Robert Altman to get honorary Oscar

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- "M*A*S*H," "Nashville" and "The Player" director Robert Altman will receive an honorary Academy Award.

The five-time Oscar nominee will be honored for his "innovation, his redefinition of genres, his invention of new ways of using the film medium and his reinvigoration of old ones," Sid Gannis, president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, said Wednesday.

Altman, 80, will receive the award during the Oscars ceremony March 5 in Los Angeles.