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Kennedy Center to honor Barbra Streisand, Morgan Freeman, others
By Brett Zongker
The Associated Press
4:51 PM EDT, September 9, 2008
WASHINGTON
Barbra Streisand, actor Morgan Freeman and country singer George Jones
will be honored by the Kennedy Center in December along with
choreographer Twyla Tharp and musicians Pete Townshend and Roger
Daltrey of The Who.
Kennedy Center Chairman Stephen Schwarzman hailed the
"extraordinary genius and tenacity" of the 2008 lifetime achievement
award recipients, who were announced Tuesday.
Their work, Schwarzman said, has "redefined the way we see, hear and feel the performing arts."
Performers from New York, Hollywood and Nashville will salute the
honorees at a Dec. 7 gala to be aired later on CBS. For the last time,
President Bush and first lady Laura Bush will host the honorees at the
White House before the performance. The awards are presented the night
before at a State Department dinner hosted by Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice.
Schwarzman called Streisand's career "one of the most thrilling
spectacles of our culture." The 66-year-old has worked in music,
theater and film, selling more albums than any other female artist. She
said in a statement that she was "humbled and thrilled" to join the
recipients of the 31st annual Kennedy Center Honors.
Jones, a Texas native who now calls Nashville home, said in an
interview that he always thought of himself as an "old country boy
singing beer-drinking songs. I never dreamed I'd ever be this big in
the business." He turns 77 Friday.
Freeman, 71, currently starring in " The Dark Knight," made
headlines after suffering broken bones in a Mississippi car crash last
month. He won an Oscar for his role in "Million Dollar Baby" and his
other screen credits include "Driving Miss Daisy" and "The Bucket List."
Schwarzman said Tharp, 67, is an "American original, whose work
has indelibly enriched the vocabulary of modern dance, contemporary
ballet and the Broadway musical." He said Townshend, 63, and Daltrey,
64, as singers and songwriters for the band The Who, "transformed the
sights and sounds of rock and roll."
Past honorees, including Clint Eastwood, Elton John and Sidney
Poitier, made nominations for the awards, along with members of the
Kennedy Center's national artists committee, including Glenn Close and
Reba McEntire.
Tickets to the gala sell for as much as $4,000. Last year the
event raised $5 million to support Kennedy Center programs. The event
will come after the presidential election that has consumed Washington
but before the next president is inaugurated. Several of the honorees
have weighed in on the race.
Streisand, a longtime Democrat, is supporting Barack Obama after
earlier endorsing Hillary Clinton. More recently, she slammed
Republican presidential nominee John McCain for picking Sarah Palin as
his running mate.
"This calculated, cynical ploy to pull away a small percentage of
Hillary's women voters from Barack Obama will not work," Streisand
wrote on her Web page. "We are not that stupid!"
Jones who looks forward to visiting President Bush before he
leaves the White House, said he usually leans toward supporting
Democrats but is backing McCain this year because of his experience.
"I think he knows everything that needs to be known to lead this country and get it back right," Jones said
