Kennedy Center to honor De Niro, Springsteen

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By Kelly Jane Torrance

All five recipients of the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors were born in the United States -- and one of them turned that fact into an anthem.

Singer-songwriter and working-class hero Bruce Springsteen; method-acting legend Robert De Niro; jazz composer and pianist Dave Brubeck; funnyman Mel Brooks; and pioneering opera singer Grace Bumbry were named the recipients Wednesday of the nation's top performing-arts honor.

This year's group, made up of popular entertainers beloved by a wide cross section of society -- with the exception of the woman taking the high-art slot usually reserved for classical music or dance -- could give a ratings boost to the ceremony's annual telecast.

The Kennedy Center will host the Honors Gala Dec. 6, with luminaries from the worlds of stage and screen offering encomiums to the winners. The 32nd annual ceremony will be turned into a two-hour special for broadcast on CBS Dec. 29.

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will sit with the awardees at the gala and receive them at the White House beforehand. The iconic rainbow sashes and medallions themselves will be presented the evening before at a dinner hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who's no stranger to the annual event - as first lady, she sat with honorees for years.

Mr. De Niro, 66, is not just one of the greatest actors of his generation; he's one of the greatest actors in cinematic history. The son of two New York painters, he dropped out of high school to study under method-acting guru Stella Adler and often plays unsavory, even psychotic, characters, making them strangely sympathetic.

He has said, "There is a mixture of anarchy and discipline in the way I work," and he's known for throwing himself into his roles. He gained 60 pounds to play real-life boxer Jake LaMotta in 1980's "Raging Bull," an intense portrayal that won him the Oscar for best actor. He'd already won a best-supporting-actor Oscar for "The Godfather Part II."

The actor is a regular collaborator of "Raging Bull" director Martin Scorsese -- who won a Kennedy Center Honor himself in 2007 -- working with him on such films as "The King of Comedy" and "Goodfellas." His work on the 1976 Scorsese drama "Taxi Driver" made him an icon; the actor improvised the famous line, "You talkin' to me?" More recently, he has turned to comedy, most memorably in 2000's "Meet the Parents."

Mr. De Niro plays other roles, in and out of the film business. He also is a producer and has directed two films, "A Bronx Tale" and "The Good Shepherd." The restaurateur co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival to revitalize the New York neighborhood after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Mr. Springsteen, 59, grew up across the Hudson and became the voice of blue-collar New Jersey. He was inspired at age 7 by seeing Elvis Presley on "The Ed Sullivan Show" but inherited the mantle of another musical giant - like Bob Dylan, Mr. Springsteen is considered one of rock's great poets. He began playing in New Jersey clubs in the 1960s and released his first album -- on Columbia, Mr. Dylan's label -- in 1973. "Born to Run," released two years later, made him a star.