Morgan Freeman gets lifetime Achievement Award
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The American Film Institute (AFI) announced Monday, October 11, that it would honor Academy award-winning actor Morgan Freeman with the 39th Life Achievement Award next June, elevating him to the ranks of prominent recipients.
The AFI's Board of Trustees has selected the 73-year-old to receive the highest honor for a career in the film industry, chairman of the AFI Board of Trustees Howard Stringer said.
The AFI said the award would be presented to Freeman at a ceremony on Thursday, June 9, 2011, in Los Angeles, California, and the event would be broadcast at a later date on TV Land.
"Morgan Freeman is an American treasure," Stringer said. "Across decades, whether playing a prisoner, a president or God, he embodies a calm authority that demands respect for the character and for the art form. His gifts to the cultural record are also underscored by his unmistakable voice that echoes through the hearts and minds of movie lovers around the world."
Freeman won the Academy Award in 2005 for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "Million-Dollar Baby". He was nominated for a lead-actor Oscar for his work in "Invictus", "Driving Miss Daisy" and "The Shawshank Redemption". He is also a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award winner.
Beginning his career in the mid-1980s, Freeman has appeared in many other box office hits including "Unforgiven", "Glory", "Seven", "Deep Impact", "The Sum of All Fears" and "The Dark Knight".
Freeman will next be seen alongside Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich in "Red", which is scheduled for release Friday. His next film "Dolphin's Tale" begins production this fall.
Previous winners of the AFI Life Achievement Award include John Ford, Orson Welles, Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, George Lucas, Meryl Streep, Sean Connery, Al Pacino and Mike Nichols, who won the award this year.
Since 1973, the award has been presented each year to a moviemaker whose talent has advanced the film art, whose accomplishment has been acknowledged by peers and the audience, and whose work has stood the test of time.
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