Screen legend Maureen O'Hara will fulfill a lifelong dream on Saturday night when she is presented with an honorary Oscar at a glittering awards ceremony in Hollywood.
The 94-year-old Irish actress, who's one of the very last survivors of Hollywood's golden era, will be one of four recipients of a lifetime achievement Oscar at the prestigious Governors' Awards.
The Dublin-born actress, who starred in the first of her 64 movies in 1939, had consistently been overlooked by Academy Awards chiefs throughout her long career.
But her spokesman Johnny Nicoletti said today's accolade would mark the pinnacle of O'Hara's incredible 75-year career, which includes starring roles in movies like The Quiet Man, How Green Was My Valley and Miracle On 34th Street.
And he confirmed that his famous client will grace the red carpet one final time as a VIP guest at next year's Oscars ceremony, where clips of her famous film roles, as well as footage of her receiving her coveted award later today, will be screened.
Nicoletti said: "Maureen is very excited and she feels particularly honored and flattered, because she sees this as recognition of her achievement by her peers.
"It's going to be a big event, with a large banquet and there'll be a lot of industry players there.
"I know Maureen has prepared a speech and she knows what she's going to say, but she's keeping the contents of her acceptance speech close to her chest."
He said the screen icon, who moved from Glengarriff, Co. Cork to Idaho in the US two years ago, has already cleared the mantlepiece in her home to make room for her long-coveted Oscar.
He said: "One of her main concerns is that her great-grandchildren don't get their hands on it and knock it over."
He added: "This is the first even of the awards season, but Maureen has also been invited to the Academy Awards next year, where she will be given a prominent seat as an honorary Oscar winner. She will be acknowledged then too with footage from her past movies and the Governors' Awards."
Honorary Oscars will also be awarded to French screen-writer and actor Jean-Claude Carriere, 82, and Japanese film director and animator Hayao Miyazaki, 73.
Harry Belafonte, the 87-year-old American actor, singer and social activist, will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award.
The Governors' Awards were first introduced in 2009, when they separated from the official Oscar ceremony for the first time.
Late screen legend Lauren Bacall was a recipient at the inaugural ceremony. Other recipients since have included Francis Ford Coppola, Eli Wallach, James Earl Jones and Jean-Luc Goddard.
Comments