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The Real-Life Inspiration For “The Exorcist” Identified Publicly

He was known to a small group of Jesuits and reporters, but he spent his life afraid that more people would learn about his ordeal. Ronald Hunkeler, who grew up to have a 40-year career as a NASA engineer, died last year at 85. - New York Post

Making The Change You Want To See Behind (And In Front Of) The Cameras

Gugu Mbatha-Raw has become a producer as well as a star actor. "Acting is just one department of the entertainment industry. ... curious to know how every other department that is less visible can still evolve and become as diverse." - The Guardian (UK)

Eve Babitz’s Words Had A Powerful, Frank Effect On Los Angeles

Her books - like Eve's Hollywood and Sex and Rage - brought new views of the city to those outside, and her frank, fresh voice became a hit with younger generations in the 2010s after a Vanity Fair profile of the elusive author, who has died at 78. - Variety

Richard Rogers, Who Turned Architecture Inside Out And Altered The Skylines Of Paris And London

The Pritzker Prize-winning architect who designed the Pompidou (with Renzo Piano), the Millennium Dome, and Lloyd's of London, has died at 88. He had "an enthusiasm for the efficiencies of technology modular construction and a commitment to the more humane side of architecture." - The New York Times

The Wide-Angle Vision And Broad Legacy Of bell hooks

Kimberlé Crenshaw explains how hooks's books and other writing worked: "Sometimes people say things, or write things, that so capture your experience that you forget never not knowing it or thinking it." - The New York Times

Clarice Smith, Beloved DC-Area Painter And Philanthropist, Dead At 88

She and her late husband donated many millions to humanities endeavors in greater Washington — notably to the National Gallery of Art, George Washington University, and the University of Maryland, where she gave $15 million for the performing arts center popularly called "The Clarice". - MSN (The Washington Post)

An Incomplete List Of The Writers, Editors, And Great Literary Minds We Lost This Year

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Larry McMurtry, Janet Malcolm, Greg Tate, bell hooks, and so many more. - Literary Hub

Trailblazing Black Feminist bell hooks, 69

Her writings anticipated and helped shape ongoing debates about race, gender and class in the United States. - Washington Post

A New York Times Entertainment Reporter Remembers His Childhood As A Real-Life Carny

As Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley hits screens, Brooks Barnes takes the occasion to write about the corn dogs he dipped and unlimited snow cones he ate at age nine and the Snake Lady, merry-go-round man, and World's Smallest Woman who had his back. - The New York Times

How Elizabeth Alexander Is Transforming The Mellon Foundation

Alexander came to the organization with a specific mandate, she said, of “sharpening the focus—doing all the work, every penny, through a social justice lens.” - ARTnews

Choreographer Nai-Ni Chen, 62, Dead In Swimming Accident

For 30 years her dance company performed both traditional Chinese styles and contemporary works. She had been on vacation in Hawaii last week; her body was spotted by a passerby at an Oahu beach. - The New York Times

The Making Of Tom Stoppard

The creation of Tom Stoppard, the man as well as the artist, began with a kind of extraordinary disappearing act. - The Nation

Groundbreaking Critic Robert Farris Thompson, 88

He spoke and wrote of African civilizations as infinitely varied ethical, philosophical and aesthetic systems. To grasp their complexity and sophistication, he said, required a “guerrilla scholarship” that combined art history, anthropology, dance history, religious studies, sociology and ethnomusicology. - The New York Times

The Monkees’ Michael Nesmith Said He Wasn’t The Made-For-TV Group’s Only Real Musician

Nesmith was called "the quiet Monkee" by the marketers behind the TV show, but "he was musician enough to have a modest solo career after Monkee mania faded at the end of the 1960s, and that led him into a role in music-television history." - The New York Times

Author Anne Rice Has Died At 80

Rice, whose Interview with the Vampire was a huge hit, died from complications of a stroke, her son reported. Rice's Gothic novels and massive popularity meant her book signings were "shows attracting dancers and fans in costume." - The New York Times

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