CBS aired the 32nd Kennedy Center Honors ceremony Tuesday with Caroline Kennedy hosting for the seventh consecutive year.

The Kennedy Center Honors recognizes recipients for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts in dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures and television.

This years honorees were the following:

• Mel Brooks – wrote and directed the classic 1968 film “The Producers” which gave Brooks an Academy Award for best screenplay and was later adapted to a musical winning 12 Tony Awards and ran for 2502 performances.
• Dave Brubeck – one of the people that defined the sound of the American jazz pianist.
• Grace Bumbry – made operatic history in 1961 when she joined Wieland Wagner to sing at the Bayreuth Festival and became the first black singer to perform in the shrine of Wagner opera.
• Robert De Niro – honored for his work including “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “The God Father II,” “Casino,” “The Deer Hunter,” “Good Fellas,” and a lot more!
• Bruce Springsteen – hailed as the as the savior of rock & roll with hits like “The River” and “Born In The USA”.

President Obama and Vice President Biden mingled with the attendees and were entertained with a great variety of talent including; Jack Black, Matthew Broderick, Harry Connick, Jr., Melissa Etheridge, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Hancock, Ben Harper, Harvey Keitel, Frank Langella, John Mellencamp, Edward Norton, Carl Reiner, Martin Scorsese, Martin Short, Jon Stewart, Ben Stiller, Sting, Sharon Stone, Meryl Streep, and Eddie Vedder.

(thanks to the Examiner)