Academy to honor Milos Forman

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., April 7 (UPI) -- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced it will honor director Milos Forman with an Academy Salute in Beverly Hills this month.

Presented as part of the Academy's monthly "Gold Standard" series, the evening will feature Forman's 1966 Czech film, "Loves of a Blonde," which received an Academy Award nomination in the Foreign Language Film category.

The April 21 program at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater also will serve as the closing event of the exhibition "Czech Film Posters of the 20th Century," which is on display in the Academy's Grand Lobby Gallery.

Academy Executive Director Bruce Davis will moderate a discussion with Forman covering topics ranging from his years at the forefront of the Czech film industry to his successes in America, including his Academy Award wins for directing "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus."

Forman's other works include "Taking Off," "Hair," "Ragtime," "Valmont," "The People vs. Larry Flynt," and "Man on the Moon."

Born in Czechoslovakia in 1932, Forman was raised by relatives after his parents died at Auschwitz.

He studied directing at the Prague Film Faculty and made his feature debut as a writer in 1955 with "Leave It to Me."