Kennedy Center salute to a quintet of legends

Where could you find Beach Boy Brian Wilson, “wild and crazy guy” Steve Martin and Diana Ross -- with director Martin Scorsese and pianist Leon Fleisher for good measure?

“The 30th Annual Kennedy Center Honors,” of course, which salutes these five diverse artists in a gala celebration at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The program, taped Dec. 2, airs at 9 p.m. Wednesday on CBS.

Recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts are:

* Singer and songwriter Wilson, 65, for his “era-defining transformation of the sound of music.”

* Comedian, actor and novelist Martin, 62, as a “renaissance comic.”

* Singer Ross, 63, for spreading “romance and joy” with her voice.

* Filmmaker Scorsese, 65, for being a “visionary” and “fearless artist.”

* Fleisher, 79, for a career that is a “moving testament to the life-affirming power of art.” Fleisher lost the use of his right hand during much of his career because of a rare neurological disease but fought to return to two-handed playing.

Among those in attendance: Steve Carell, Kristin Chenoweth, Ciara, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro, Cameron Diaz, Art Garfunkel, Terrence Howard, Bill Irwin, Lyle Lovett, Yo-Yo Ma, Smokey Robinson, Earl Scruggs, Martin Short and Vanessa Williams.

Host Caroline Kennedy begins the festivities by quoting her father, President John F. Kennedy, who, in a 1963 address to honor poet Robert Frost, declared, “I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist.”