Even though she has won an Oscar, has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame and has various other awards for her work in advancing women in entertainment, it almost seems odd for an actress like Shirley MacLaine to have gone without a large recognition such as a lifetime achievement award, but the time has finally come! According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actress has been chosen by the American Film Institute (AFI) to receive the AFI Life Achievement Award, the highest honor the institute has. The award will be given at a gala tribute occuring June 7 2012 Los Angeles. The event will also be televised on TV Land; the date has yet to be announced.
According to the article, MacLaine will be the 40th recipient of the award, and the chair of AFI’s board of trustees has said that MacLaine has shown her diverse talents throughout the entertainment field. “Shirley MacLaine is a powerhouse of personality that has illuminated screens large and small across six decades,” he said. “From ingénue to screen legend, Shirley has entertained a global audience through song, dance, laughter and tears, and her career as writer, director and producer is even further evidence of her passion for the art form and her seemingly boundless talents.”
MacLaine, who started her acting career in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 film “The Trouble With Harry,” was a member of The Rat Pack, which included Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop among many of Hollywood’s elite actors and actresses. She won the Oscar for her role in “Terms of Endearment” in 1984, and her most recent film, “Bernie,” premiered this June at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
Additional sources: Wikipedia —The Rat Pack and Shirley MacLaine
