WASHINGTON (AP) -- One is known to a whole generation as the wise-cracking, nurturing dad. Another is remembered not only for her sweet rendition of "The Good Ship Lollypop" but also for a distinguished diplomatic career.
Bill Cosby and Shirley Temple Black were among this year's six Kennedy Center honorees who basked in good cheer Sunday night as hundred of artists, politicians and children celebrated their significant contributions to the arts.Also honored were composer and musician Andre Previn, songwriter Willie Nelson and the Broadway team of lyricist John Kander and composer Fred Ebb.
Cosby, who gained fame for his hilarious caricatures of family life, was the first black star of a weekly network television show, when he played a secret agent on "I Spy" in the 1960s. Later, he headed the Huxtable family in the situational comedy, "The Cosby Show."
At a star-studded White House reception before the Kennedy Center gala, President Clinton praised Cosby for his "remarkable gift" of being able to "look inside the human experience in all its depth and diversity and hold it up to the universal light of laughter -- in so doing, to allow all of us to return to our childhood."
Still, Cosby is not perfect.
After 70-year-old Temple Black showed off her prowess at the "shim sham shimmy," she challenged Cosby to a turn at the tricky dance. Despite being the youngest honoree at 61, Cosby could not quite pull it off.
"She wasn't surprised. She knew I couldn't do it," Cosby told reporters. From his balcony seat next to Hillary Clinton, the comedian joked his way through the evening. When audience members refused to give up their standing ovation, he pointed to his watch and told Temple Black to "sit down." When the audience sat down, he stood up and threw out his arms.
"Mr. Cosby, you are the man. You are still the man," comedian Sinbad said.
Temple Black's blond ringlets and tap-dancing feet graced dozens of films before she reached age 21. For Depression-era audiences, her sweet and savvy acting seemed heaven-sent.
Journalist Walter Cronkite called her "the little child that lit up the screen and lifted up a nation," and said "she will always be America's princess in a castle."
But Temple Black did not stay in the castle. She launched a diplomatic career in her 40s when she was appointed U.S. representative to the United Nations by President Nixon. Temple Black also served as ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia.
CBS will televise the event Dec. 30.