Kennedy Center Honors

The 2006 honorees, with the President and Vice-President of the United States and their wives. From left, they are composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, director Steven Spielberg, singer Dolly Parton, conductor Zubin Mehta, singer-songwriter Smokey Robinson, First Lady Laura Bush, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and Lynne Cheney.

Every year, the Kennedy Center gives its Kennedy Center Honors to artists. These artists have contributed to American culture. Most of these artists were performers, such as actors, dancers, and musicians. Some of these artists were movie directors, play writers, and songwriters. Most of the recipients have been American. The President of the United States usually attends the awards ceremony. The Honors are given in Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center Opera House.^[1]

From 1978 until 2002, the ceremony was hosted by Walter Cronkite.^[2] Since 2003, it has been hosted by Caroline Kennedy.

Recipients

1970s

1978 – Marian Anderson, Fred Astaire, George Balanchine, Richard Rodgers and Arthur Rubinstein
1979 – Aaron Copland, Ella Fitzgerald, Henry Fonda, Martha Graham and Tennessee Williams

1980s

1980 – Leonard Bernstein, James Cagney, Agnes de Mille, Lynn Fontanne, and Leontyne Price
1981 – Count Basie, Cary Grant, Helen Hayes, Jerome Robbins, and Rudolf Serkin
1982 – George Abbott, Lillian Gish, Benny Goodman, Gene Kelly, and Eugene Ormandy
1983 – Katherine Dunham, Elia Kazan, Frank Sinatra, James Stewart, and Virgil Thomson
1984 – Lena Horne, Danny Kaye, Gian Carlo Menotti, Arthur Miller, and Isaac Stern
1985 – Merce Cunningham, Irene Dunne, Bob Hope, Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe, and Beverly Sills
1986 – Lucille Ball, Hume Cronyn & Jessica Tandy, Yehudi Menuhin, Antony Tudor, and Ray Charles
1987 – Perry Como, Bette Davis, Sammy Davis, Jr., Nathan Milstein, and Alwin Nikolais
1988 – Alvin Ailey, George Burns, Myrna Loy, Alexander Schneider, and Roger L. Stevens
1989 – Harry Belafonte, Claudette Colbert, Alexandra Danilova, Mary Martin, and William Schuman

2005 Kennedy Center Honorees, with President and Mrs. Bush.

1990s

1990 – Dizzy Gillespie, Katharine Hepburn, Risë Stevens, Jule Styne, and Billy Wilder
1991 – Roy Acuff, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, Fayard & Harold Nicholas, Gregory Peck, and Robert Shaw
1992 – Lionel Hampton, Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward, Ginger Rogers, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Paul Taylor
1993 – Johnny Carson, Arthur Mitchell, Georg Solti, Stephen Sondheim, and Marion Williams
1994 – Kirk Douglas, Aretha Franklin, Morton Gould, Harold Prince, and Pete Seeger
1995 – Jacques d'Amboise, Marilyn Horne, B.B. King, Sidney Poitier, and Neil Simon
1996 – Edward Albee, Benny Carter, Johnny Cash, Jack Lemmon, and Maria Tallchief
1997 – Lauren Bacall, Bob Dylan, Charlton Heston, Jessye Norman, and Edward Villella
1998 – Bill Cosby, Fred Ebb & John Kander, Willie Nelson, André Previn, and Shirley Temple Black
1999 – Victor Borge, Sean Connery, Judith Jamison, Jason Robards, and Stevie Wonder

2000s

Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, Grace Bumbry, Robert De Niro, and Bruce Springsteen, Kennedy Center honorees 2009, with the President and the First Lady at the Blue Room, White House, Dec. 6, 2009.