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Actress Uta Hagen died Wednesday at her home in Manhattan at age 84. Hagen gained her biggest Broadway success in the early 1960s with her portrayal of Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. She also taught dozens of actors how to ply their trade. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.

Billy May, a jazz trumpeter and composer best known for his critically acclaimed arrangements for Frank Sinatra, died last week at age 87. In the 1940s and '50s, May was one of the most sought-after arrangers for big-band music and American standards, working with stars such as Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole. NPR's Bob Edwards has a remembrance.

To better understand the role of the heartbroken lover in the Schubert song cycle "Winter's Journey," American tenor David Pisaro is hiking 200 miles in two weeks along the blustery English coast. He performs at stops along the way. Hear Pisaro and NPR's Scott Simon.

The West Ham United player has been fined for his actions and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has launched an investigation into the matter.

Kojak sucked on a lollipop, Columbo sported a rumpled raincoat. But Monk, the current rage in TV crime solvers, is an altogether different character -- he's an obsessive-compulsive detective who's afraid of dirt, crowded rooms and milk. On Morning Edition, NPR's Renee Montagne gets into the mind of the quirky character with the show's star, Tony Shalhoub.

Thomas Mallon's latest work of historical fiction is Bandbox. It's set in 1920s New York, amidst the ruthlessly competitive world of magazine publishing. For years Mallon soaked himself in the tabloids and novels and music of the era -- the key, he says, to writing authentic dialogue and narration. Hear Mallon and NPR's Scott Simon.

Cowboy poets, writers, musicians descended on the small town of Elko, Nev., for the 20th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Who better to report on the sights and sounds of it all than Morning Edition's own resident cowboy poet, Baxter Black. Hear several poems and songs from the gathering.

Fashion photographer Helmut Newton died Friday in a car accident on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard. He was 83. His bold and erotic photographs started a revolution of sorts in fashion photography, and he helped define the style of the sexual revolution as well. Hear NPR's Scott Simon and David Fahey, a gallery owner who was Newton's close friend.

Documentaries are bigger than ever at this year's Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and many are finding mainstream distributors. Two of the best are about food: I Like Killing Flies -- about the battles of an eccentric chef at a small restaurant -- and Super Size Me, the tale of a man who ate nothing but fast food for a month. Hear NPR's Scott Simon and New York Times critic Elvis Mitchell.

Singer Beyonce Knowles wins five awards at the 46th annual Grammys Sunday for her first solo CD, Dangerously in Love. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, from hip-hop duo OutKast, wins album of the year, while Coldplay takes home the record of the year award. Hear NPR's Mandalit del Barco.