/09

email this story | Posted 06/30/09@07:49AM

Michael Martin, A.K.A. Graffiti King Iz The Wiz, Dies At 50 "Iz the Wiz was a legend among graffiti artists, by almost all accounts 'the longest-reigning all-city king in N.Y.C. history,' as the graffiti Web site at149st.com puts it. In other words, Iz put his name, or tag, on subway cars running on every line in the system more times than any other artist. Michael Martin -- Iz the Wiz -- died on June 17 in Spring Hill, Fla., where he had moved a few years ago."

The New York Times 06/29/09

email this story | Posted 06/30/09@05:27AM

P.M. Looking To Former Poet Laureate For Talk Tips? "Gordon Brown has sought advice from Sir Andrew Motion, the former poet laureate, prompting speculation that the Prime Minister was seeking inspiration for his speeches. Mr Brown, who is often criticised for his leaden manner, spoke to the poet about popular works including Thomas Gray's celebrated Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard, one of the most-quoted poems in the English language."

The Telegraph (UK) 06/28/09

email this story | Posted 06/29/09@07:38PM

John Lahr Sues Elaine Stritch, Alleging Nonpayment "Actress Elaine Stritch, known for her caustic personality, gravelly voice and her Emmy-winning turn as Alec Baldwin's mother in '30 Rock' on TV, failed to pay writer John Lahr for his work on her hit 2002 Broadway show, according to a lawsuit Lahr filed last week." New Yorker magazine drama critic Lahr was billed as having "constructed" the show, "Elaine Stritch at Liberty."

New York Post 06/28/09

email this story | Posted 06/29/09@05:59PM

Dave Brubek Makes A Comeback (At 88) "Though recovering from various maladies and the side effects of their treatment (which temporarily robbed part of his left hand of feeling), Brubeck played with the zest of old, and then some. In fact, the melodic ardor of his work exceeded expectations, as if the pianist was trying to pack as much meaning as possible into every note."

Chicago Tribune 06/29/09

email this story | Posted 06/29/09@03:57AM

Tenor's Ex-Wife Demands More Support "After her husband was named Cardiff Singer of the World, Mrs Hvorostovsky gave up her career at his request so that she could travel with him. In 1991 they moved from Siberia to Moscow and in 1994 to England where they are still both living."

The Telegraph (UK) 06/27/09

email this story | Posted 06/28/09@12:50PM

Vaclav Havel, Film Director? "At the tender age of 72, he is preparing to add a new string to his bow. The former president of the Czech Republic is to direct his first film, an adaptation of his stage play Leaving."

The Guardian (UK) 06/27/09

email this story | Posted 06/28/09@07:52AM

Michael Jackson Dies Of Cardiac Arrest At 50 "[A] child Motown sensation who grew into a moonwalking megastar … the entertainer sold millions of records, earning worldwide adoration in the 1980s. […] For all his many successes as a child and young man, Jackson's later life devolved into a series of tabloid headlines, bizarre plastic surgeries, and more courtroom appearances than hit songs."

Washington Post 06/25/09

email this story | Posted 06/25/09@09:52PM

'The Boy Who Knew Too Much' - Michael Jackson's Breaching Of Boundaries Ann Powers: "He always seemed to defy gravity, as a dancer whose signature move was so incomprehensibly graceful that it earned the extraterrestrial title 'the Moonwalk,' a singer whose tenor was high but strong, a rhythmic instrument that went as sweet and tender as a clarinet on the long notes - and as a man whose physical presence was first androgynous and then seemingly cyborgian, forcing his astounded public to puzzle over their assumptions about race, gender and age."

Los Angeles Times 06/25/09

email this story | Posted 06/25/09@09:50PM

Farrah Fawcett, 62, Model, Actress, Symbol Alessandra Stanley: "[H]er last poignant appearances sometimes obscure a smaller, more gratifying story line of a celebrated beauty who worked against type to construct a more dignified second act. Long before Charlize Theron gained weight to make Monster and Nicole Kidman put on a fake nose to play Virginia Woolf, Ms. Fawcett scrubbed off her tawny good looks to play battered - and battering - women in The Burning Bed and Extremities."

New York Times 06/26/09

email this story | Posted 06/25/09@09:41PM

Farrah's Power Over A Generation Of Pubescent Boys "No matter what anyone might try and claim today, Charlie's Angels was an abysmal way to kill an hour. … The show, though, wasn't the point. (At least that, I suspect, today's youth would understand.) Watching Charlie's Angels, having the FFM poster on your wall, clipping magazine pictures of the Angels in their bikinis and hanging them on the inside of your locker - these were more like badges, a way of participating in pop culture with as much sexual knowing as you could muster."

Slate 06/25/09

email this story | Posted 06/25/09@09:40PM

Betty Allen, 82, Mezzo-Soprano, Teacher, Administrator She "was part of the first great wave of African-American singers to appear on the world's premier stages in the postwar years. Active from the 1950s to the 1970s, she performed with the New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Opera and the opera companies of Houston, Boston, San Francisco, Santa Fe, N.M., and Buenos Aires, among others."

New York Times 06/25/09

email this story | Posted 06/25/09@09:31PM

Off-Broadway And Regional Stalwart T. Scott Cunningham Dies At 47 He was "a simultaneous[ly] zany and empathetic performer of the Off-Broadway stage whose short, but productive career saw him originate roles in plays by Nicky Silver and Douglas Carter Beane. […] [His] soft, malleable face and large brown eyes … could express a soulful sorrowfulness, a pained yearning or a verging sense of panic."

Playbill.com 06/22/09

email this story | Posted 06/25/09@09:06PM

Astronaut Tries To Translate Moon Memories Onto Canvas "It has been nearly 40 years since Alan L. Bean walked on the moon as an Apollo astronaut, but he still wrestles with the experience every day, trying to recapture what he and other astronauts saw and felt in the medium of paint. ... 'When I left NASA, I made up my mind I was not going to be an astronaut who painted, but an artist who used to be an astronaut,' he said. 'It takes a while to change the heart.'"

The New York Times 06/25/09

email this story | Posted 06/25/09@06:23AM

Actress Hanne Hiob, Brecht's Daughter, Dies At 86 "German actress Hanne Hiob, a daughter of playwright Bertolt Brecht, has died, officials said Wednesday. ... Among other parts, she played the title roles in her father's plays 'Saint Joan of the Stockyards' and 'Carrar's Rifles.'"

Associated Press 06/24/09

email this story | Posted 06/25/09@05:38AM

Soprano Measha Brueggergosman Recovering From Emergency Open-Heart Surgery "Doctors have told Ms. Brueggergosman she has every chance of making a full recovery from an emergency procedure to repair a dissected aorta, a rare and often fatal affliction."

The Globe and Mail (Canada) 06/25/09

email this story | Posted 06/25/09@02:00AM

Frédéric Mitterrand Is France's New Culture Minister "He's a TV personality with a trademark booming voice, a writer, film-maker and gay activist who is not only an expert on world monarchy but part of the closest thing the French republic has to a royal family: the Mitterrand clan." (He's François's nephew.)

The Guardian (UK) 06/23/09

email this story | Posted 06/24/09@09:44PM

When Patti Talks, By Golly, We Respond! "On Tuesday, Patti LuPone sent a note to Dave Itzkoff taking him to task for his coverage of her decision to stop a concert in Las Vegas to berate an audience member for using an electronic device. The post received an overwhelming number of readers' comments (over 760 as of this writing). Theater coverage on NYTimes.com hasn't been this animated since we posted a slide show of a shirtless Daniel Radcliffe in the London production of Equus."

New York Times 06/24/09

email this story | Posted 06/24/09@09:39PM

Filmgoers Shocked -- Shocked! -- When Judi Dench Swears "Judi Dench is so loved by the UK's filmgoing public that viewers are almost certain to make complaints whenever she swears on camera. The phenomenon was identified after the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) revealed in its annual report that a small number of viewers had complained about Dench's foul mouth in the James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace."

The Guardian (UK) 06/24/09

email this story | Posted 06/24/09@06:14AM

Ed McMahon, 86, The World's Top Second Banana Robert Lloyd: "Notwithstanding the dozen years of hosting Star Search, a role in the 1997 Tom Arnold sitcom The Tom Show, a high-profile Cash4Gold ad during the last Super Bowl and all that knocking on people's doors in the name of American Family Publishers, McMahon was a professional sidekick, a less-than-equal partner in an enterprise of which he was nevertheless a vital part. … But in a world where everyone is innately a star, what does it mean to settle for life as a mere moon?"

Los Angeles Times 06/24/09

email this story | Posted 06/23/09@09:56PM

Norman Lebrecht Leaves London Evening Standard "[The] arts columnist and former assistant editor of the Evening Standard, has announced he is to leave the recently rebranded newspaper this week. … 'After writing a weekly column for 15 years I owe myself a short sabbatical and my desire for a break coincided with a change of direction at the Standard'."

The Stage (UK) 06/23/09

email this story | Posted 06/23/09@09:48PM

As NY Phil Clock Winds Down, Lorin Maazel Looks Back "'It's not for me to assess whether or not I have lived up to the expectations that arise at the beginning of any music director's tenure,' he began. 'The orchestra I found had a problem with self-esteem. Their reputation was not what it should have been. So it became my goal to restore their belief in themselves. And I leave feeling that I've been quite successful.'"

Wall Street Journal 06/23/09

email this story | Posted 06/23/09@05:11AM

NY's Power Husband-And-Wife Arts Philanthropy Couple He's the chairman of the board of the Museum of Modern Art. She's chair of Lincoln Center...

New York Magazine 06/22/09

email this story | Posted 06/22/09@07:46AM

Ali Akbar Khan , 87 "Khan established music schools in Calcutta, California (where he was based from 1965 onwards) and Switzerland. He toured throughout the world, and composed and recorded prolifically. Khan was "discovered" by the violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who first met him on a visit to India in 1952, declaring him to be "an absolute genius, the greatest musician in the world". Within three years, Menuhin had facilitated Khan's breakthrough as an international artist, organising his American debut at the Museum of Modern Art in New York."

The Telegraph (UK) 06/21/09

email this story | Posted 06/21/09@05:11PM

Conductor Simon Rattle: Setting Into Middle Age "Rattle is settling into comfortable middle age. The blue T-shirt may advertise a man still young at heart but the curls are white and thinning. Yesterday's boy wonder is now older than most of his orchestra. He has begun to slow down, to be slightly less sensitive to criticism. But there's another factor at work."

Financial Times 06/20/09

email this story | Posted 06/21/09@10:18AM

The New King Of All Media: Neil Patrick Harris Conquers TV, Theatre, The Web, Awards Shows And Now Cartoons He "is adding to his musical resume with an appearance on … Batman: The Brave and the Bold? The lighthearted Cartoon Network series recruited the How I Met Your Mother star for a villainous turn as the Music Meister in a Season 2 episode set to air this fall."

TV Guide 06/15/09

email this story | Posted 06/18/09@09:45PM

Tasha Tudor's Children Clash In Court Over Burying Her "A year after the death of famed New England illustrator Tasha Tudor, the family battle over her estate, which seemed like it could not get any uglier, has taken a turn for the worse. The artist's grown children, already at odds over her will, are now fighting in Vermont Probate Court over whether and how to bury their mother. Tudor, who died a year ago today, said expressly in her will that she did not want a funeral."

Boston Globe 06/18/09

email this story | Posted 06/18/09@07:39AM

Betty Connors, 92, Who Built Berkeley's Cal Performances "From 1945 to 1979, Ms. Connors ran the university's program for presenting music, dance and theatrical events on campus - the first salaried employee responsible for undertaking a job formerly done by a faculty member." She brought the likes of Rostropovich, Birgit Nilsson, Dave Brubeck and Ravi Shankar to Berkeley, creating what has become one of the leading arts presenters in the U.S.

San Francisco Chronicle 06/16/09

email this story | Posted 06/17/09@09:43PM

Women Of The Future A look at the careers of the Futurists Natalia Goncharova and Sonia Delaunay, who helped change the trajectory of art and design in Europe.

The Telegraph (UK) 06/16/09

email this story | Posted 06/17/09@09:40PM

Seiji Ozawa Has Emergency Hernia Operation "The 73-year-old conductor has cancelled three concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic - two in Vienna on June 19 and 21, and one in Paris on June 22 - after 'undergoing emergency surgery 48 hours ago for a hernia'."

Agence France-Presse 06/12/09

email this story | Posted 06/16/09@09:39PM

Cirque Founder Says He'll Sue Over Biography's Sex Claims "[T]he once-penniless street performer behind Cirque du Soleil is involved in an intriguing legal spat over the colourful acrobatic manoeuvres that allegedly take place in his bedroom. Guy Laliberté, the billionaire impresario whose troupe will today celebrate its 25th birthday, has announced plans to sue the publishers of an unauthorised biography which depicts him as a bed-hopping scoundrel with an inexhaustible appetite for sex, drugs, and a rock and roll lifestyle."

The Independent (UK) 06/16/09

email this story | Posted 06/16/09@07:05AM

NY's New Archbishop Is Quick Study In Hawking Broadway "When Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan left Milwaukee for the Big Apple, we didn't expect him to become a celebrity endorser of Broadway shows, but here he is waxing enthusiastic about 'Irena's Vow' on the World War II drama's website."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 06/15/09

email this story | Posted 06/16/09@06:26AM

As Lorin Maazel Leaves The NY Phil - A New Level Of Mellow "Journalistic encounters with the cerebral, musically brilliant Mr. Maazel are unpredictable. He can be dismissive, censorious, attentive or engaging, attitudes also encountered by the musicians who play for him. On this day in early June he was philosophical."

The New York Times 06/14/09

email this story | Posted 06/14/09@11:02AM