Phylicia Rashad directs ‘Four Little Girls’ play
Phylicia Rashad is best known for starring roles on stage and television, but as a director she decided to commemorate a historic moment that helped spur the civil rights movement.
The Tony Award-winning actress directed a reading of the play “Four Little Girls: Birmingham 1963” at the Kennedy Center Sunday to mark the 50th anniversary of the bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. Four girls were killed in the explosion, which was set by white supremacists and helped spur passage of landmark civil rights legislation.
Rashad, who is recognized for her portrayal as the matriarch on “The Cosby Show” TV series and Broadway’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” said she wanted the reading to emphasize the “sanctity of joy, human existence and the value of all life.”
The play was written by Christina Ham and starred students from Howard University and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C.
Prince Albert to visit Wyoming
Prince Albert II of Monaco will be in Cody, Wyo., on Sept. 28 to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of his great-great grandfather’s hunting trip with “Buffalo Bill” Cody.
He also plans to deliver a new scientific research grant supporting biodiversity studies in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.
The prince is revisiting the area surrounding the hunting camp Prince Albert I of Monaco and Buffalo Bill established in 1913, near what is now Yellowstone National Park.
Police say Santana crash wasn’t DUI
Carlos Santana drove into an unoccupied parked car near an upscale area of Las Vegas, but escaped injury, police said.
The Grammy-winning superstar was headed home alone when the accident occurred Friday night in Summerlin.
Police Lt. Ken Romane told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that it’s uncertain whether a sobriety field test was conducted, but Santana, 66, was not driving under the influence.
Romane did not know the make of Santana’s vehicle or the extent of damage to it and the parked car. Romane said the accident was “minor.”
Santana has won 15 Grammys and is best known for the album “Supernatural.”
The birthday bunch
Actress Lauren Bacall is 89. Blues singer B.B. King is 88. Actress Susan Ruttan is 65. Rock musician Ron Blair (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers; Mudcrutch) is 65. Actor Ed Begley Jr. is 64. Actor Mickey Rourke is 57. Magician David Copperfield is 57. Actress Jennifer Tilly is 55. Comedian Molly Shannon is 49. Singer Marc Anthony is 45. Comedian-actress Amy Poehler is 42. Actress Alexis Bledel is 32. Rock singer-musician Nick Jonas (The Jonas Brothers) is 21.