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Renowned British broadcaster Alistair Cooke, the longtime host of PBS' Masterpiece Theatre, has died at his home in New York at the age of 95. No cause of death was given, but earlier this month, Cooke retired because of heart disease. For 58 years, Cooke's Letter from America program was heard on the BBC's World Service and Britain's Radio 4. NPR's Bob Edwards has a remembrance.

Jan Berry, one half of the '60s musical duo Jan and Dean, dies at 62. William Jan Berry and Dean Torrence produced a string of gold records, including "Surf City" and "Little Old Lady from Pasadena." Berry spent nearly a year in a coma after a 1966 car accident. Hear NPR's Howard Berkes.

Four years ago, Danish director Lone Scherfig scored a surprise hit with Italian for Beginners. That film followed the strict rules of the Dogme95 movement, which holds that filmmaking austerity inspires creativity. In Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, Scherfig moves beyond Dogme, offering a dark comedy that embraces Hollywood technique. Beth Accomando reports.

The Boston band Tarbox Ramblers has roots in prewar gospel and blues. The group's latest album takes off from their first record, using the old songs as a jumping-off point for leader Michael Tarbox to write primal gut rock and roll. The CD is called A Fix Back East. Meredith Ochs has a review.

Alan Cheuse reviews A Hole in Texas by 88-year-old Herman Wouk, a fictional account of a scientist involved with the Texas-based Superconducting Super Collider project. Set in the 1990s the novel has both Hollywood and Congress woven into its plot.

Patti Smith hit the 1970s music scene with an ecstatic blend of poetry and rock. She credits that signature sound to lessons in free-verse defiance from Arthur Rimbaud and Bob Dylan.

NPR's Linda Wertheimer and NPR's Bob Mondello discuss disaster films over the decades -- and what they tell us about our fears.

What are the various strategies behind presidential advertisements targeted to potential voters of color? NPR's Tavis Smiley gets answers from David Axelrod, a Chicago-based media strategist, and William Benoit, the author of Seeing Spots : A Functional Analysis of Presidential Television Advertisements.

A museum and indigenous Hawaiians are in a custody battle rare carved artifacts, some of which have been repatriated to sacred burial caves. The story is the latest in NPR's Hidden Treasures series.

Ten years ago, Kurt Cobain -- co-founder and lead singer of the group Nirvana -- apparently committed suicide. Cobain introduced the sound known as grunge to audiences around the world. His death prompted thousands of fans to hold vigils in his hometown of Seattle, Wash. Many likened its impact to the effect John Lennon's murder had on their parents. Marcie Sillman of member station KUOW has a remembrance.

Herman Wouk, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Caine Mutiny and The Winds of War, talks to Bob Edwards about the first novel he's written in 10 years -- the only one with a science theme.

Does the Air America Radio Network have a future? Jon Kalish reports on the financial challenges facing the new liberal radio network and its prospects for survival.

The animated movie Home on the Range, opening in U.S. theaters Friday, is the last hand-drawn feature Disney will make at its studios in Southern California. As computer-generated animation becomes the film industry standard, many now-unemployed artists who animate by hand say theirs is a disappearing art form. Hear NPR's Kim Master.

With the Whitney Biennial just opened, some of the works have already been bought by the Whitney museum itself. Contemporary art is hot: Bloomberg LLP is funding the outdoor sculpture exhibit at the Biennial, and thousands of visitors packed The Armory Show over the weekend to look at and invest in contemporary art.

Southern Culture on the Skids brings the trailer park into your living room -- that is, unless your living room is already in a trailer park. NPR's John Ydstie speaks with members of the rock group about a new CD, Mojo Box.

Spartan, the latest film from acclaimed writer-director David Mamet, is an espionage thriller involving a president's missing daughter, white slavery and political chicanery. The movie opens in U.S. theaters Friday. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

The Smithsonian's newest museum is dedicated to one of the hemisphere's oldest subjects, the history and culture of Native Americans. NPR's Juan Williams tours the National Museum of the American Indian, which opens in Washington, D.C., in September.

Actor and author Peter Ustinov has died of heart failure at a clinic near his home in Switzerland. A popular storyteller and actor who won two Oscars, Ustinov often worked as an author and director as well. For more than 30 years, he also served as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. Hear NPR's Melissa Block.

The new Israeli film Broken Wings has garnered international praise, winning top prizes not only in Israel but at film festivals in Toyko and Berlin as well. Critics say the melodrama about a dysfunctional family could take place anywhere. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

A German film now in U.S. theaters tells the story of an East German woman who falls into a coma in 1989, missing the fall of the Berlin Wall. When she awakes, her family must prevent her from learning anything that might shock her -- leading them to re-create the fallen communist regime. NPR's Bob Mondello has a review.

Brick Lane, a novel set in the world of Bengali immigrants in London, is nominated for a prize from the National Book Critics Circle, which holds its 30th annual awards ceremony Thursday. The book, by first-time novelist Monica Ali, caused a sensation when it was published in Britain last year. NPR's Renee Montagne speaks with Ali.

Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ has astonished Hollywood by recording blockbuster ticket sales. The Passion remains the nation's top film for a second straight weekend, taking in $53.2 million. In the 12 days since its release, the film has earned a total of $213.9 million. NPR's Kim Masters reports.

Filmmaker Pearl Gluck's documentary film, Divan, tells the story of an heirloom couch through oral histories that trace her family's history back to Hungary. The film also depicts Gluck's quest to find a place in the Hasidic Jewish culture she grew up in. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and Gluck.

Carroll Musical Instrument Rentals is a a huge warehouse in New York City that rents all types of exotic bells, whistles, and acoustic effects to orchestras, movie studios and musicals across the country. Hear commentator Miles Hoffman and NPR's Bob Edwards as they take an audio tour of the warehouse.

One hundred years ago, F. Schuyler Mathews published a field guide of wild birds. He transcribed their songs into musical notation and tried to capture their essence in prose. A new book celebrates Mathews' work and the birds that inspired him. Hear NPR's Melissa Block.