Sting, Tom Hanks among 5 picked for Kennedy Center Honors
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP (L-R) Al Green, Tom Hanks, Patricia McBride, Sting and Lily Tomlin are introduced by Head Obama at the White Household on Sunday. WASHINGTON (AP) — Heralded as a musical genius who rose from a British shipyard hometown to make his mark, Sting will hear the state’s highest honor Sunday for influencing American culture through the arts.
Top performers and power players from Hollywood, Broadway and Washington have gathered to honor five artists who will hear this year’s Kennedy Focal point Honors. Tom Hanks, Lily Tomlin, singer Al Green and ballerina Patricia McBride will join Sting in receiving the arts prize.
Sting broke out in 1978 with his band The Police with such hits as “Roxanne” and later “Every Breath You Take” before starting his solo career. He has been performing for four decades and has won 16 Grammy Awards.
Bruce Springsteen, who existing a toast for Sting at a State Department dinner Saturday, said the breadth and depth of Sting’s talents are intimidating as he crosses from folk composition to jazz, classical, pop, rock and reggae. On Tuesday, Sting will join the Broadway cast “The Last Ship” in his musical about his hometown.
“Sting makes me feel like a musical Neanderthal. When we get together, we always have the same argument. He insists that there are more than three chords, while I persist that there are not,” Springsteen said. “In an age of musical homogenization, no one has ever sounded or sang like my friend.”
Sting, 63, told The Associated Press he was bewildered by the honor.
RON SACHS / POOL/EPA Sting said he was bewildered to hear the honor. 
RON SACHS / POOL/EPA Tom Hanks praised for his roles in films such as ‘Forrest Gump’ and ‘Saving Private Ryan.’ 
RON SACHS / POOL/EPA Singer Al Green waves to the audience during Sunday’s event. 
RON SACHS / POOL/EPA Actress and comedian Lily Tomlin was among five artists to hear the award.
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“You know, for an Englishman to hear this reward, it’s not unique, but it’s rare, and I take that pretty seriously,” he said. “To come to this country in 1978 with no prospects at all and then to end up here with the secretary of state, it’s quite a journey. So I don’t take it for granted.”
Head Obama will salute the honorees Sunday at the White Household before a gala performance in their honor hosted by Stephen Colbert. The show will be broadcast Dec. 30 on CBS.
Filmmaker George Stevens Jr., who made the Kennedy Focal point Honors and produces the show each year, said Hanks, 58, stands apart as “one of the splendid actors of his generation or any generation.”
Hanks made powerful characters in films that include “Philadelphia,” “Forrest Gump,” “Apollo 13,” “Saving Private Ryan” and 2013’s “Captain Phillips.”
“Each one was shaped by the same man’s imagination,” Stevens said. “Each one has clarity, honesty, humor, humanity, and each one has a deep sense of hope and aspiration.”
JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS Head Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrive for a reception for the 2014 Kennedy Focal point honorees in the East Room at the White Household on Sunday. Hanks joked that a mistake must have been made in the choice for a fifth honoree.
“A lot of times in the trophy season, it’s for work you did a few months ago,” he said. “This is the work I started in 1981, so it all works out OK.”
Tomlin, 75, made her career in comedy after moving to New York City as a waitress. Soon she would make her TV debut on “The Garry Moore Show” in 1966 and within a few years joined the cast of “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” with her standard characters of Ernestine, the telephone operator, and Edith Ann, a little girl.
Tomlin went on to make memorable comedy specials, Broadway shows and movie roles, including “9 to 5” with Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton.
Tomlin said she couldn’t believe she was receiving the Kennedy Focal point Honors. “I’ve never been privy to the insider’s circle, but here I am,” she said.
JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS Director Steven Spielberg (L), his wife Kate Capshaw (2nd L), actor Martin Fleeting (2nd R) and singer Bruce Springsteen were on hand for Sunday’s event. Green, 68, was born to sharecroppers in Arkansas. He made his name touring the gospel circuits of the South and now is one of the foremost voices of Memphis soul. His hits include “Let’s Stay Together,” “Take Me to the River” and “Here I Am (Come and Take Me).” His songs have been covered by Annie Lennox, Dave Matthews, Bruce Springsteen and even Obama, who has particularly sung a few lines from “Let’s Stay Together.”
McBride, 72, has forged her artistic career in dance. She joined the New York City Ballet at 16 after studying under the splendid choreographer George Balanchine and quickly became the company’s youngest principal dancer at 18. It’s a role she would hold for 28 years, performing around the world. She gave her farewell performance in 1989 and was showered with nearly 13,000 roses.
Dancer Edward Villella hailed McBride as “one of our splendid national dance treasures.”
Now, McBride works to pass on Balanchine’s legacy as a teacher for young dancers. She and her husband, dancer Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, run the Charlotte Ballet in North Carolina.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who hosted a dinner for the honorees, said art is a transformational force around the world and a powerful way to showcase American culture.
“These five artists speak to us in a way that art as a whole speaks to everyone,” Kerry said. “It doesn’t matter whether you live in a big city in a penthouse or in a tiny village with only dirt for a floor, the power of art, composition and dance is the power to inspire dreams, to lift the spirit and go the soul.”
