Donald Sutherland, the star of MASH, The Hunger Games and more than 140 other movies, is to get a lifetime achievement Oscar, along with Belgian director Agnes Varda, Oscar organisers said on Wednesday.
Sutherland and Varda will be joined by African-American indie film director Charles Burnett and cinematographer Owen Roizman in receiving honorary Oscars at a ceremony in Los Angeles in November, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said in statement.
Academy president John Bailey said the honorees reflect ”the breadth of international, independent and mainstream filmmaking, and are tributes to four great artists whose work embodies the diversity of our shared humanity.”
Canadian actor Sutherland, 82, has a career spanning five decades starting with his 1967 breakthrough in The Dirty Dozen. He went on to play wisecracking army surgeon Hawkeye Pierce in the 1970 movie version of MASH, as well as roles in thriller Don’t Look Now and Klute.
Sutherland, the father of 24 actor Kiefer Sutherland, played President Snow in all four of the recent Hunger Games young adult movie franchise. He has never been Oscar nominated.
Belgian-born Varda has experimented with shorts, documentaries and feature films during her more than 60-year career. Called the mother of the French New Wave, her movies include Cleo from 5 to 7, Le Bonheur, and One Sings, the Other Doesn’t.
Burnett is an independent filmmaker whose work, including America Becoming, has been praised for its portrayal of the African-American experience.
Roizman has five Oscar nominations for his work as a cinematographer on movies including The French Connection, Tootsie and Network.
The honorary Oscars will be presented at a gala dinner on November 11.
