WASHINGTON – During the 1970s, Robert Redford's career flourished, and two of his roles during the era had distinct connections to the nation's capital: as a Senate candidate for whom winning was everything in "The Candidate"; and as Bob Woodward, a Washington Post reporter trying to crack the Watergate scandal, in "All the President's Men."
Redford returned to Washington last night to be saluted, along with the other recipients of this year's Kennedy Center Honors, for lifetime achievement in the performing arts.
Redford was among five honorees. The others were singers Tony Bennett and Tina Turner, actress Julie Harris and ballerina Suzanne Farrell.
At a dinner Saturday night for the recipients, the host for the ceremony, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said, "I quit music because of people like our honorees – people who define the difference between what is good and what is great."
The honors, in their 28th year, have evolved into a weekend-long celebration of culture and the arts with receptions at the White House and the State Department and a gala at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The show will be broadcast Dec. 27 on CBS.
"Each of these honorees, in a lifetime of achievement, has set a standard of excellence admired throughout the world," President Bush said at a White House reception yesterday before the gala in the Kennedy Center's Opera House.
The awards show featured film biographies of this year's honorees and tributes from entertainment figures such as Paul Newman, Glenn Close, Willie Nelson and Beyonce Knowles.
In a career that spans five decades, Turner, 66, has sold 50 million albums so far and won seven Grammy awards.
Farrell, 60, danced at the first Kennedy Center Honors gala in 1978, when the honorees included Fred Astaire and choreographer George Balanchine.
Balanchine hand-picked Farrell for his company, the New York City Ballet, when she was 16. She danced only leading roles after her debut season.
Bennett, 79, had his first singing gig at the age of 10, on stage with New York Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia at the 1936 opening of the Triborough Bridge. Since opening for Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village in 1949, he has collaborated with musicians from Count Basie to, Elvis Costello to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Harris, 80, has won five Tony awards, more than any actor, and holds a record 10 nominations. She starred in the stage adaptation of Carson McCullers' "The Member of the Wedding," and was nominated for an Oscar for the film adaptation. She was also on the television show "Knots Landing."
