secret of someone's success

for most of my life, i saw sesame street as the epitome of creative success. when they called they were asking you to be an inspiration for the future- maya angelou, itzhak perlman, michael j. fox, bill cosby, paul simon, carol channing, arthur ashe, sheryl crow, robin williams, herbie hancock, james earl jones, tracy chapman, ray charles, johnny cash, julie andrews, perry como, celia cruz, lucille ball, yo yo ma, savion glover, martin short, billy dee williams, harry belafonte, tony bennett, bela fleck, placido flamingo, en vogue, lena horne, elton john, little richard, smokey robinson, patti labelle, ziggy marley, bobby mcferrin, cyndi lauper, cheech marin, willie nelson, queen latifah, diana ross, b.b. king, james taylor, stevie wonder, ladysmith black mambazo, menudo (couldn't resist them), the harlem globetrotters, the temptations, ryan stiles, morgan freeman, leonard nimoy, suzanne farrell, denzel washington, marsalis brothers...but we bought discovery's planet earth which is all voiced by sigourney weaver and i just realised sean astin's narrating meerkat manor, and sesame street's never been the same since the advent of elmo and gina- i actively dislike the new shows and am waiting to be able to buy old episodes- so i'm wondering if now the epitome of success is when they ask you to voice over natural science documentaries...or go on the daily show, although not everybody on the daily show is there for that reason.
walk good.
ps: i must admit that while there was no rhyme nor reason i chose these particular names to list- i gave the ones that jumped out @ me when i researched- there were definitely some names i would've included if it didn't say next to them that they appeared with elmo. i may have included some people that did, but wasn't reminded of that fact when i remembered or read of their appearance. and while i'm admitting stuff, sesame street had me believing for years that polly darton was her real name, ed grimley was his own person and guy smiley was real too...