- In 1985, he was one of six cultural icons (along with Irene Dunne, Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner, Beverly Sills and Bob Hope) to receive the annual Kennedy Center Honors in Washington.
- He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1990 by the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington D.C.
- He was a choreographer and dance company director.
- Has a younger brother named Jack.
- Formed his own group, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, in 1953. Choreographed over 200 productions.
- Life partner of composer and poet John Cage for fifty years, from 1942 until Cage's death in 1992.
- Among his inspirations were his interests in anthropology and Zen Buddhism.
- Upon his death, he was cremated. Some of his ashes were went to Sutton Stracke. She scattered some of his ashes off the coast of Barcelona, Spain.
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