Hollywood legend Sir Sidney Poitier is to be presented with a BAFTA Fellowship, the academy's highest accolade, at a ceremony next month.
The annual honour is given "in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, television or games".
The 88-year-old actor said he was "extremely honoured" to be receiving the award and expressed his "deep appreciation to the British Academy".
BAFTA chief executive Amanda Berry said: "Sidney is a luminary of film whose outstanding talent in front of the camera, and important work in other fields, has made him one of the most important figures of his generation.
"BAFTA will be honouring one of cinema’s true greats."
Previous fellows honoured for their work in film include Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor and Steven Spielberg, with director Mike Leigh receiving the award last year.
Poitier, who grew up in poverty in the Bahamas, began his career in the 1940s on Broadway before moving to film, first playing Dr Luther Brooks in No Way Out.
His big breakthrough came in the 1955 film The Blackboard Jungle.
He was the first African-American to win the Oscar for best actor for his role in Lilies Of The Field in 1964, and there was controversy when Ann Bancroft gave him a congratulatory peck on cheek when presenting his award.
Three years later he took part in the first on-screen interracial kiss in the film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Other hit films he went on to star in included In The Heat Of The Night, in which he played Detective Virgil Tibbs - a role for which Poitier is probably most famous.
He has also been nominated for several Golden Globes and received the Cecil B DeMille Award in 1982.
In 2002, he was awarded an honorary Oscar “for his extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen and for representing the industry with dignity, style and intelligence".
He has directed several films, including Stir Crazy and Buck And The Preacher and starred in Mandela And De Klerk, portraying the late Nelson Mandela.
In 2006, he received the Britannia Award for Lifetime Contribution to International Film.
Outside of acting, Poitier played a significant role in the American civil rights movement and served as Bahamian Ambassador to Japan and UNESCO.
He was knighted in 1974 and awarded with the highest American civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by President Obama in 2009.
Poitier will be honoured at the EE British Academy Film Awards on 14 February at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden, which will be hosted by Stephen Fry.
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét