Arthur Hiller to receive Hersholt Award

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Jan. 24 (UPI) -- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday that director Arthur Hiller will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 74th Academy Awards on March 24.

The award is given to "an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry." Academy president Frank Pierson announced that the Board of Governors had voted to present Hiller with the Hersholt Award -- one of the highest honors the Academy can give a filmmaker.

"The board was persuaded not by Hiller's participation in a single cause, but by the wide diversity of his charitable and educational interests," said Pierson said. "In a long and productive career as a director and producer, Arthur has been extraordinarily generous with his time, a most precious commodity in the hell-for-leather pace of motion picture making. His activities extend far beyond the community of film to the society at large."

Hiller -- who served as Academy President from 1993-97-- has been involved with such charitable organizations as the Motion Picture and Television Fund, Los Angeles public TV station KCET, Amnesty International, Inner City Filmmakers, the Los Angeles Central Library's reading program, the Deaf Arts Council, the Anti-Defamation League, Los Angeles County Museum programs on film and television, Humanitas, the Streisand Centre at UCLA and the Venice Family Clinic.

He participates frequently in classes and workshops at universities, festivals and other organizations in the United States and abroad, said the Academy in a news release. He served as president of the Directors Guild of America from 1989-93.

Hiller was nominated for an Academy Award in 1970 for directing "Love Story." His other film credits include "The Americanization of Emily" (1964), "The Out-of-Towners" (1970), "Plaza Suite" (1971), "The Hospital" (1971), "Man of La Mancha" (1972), "Silver Streak" (1976), "The In-Laws" (1979), "Author! Author!" (1982) and "Outrageous Fortune" (1987).

A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Hiller began his career began in radio and moved into TV in 1954 when he started directing for CBC TV. Soon after, he began directing on U.S. TV programs, including "Matinee Theatre," "Playhouse 90," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Gunsmoke," "Perry Mason" and "Naked City."

Previous recipients of the Jean Hersholt Award include composer-arranger Quincy Jones, actresses Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn, and producer Howard W. Koch.

The 74th Academy Awards will be presented on March 24 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.