
Elizabeth Blair
Elizabeth Blair is a Peabody Award-winning senior producer/reporter on the Arts Desk of NPR News.
Blair produces, edits, and reports arts and cultural segments for NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. In this position, she has reported on a range of topics from arts funding to the MeToo movement. She has profiled renowned artists such as Yayoi Kusama and Mikhail Baryshnikov, explored how old women are represented in fairy tales, and reported the origins of the children's classic Curious George. Among her all-time favorite interviews are actors Octavia Spencer and Andy Serkis, comedians Bill Burr and Hari Kondabolu, the rapper K'Naan, and Cookie Monster (in character).
Blair has overseen several, large-scale series including The NPR 100, which explored landmark musical works of the 20th Century, and In Character, which probed the origins of iconic American fictional characters. Along with her colleagues on the Arts Desk and at NPR Music, Blair curated American Anthem, a major series exploring the origins of songs that uplift, rouse, and unite people around a common theme.
Blair's work has received several honors, including two Peabody Awards and a Gracie. She previously lived in Paris, France, where she co-produced Le Jazz Club From Paris with Dee Dee Bridgewater, and the monthly magazine Postcard From Paris.
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Wells was a writer and anti-lynching campaigner who edited and co-owned the Memphis Free Speech. Other role models the toy company has honored include Rosa Parks, Sally Ride and Maya Angelou.
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Writer, director, actor and lifelong cinephile Peter Bogdanovich has died. He directed the Oscar-nominated movie The Last Picture Show, along with Paper Moon, They All Laughed and What's Up Doc.
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Albums by Wallen and Adele were the top sellers of 2021, according to MRC Data and Billboard's annual tally. Other findings: audio on-demand streaming soared, and sales of vinyl outpaced CDs.
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Motown founder Berry Gordy, opera star Justino Díaz, singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, entertainer Bette Midler and television impresario Lorne Michaels were among those celebrated this weekend.
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Mick Rock, iconic photographer of rock stars, has died. He was known for his images of David Bowie, Lou Reed, Queen and Blondie. He was 72.
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Celebrated as a rising star by colleagues and collaborators, Hutchins grew up on a military base, and had a taste for filming herself doing extreme sports.
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Stagehands at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. voted unanimously to strike if the performing arts center proceeds with cuts.
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The Alabama native has died after battling leukemia. Goldsmith won the top prize on Chopped Junior when he was 14, before moving on to Top Chef Junior.
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Comedian and actor A.J. Johnson has died at age 55. Johnson starred as Ezal, a homeless man with drug addiction, in Ice Cube's Friday.
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Donner directed 1978's Superman — which is in the National Film Registry — as well as The Goonies and the Lethal Weapon franchise. He was 91.