Lange to Receive 2017 Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts

Thursday, March 02, 2017

GoLocalProv Lifestyle Team

 

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Jessica Lange to receive Pell Award

Actress Jessica Lange will receive the 2017 Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts, Trinity Repertory Company announced. 

The award will be presented to her at the 21st annual Pell Awards Gala which will be held on Monday, May 22 at the WaterFire Arts Center in Providence. 

Trinity Rep Gala will also honor Joseph and Sally Dowling, Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, and Rhode Island State Council on the Arts

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"There is no better way to honor Senator Claiborne Pell's dedication to the arts than by recognizing the talents and hearts of Jessica, Sally and Joe, Ricardo, and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. We are thrilled to celebrate their individual achievements, their commitment to bettering the world through art, and their dedication to their communities here in Rhode Island," said Curt Columbus, artistic director of Trinity Rep.

Jessica Lange 

Lange made her Hollywood debut in John Guillermin’s King Kong with Jeff Bridges and Charles Grodin, Lange won a Golden Globe for Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture. Since then, she has earned a total of two Academy Awards, three Emmys, five Golden Globes, a Tony, and a SAG Award.=

She received dual Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for her performances in Frances and in Sydney Pollack’s comedy Tootsie, for which she took home the Oscar for Supporting Actress. She won her second Oscar in 1994 for Best Actress in Blue Sky.

Lange has also starred in legendary films such as Sweet Dreams, Music Box, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Country, Rob Roy, and Cape Fear.

In 1996, she received her first Emmy nomination for the made for TV adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire in which Lange played “Blanche DuBois.” Since then, she also starred in Normal, Sybil, Grey Gardens, and the critically acclaimed American Horror Story. 

Next, Lange can be seen as the star of FX’s Feud: Bette and Joan alongside Susan Sarandon and produced by Ryan Murphy. The eight-episode series premieres on Sunday, March 5, 2017.

Pell Awards 

The Pell Awards honor Senator Claiborne Pell and recognize artistic excellence in Rhode Island and the New England region as well as on the national level. 

He sponsored the landmark legislation that established the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities in 1965, and chaired the Senate Education and Arts subcommittee. 

Past Pell Winners 

The full list of past Pell Awards recipients includes Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts honorees Jane Alexander, Kate Burton, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Viola Davis, Olympia Dukakis, Laurie and Oskar Eustis, Adrian Hall, Richard and Sharon Jenkins, Arthur Miller, Liza Minnelli, Toni Morrison, Robert Redford, Chita Rivera, Jason Robards, Maurice Sendak, Beverly Sills, Stephen Sondheim and Kevin Spacey; New England Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts honorees Brian Dennehy, Julie Harris, Jeffrey Osborne, Lloyd Richards, Gunther Schuller and John Updike; Pell Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts honorees John Krasinski, Debra Messing, Amy Morton, and Trinity Rep Resident Acting Company; Pell Award/Charles Sullivan Award for Distinguished Service in/to the Arts honorees Elizabeth C. Chace, Mayor Vincent A. Cianci, Jr., Martha Douglas-Osmundson, Adrian Hall, Mary Paula Hunter, P. William Hutchinson, Virginia Lynch, Lowry Marshall, Elaine Foster Perry and Julie Adams Strandberg; Pell Award for Outstanding Leadership in Arts Education honoree Ruth J. Simmons; Pell Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Arts honorees Joseph A. Chazan M.D., Mihailo “Misha” Djuric, Michael Gennaro, Roger Mandle, Senator Claiborne Pell, J.L. “Lynn” Singleton and George Wein.

 

Related Slideshow: The Pell Family Legacy

In 1960, an unknown political force swept Rhode Island and became one of the most unlikely United States Senators in America. 

Claiborne Pell beat two former RI Governors and held the Senate seat until 1997. Now, his grandson who has ties to the White House and a superstar wife, is gearing up for a run for Governor of Rhode Island. Take a look at the Pell family legacy.

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1960 Election

Claiborne Pell was the son of the United States Ambassador to Portugal and later Hungary. 

Pell was considered a long shot when he ran for the United States Senate in 1960, but he out-worked the Democratic machine and defeated former Governor Dennis J. Roberts and former Governor and U.S. Senator J. Howard McGrath in the Democratic primary. It was one of the biggest upsets in RI political history.

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The Legacy

Pell's legacy was two fold: he was one of the most unque members of the United States Senate; and he built an impressive track record of legislative successes.

He was the author of the legislative effort that created the Pell Grants, he created the National Endowment for the Arts, and he served as Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

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Senate Support

If Clay Pell decides to run for Governor of Rhode Island, it would be hard to imagine that he would not receive strong support from United States Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

Whitehouse has enjoyed unyielding support from the Pell family and the matriarch Nuala Pell.

Whitehouse's early support would help push Pell into a very formidable position.

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White House

A Clay Pell candidacy would not only get a boost from his family's reputation, but his own resume would make him credible out of the box.

In April of 2013, President Barack Obama appointed Pell to serve as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International and Foreign Language Education.

This Presidential appointment comes after Pell served as Director for Strategic Planning on the National Security Staff at the White House, "where he helped develop and advance a number of the President’s key national security and global competitiveness priorities across the globe."

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Resume

Clay Pell attended Harvard, earned a JD from Georgetown and has passed the RI, MA and US Supreme Court Bar exams.

He is a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve.

Pell also served as a White House Fellow.

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Kwan Factor

Pell married Olympic two-time Olympic medalist, Michelle Kwan in January of 2013 in Newport.

Kwan brings an impressive resume of her own beyond being five-time World Champion and nine-time US skating Champ.

In 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice named Michelle Kwan as a public diplomacy ambassador. 
 
Her diplomatic position has continued for the Obama Administration as she has worked with Vice President Joe Biden and with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
 

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