Robert De Niro to receive AFI's top honor

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Two-time Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro will receive the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, the AFI announced Friday.

"Robert De Niro is one of the greatest actors of his generation," said Howard Stringer, AFI Board of Trustees chairman. "In a career that includes over 60 motion pictures, De Niro's sense of commitment to the character -- both mentally and physically -- has changed the way we look at an actor's contribution to the art form."

De Niro's first significant role came in 1968 when he starred in "Greetings" for director Brian De Palma. De Niro and De Palma went on to make three more pictures together -- including 1987's "The Untouchables."

De Niro earned the New York Film Critics' Award for best supporting actor in 1973 for his performance as a slow-witted baseball player in "Bang the Drum Slowly" (1973) and for his work as a small-time hood in "Mean Streets" -- the first of eight collaborations with director Martin Scorsese.

In 1974, De Niro won the Oscar for best supporting actor for his portrayal of the young Vito Corleone in "The Godfather, Part II." He won the best actor Oscar in 1980 for his performance as hard-luck boxer Jake La Motta in Scorsese's "Raging Bull."

De Niro has been nominated on four other occasions for the Oscar -- as psycho cab driver Travis Bickle in Scorsese's "Taxi Driver"; as a Vietnam veteran in "The Deer Hunter"; as a catatonic patient in "Awakenings" and as ex-con Max Cady in Scorsese's 1992 remake of "Cape Fear."

The 59-year-old actor has worked with many of the top directors of his time -- including Ron Howard ("Backdraft"), Barry Levinson ("Wage the Dog," "Sleepwalkers"), John Frankenheimer ("Ronin") and Bernardo Bertolucci ("1900").

De Niro's next release will be "Analyze That," a sequel to the 1999 comedy "Analyze This," in which he starred with Billy Crystal. He will also re-team with Ben Stiller in a sequel to the 2000 hit "Meet the Parents."

De Niro will receive the AFI award at a tribute on June 12, 2003, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, to be televised by cable's USA Network. He joins a list of AFI Lifetime Achievement Award winners that includes Clint Eastwood, Alfred Hitchcock, Jack Nicholson, Sidney Poitier, Steven Spielberg, James Stewart, Clint Eastwood, Elizabeth Taylor, Clint Eastwood and Orson Welles. Tom Hanks received the honor this year.