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National Medal of Arts

HONOR

Official Website:
http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/

NameOccupationBirthDeathKnown for
George Abbott
Playwright
25-Jun-1887 31-Jan-1995 Damn Yankees
Roy Acuff
Country Musician
15-Sep-1903 23-Nov-1992 Country music pioneer
Licia Albanese
Singer
22-Jul-1913   Operatic soprano, La Bohème
Edward Albee
Playwright
12-Mar-1928   Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Marian Anderson
Singer
27-Feb-1897 8-Apr-1993 Operatic contralto
Maya Angelou
Poet
4-Apr-1928   I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Walter Annenberg
Business
13-Mar-1908 1-Oct-2002 Media mogul, created TV Guide
Brooke Astor
Philanthropist
30-Mar-1902 13-Aug-2007 Heiress, philanthropist
Louis Auchincloss
Author
27-Sep-1917 26-Jan-2010 Portrait in Brownstone
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Dancer
27-Jan-1948   Kirov ballet dancer defected to USA
Romare Bearden
Painter
2-Sep-1911 12-Mar-1988 Collagist
Harry Belafonte
Singer/Songwriter
1-Mar-1927   Calypso singer
Saul Bellow
Novelist
10-Jun-1915 5-Apr-2005 The Adventures of Augie March
William Bolcom
Composer
26-May-1938   Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Louise Bourgeois
Sculptor
25-Dec-1911 31-May-2010 Crouching Spider
Ray Bradbury
Author
22-Aug-1920 5-Jun-2012 Fahrenheit 451
Dave Brubeck
Jazz Musician
6-Dec-1920   Take Five
Sarah Caldwell
Conductor
6-Mar-1924 23-Mar-2006 Opera Company of Boston
Cab Calloway
Jazz Musician
25-Dec-1907 18-Nov-1994 King of Hi-De-Ho
Frank Capra
Film Director
18-May-1897 3-Sep-1991 It's A Wonderful Life
Kitty Carlisle
Singer
3-Sep-1910 18-Apr-2007 A Night at the Opera
Benny Carter
Jazz Musician
8-Aug-1907 12-Jul-2003 Jazz and big bandleader
Betty Carter
Singer
16-May-1929 26-Sep-1998 Jazz vocalist
Elliott Carter
Composer
11-Dec-1908   The Defence of Corinth
Johnny Cash
Country Musician
26-Feb-1932 12-Sep-2003 The Man in Black
Ray Charles
Musician
23-Sep-1930 10-Jun-2004 Georgia On My Mind
Beverly Cleary
Author
12-Apr-1916   Children's author, Ramona Quimby series
Chuck Close
Painter
5-Jul-1940   Photo-realist portrait painter, printmaker
Aaron Copland
Composer
14-Nov-1900 2-Dec-1990 Fanfare for the Common Man
Hume Cronyn
Actor
18-Jul-1911 15-Jun-2003 Cocoon
Celia Cruz
Singer
21-Oct-1924 16-Jul-2003 Queen of Salsa
Merce Cunningham
Dancer
16-Apr-1919 26-Jul-2009 Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Ossie Davis
Actor
18-Dec-1917 4-Feb-2005 Do The Right Thing
Willem de Kooning
Painter
24-Apr-1904 19-Mar-1997 Abstract expressionist
Ruby Dee
Actor
27-Oct-1924   The Jackie Robinson Story
Fats Domino
Singer/Songwriter
26-Feb-1928   Ain't That A Shame
Kirk Douglas
Actor
9-Dec-1916   Spartacus
Katherine Dunham
Dancer
22-Jun-1910 21-May-2006 Dunham School of Dance
Ralph Ellison
Novelist
1-Mar-1914 16-Apr-1994 Invisible Man
Suzanne Farrell
Dancer
16-Aug-1945   Ballerina, NYC Ballet
Jose Ferrer
Actor
8-Jan-1909 26-Jan-1992 The Caine Mutiny
Ella Fitzgerald
Singer
25-Apr-1917 15-Jun-1996 The First Lady of Jazz
Horton Foote
Playwright
14-Mar-1916 4-Mar-2009 To Kill a Mockingbird
Helen Frankenthaler
Painter
12-Dec-1928 27-Dec-2011 Mountains and Sea
Aretha Franklin
Singer
25-Mar-1942   R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Leonard Garment
Attorney
11-May-1924   Former Special Counsel to Nixon
Frank Gehry
Architect
28-Feb-1929   Postmodern architect
Dizzy Gillespie
Jazz Musician
21-Oct-1917 7-Jan-1993 Be-bop jazz trumpeter
Martha Graham
Dancer
11-May-1894 1-Apr-1991 Innovator of modern dance
Buddy Guy
Musician
30-Jul-1936   Damn Right, I've Got the Blues
Uta Hagen
Actor
12-Jun-1919 14-Jan-2004 Renowned thespian and acting teacher
Armand Hammer
Business
21-May-1898 10-Dec-1990 Soviet agent of influence
Julie Harris
Actor
2-Dec-1925   East of Eden
Helen Hayes
Actor
10-Oct-1900 17-Mar-1993 First Lady of the Theater
Al Hirschfeld
Artist
21-Jun-1903 20-Jan-2003 Pen and ink caricaturist
Bob Hope
Comic
29-May-1903 27-Jul-2003 Centenarian comic
Marilyn Horne
Singer
16-Jan-1934   Operatic mezzo soprano
Vladimir Horowitz
Pianist
1-Oct-1903 5-Nov-1989 Virtuoso pianist
Ron Howard
Actor
1-Mar-1954   Richie Cunningham on Happy Days
Judith Jamison
Dancer
10-May-1943   Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre
Jasper Johns
Painter
15-May-1930   Neo-Dadaist painter of US Flag
George Jones
Country Musician
12-Sep-1931   Country singer, White Lightning
James Earl Jones
Actor
17-Jan-1931   Voice of Darth Vader and CNN
Gene Kelly
Actor
23-Aug-1912 2-Feb-1996 Singin' in the Rain
B. B. King
Musician
16-Sep-1925   King of the Blues
Stanley Kunitz
Poet
29-Jul-1905 14-May-2006 US Poet Laureate, 2000
Erich Kunzel
Conductor
21-Mar-1935 1-Sep-2009 Conductor, Cincinnati Pops, 1977-2009
Angela Lansbury
Actor
16-Oct-1925   Murder She Wrote
Norman Lear
Film/TV Producer
27-Jul-1922   Creator of All in the Family
Eva Le Gallienne
Actor
11-Jan-1899 3-Jun-1991 New York Civic Repertory Theater
James Levine
Conductor
23-Jun-1943   Music Director, NY Metropolitan Opera
Roy Lichtenstein
Painter
27-Oct-1923 29-Sep-1997 Whaam!
Yo-Yo Ma
Cellist
7-Oct-1955   Cellist, The Silk Road Ensemble
Paul Mellon
Philanthropist
11-Jun-1907 1-Feb-1999 Yale Center for British Art benefactor
Bob Merrill
Songwriter
17-May-1921 17-Feb-1998 How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?
Robert Merrill
Singer
4-Jun-1917 23-Oct-2004 Operatic baritone, NY Metropolitan Opera
Arthur Miller
Playwright
17-Oct-1915 10-Feb-2005 Death of a Salesman
Czeslaw Milosz
Poet
30-Jun-1911 14-Aug-2004 Polish novelist and poet, The Captive Mind
Arthur Mitchell
Dancer
27-Mar-1934   Dance Theatre of Harlem
Robert Motherwell
Painter
24-Jan-1915 16-Jul-1991 Abstract expressionist
Lewis Mumford
Historian
19-Oct-1895 26-Jan-1990 Technics and Civilization
Howard Nemerov
Poet
1-Mar-1920 5-Jul-1991 US Poet Laureate, 1987-88
Louise Nevelson
Sculptor
23-Sep-1899 17-Apr-1988 Ukrainian-American abstract sculptor
Mike Nichols
Film Director
6-Nov-1931   Primary Colors
Georgia O'Keeffe
Painter
15-Nov-1887 6-Mar-1986 American abstract and landscape painter
Odetta
Singer
31-Dec-1930 2-Dec-2008 Queen of American Folk Music
Gordon Parks
Film Director
30-Nov-1912 7-Mar-2006 Shaft
Les Paul
Guitarist
9-Jun-1915 13-Aug-2009 Electric guitar/multitrack recording pioneer
Minnie Pearl
Singer
25-Oct-1912 4-Mar-1996 Her hat cost $1.98
Gregory Peck
Actor
5-Apr-1916 12-Jun-2003 To Kill A Mockingbird
Jan Peerce
Singer
3-Jun-1904 15-Dec-1984 Operatic tenor, NY Metropolitan Opera
I. M. Pei
Architect
26-Apr-1917   Designed Louvre's glass pyramid
Itzhak Perlman
Violinist
31-Aug-1945   Israeli violinist
Roberta Peters
Singer
4-May-1930   Coloratura soprano, NY Metropolitan Opera
Leontyne Price
Singer
10-Feb-1927   Operatic soprano
Harold Prince
Theatre Producer
30-Jan-1928   Broadway musical producer, 21 Tony awards
Tito Puente
Musician
20-Apr-1923 31-May-2000 Popular Latin bandleader
Robert Rauschenberg
Sculptor
22-Oct-1925 13-May-2008 American modern sculptor and painter
Robert Redford
Actor
18-Aug-1936   The Sundance Kid
Jason Robards
Actor
26-Jul-1922 26-Dec-2000 All The President's Men
Jerome Robbins
Choreographer
11-Oct-1918 29-Jul-1998 West Side Story
Smokey Robinson
Singer/Songwriter
19-Feb-1940   Motown singer, A Quiet Storm
Philip Roth
Novelist
19-Mar-1933   Portnoy's Complaint
William Schuman
Composer
4-Aug-1910 15-Feb-1992 Symphony No. 6
Earl Scruggs
Musician
6-Jan-1924 28-Mar-2012 Bluegrass banjo pioneer
Vin Scully
Baseball
29-Nov-1927   Voice of the Dodgers
Pete Seeger
Singer/Songwriter
3-May-1919   We Shall Overcome
Maurice Sendak
Author
10-Jun-1928 8-May-2012 Where The Wild Things Are
Rudolf Serkin
Pianist
28-Mar-1903 8-May-1991 Czech-American piano prodigy
Richard M. Sherman
Songwriter
12-Jun-1928   Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Robert B. Sherman
Songwriter
19-Dec-1925 5-Mar-2012 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Beverly Sills
Singer
25-May-1929 2-Jul-2007 Soprano at the New York City Opera
Leonard Slatkin
Conductor
1-Sep-1944   Music Director, Detroit Symphony
Stephen Sondheim
Composer
22-Mar-1930   West Side Story
Frank Stella
Painter
12-May-1936   Minimalist painter, later mixed media artist
George Strait
Country Musician
18-May-1952   Fool Hearted Memory
Barbra Streisand
Singer
24-Apr-1942   You Don't Bring Me Flowers
William Styron
Novelist
11-Jun-1925 31-Oct-2006 The Confessions of Nat Turner
Maria Tallchief
Dancer
24-Jan-1925   New York City Ballet
Jessica Tandy
Actor
7-Jun-1909 11-Sep-1994 Driving Miss Daisy
Billy Taylor
Jazz Musician
24-Jul-1921 28-Dec-2010 I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free
Twyla Tharp
Dancer
1-Jul-1941   Choreographer
Wayne Thiebaud
Artist
15-Nov-1920   California pop artist
Virgil Thomson
Composer
25-Nov-1896 30-Sep-1989 Four Saints in Three Acts
Tommy Tune
Dancer
28-Feb-1939   6'6" Broadway dancer
John Updike
Novelist
18-Mar-1932 27-Jan-2009 Rabbit, Run
Robert Venturi
Architect
25-Jun-1925   Postmodernist architect
Frederica von Stade
Singer
1-Jun-1945   Operatic mezzo-soprano
Robert Penn Warren
Poet
24-Apr-1905 15-Sep-1989 First US Poet Laureate
Doc Watson
Guitarist
2-Mar-1923 29-May-2012 Two Days in November
Eudora Welty
Author
13-Apr-1909 23-Jul-2001 The Optimist's Daughter
Richard Wilbur
Poet
1-Mar-1921   Second U.S. Poet Laureate
Billy Wilder
Film Director
22-Jun-1906 27-Mar-2002 Sunset Blvd.
Robert Wise
Film Director
10-Sep-1914 14-Sep-2005 The Sound of Music


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