Five standouts in arts get prestigious award

Five new members received top honors at the Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday. Instead, one of Lucas’s beloved creations, the feisty droid R2-D2, rolled onstage and projected her image, recreating the famous scene from A New Hope.

Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, fellow directors who along with Lucas brought new energy to American cinema in the 1970s, offered more conventional tributes to the Star Wars creator, hailing him for his technological wizardry and his commitment to storytelling.

The celebration concluded with an orchestra playing music from his hits including Star Wars, Indiana Jones and The Goonies, while special effects lit up the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Steven Spielberg appeared in person to compare George to well-known inventors, saying, “He’s a pathfinder and a pioneer like (Thomas) Edison and (Alexander Graham) Bell and (Nikola) Tesla and (Steve) Jobs…” More than that, though, he changed the world; there’s no doubt no one was the same after Star Wars debuted in theaters in 1977.

As the crowd of Washington power brokers and Hollywood celebrities stood and applauded, Lucas waved from a balcony, wearing the event’s signature rainbow-coloured garland.

The chosen few included songwriter Carole King, actress and singer Rita Moreno, conductor Seiji Ozawa, Broadway star Cicely Tyson and filmmaker George Lucas, reports “CBS This Morning” co-host Charlie Rose.

The 83-year-old first dazzled fans on the screen adaptation of “West Side Story” before going on to win all four of the biggest prizes in show business over her career – the Oscar, the Tony, two Emmys and a Grammy.

Cicely Tyson was honoured in speeches by Kerry Washington, Viola Davis and Tyler Perry, and Rita Moreno was praised by her onscreen granddaughter, Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez, and Rosie Perez, who gave a musical performance.

Singer-songwriter Carole King was inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame almost 30 years ago for her influence on music. Her compositions include The Loco-Motion, One Fine Day and I’m Into Something Good.

King’s tribute was delivered by longtime colleague Taylor, who said that when he first released King’s “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”, he never dreamed the tune would be “my first and last number one single, and a song I would sing every night for the rest of my entire life”. And host Stephen Colbert, back for his second year, opened by acknowledging all the attendees, including “the small handful of you who aren’t running for president”. It will be broadcast December 29 on CBS.

The Honors are not designated by art form or category of artistic achievement; over the years, the selection process has produced a balance among the various arts and artistic disciplines.