Lane to present Gere with Siegel award

NEW YORK, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The Broadcast Film Critics Association says Hollywood actor Richard Gere is to receive the Joel Siegel Award at its prize presentation.

The 14th annual Critics' Choice Awards ceremonies are to take place Thursday at California's Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and will air live on VH1 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

The special award Gere is getting pays homage to beloved "Good Morning America" film critic and BFCA member Joel Siegel, who died of cancer in June 2007.

"We consider the Joel Siegel Award to be the highest honor we bestow," BFCA President Joey Berlin said in a statement Wednesday. "From his days as a student activist in the civil rights movement, to co-founding Gilda's Club to support cancer patients and their friends and family and to writing 'Lessons for Dylan' inspired by his own illness, Joel strived mightily to make the world a better place. Richard personifies the qualities this award was created to celebrate."

Gere's "Unfaithful" and "The Cotton Club" co-star Diane Lane is to present him with the award, the organization said.

Other presenters at the event include Amy Adams, Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Banks, Angela Bassett, Kate Beckinsale, Kristen Bell, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Josh Brolin, Common, Laura Dern, Rosemarie DeWitt, Aaron Eckhart, Dakota Fanning, Brendan Fraser, Sally

Hawkins, Dustin Hoffman, Diane Lane, Melissa Leo, Eva Longoria, Chris Noth, Virginia Madsen, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Katy Perry, Sarah Silverman, Ben Stiller, Kristin Scott Thomas and Marisa Tomei.