WASHINGTON - Hollywood and Washington came together this weekend for two star-studded days that honored five performing arts legends, their careers and their contributions to American culture.
The achievements of conductor James Levine, actress and dancer Chita Rivera, singer and songwriter Paul Simon, actress Elizabeth Taylor and actor James Earl Jones were celebrated at the 25th annual Kennedy Center Honors.
"Each one of you is known to the American people in a way that runs deeper than fame," President Bush told the honorees at a White House reception Sunday. "Each new group represents a picture to remember - a conductor from the Met, a legend from Broadway, the composer of 'Mrs. Robinson,' the face of Cleopatra and the voice of Darth Vader."
After the reception at the White House, Bush and his wife, Laura, attended a gala celebration at Washington's Kennedy Center, where they were joined by an audience that included television talk show host Jerry Springer, Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., World Bank president James Wolfensohn, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, actor Laurence Fishburne and singer Alicia Keys.
On Saturday, Hollywood and political heavyweights attended a black-tie reception and dinner at the State Department, given by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. The guests at the dinner, where the Kennedy awards were presented, included former CBS newsman Walter Cronkite, actor Kelsey Grammer, songwriter Burt Bacharach, actor Sidney Poitier and actress Kim Cattrall.
Simon brought his mother, 90-year-old Belle Simon, who said her son was grateful to be chosen for one of the most prestigious awards the nation bestows. "He never fusses over the awards he gets, and when he got this, he told me it was an honor," Simon's mother said.
Powell paid tribute to the awardees by comparing diplomacy and the performing arts:
"At its very best, diplomacy, like art, extends the realm of the possible. Each in their own way, American diplomacy and our performing artists, have opened up new ways of proceeding and thinking. They have reached across cultures and borders," Powell said.
The secretary of state also teased the honorees.
Jones, 71, whose first movie was Stanley Kubrick's 1964 classic Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, is perhaps best known for his voice work as Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies and King Mufasa in Disney's The Lion King.
"Jones has been an inspiration to young people around the world, so much so that Warner Bros. wanted to make a movie of his life. They put it off, though - I wasn't available," Powell said.
Powell teased Rivera as well: "Chita, we're not sure if we like you here at the State Department; you bring a lot of problems. Embassies around the world tell me they have to face hundreds of thousands of people that line up and every single one of them says, 'I like to be in America,'" he said, breaking into the song from West Side Story.
Actress Glenn Close praised Rivera, 69, for "not just being a name but for showing us what it means to be a star."
Simon, 59, who has won a dozen Grammys and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was honored for his musical career, bringing elements as wide-ranging as traditional African rhythms, rockabilly and salsa into his songs.
Powell noted that both he and Simon are New York City natives. "Paul grew up in Queens, and I grew up in the Bronx," Powell said. "Actually, it wasn't Paul, but it was me and Julio down by the school yard," he said, quoting a line from one of Simon's songs.
Levine, 58, was recognized for "bringing one of the world's foremost opera companies to unsurpassed artistic excellence." The longtime artistic director of the Metropolitan Opera will take over the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2004.
Honoring Levine, Powell likened his job to the artist's: "Conducting an opera is like conducting multi-level diplomacy you have to let everyone play their own strings and you eventually come out with the same sheet of music."
Taylor, 70, was recognized for her prolific career and commitment to AIDS research.
"In a town where pretty faces were a dime a dozen, she was the face," Close said. "She commanded the screen with unparalleled power and she used her power to help the less fortunate, lending her money, her time, her passion, to causes most in need of her help."
CBS will air the Kennedy Centers Honors on Dec. 27.
Arianne Aryanpur writes for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.