George Stevens Jr is amongst a handful of Hollywood movie veterans to be awarded an honorary Oscar, the Academy's Board of Governors announced yesterday (September 5, 2012). The Wrap report today that the awards will be presented on December 1, at the Academy's fourth annual Governors Awards at the Roy Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland.
Stevens Jr. is the son of the legendary director George Stevens, who himself won two Oscars, for A Place in the Sun (1951) and Giant (1956). The younger George Stevens has for many years been an arts advocate. He has served as the founding director of the American Film Institute and created the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award which has, in the past, been awarded to the likes of Shirley Maclaine, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro. George Stevens Jr. also oversaw the creation of the Center for Advanced Film Studies.
The other recipients of the honorary awards include the revered documentarian DA Pennebaker, who is best known for his music documentaries, such as Don't Look Back, which tracked Bob Dylan on his 1965 England tour and Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, the renowned David Bowie concert film. The stunt performer Hal Needham has also been awarded an honorary Oscar and Jeffery Katzenberg - the producer of several Disney movies, including The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast - will be presented with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.