Robert Redford will receive an honorary Oscar at the Academy Awards in March, recognising his work as an actor, director and founder of the Sundance Institute for aspiring filmmakers.
Presentation of the award comes as Redford, 64, revives his acting career with the films The Last Castle and Spy Games and
celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Sundance Institute.
The institute's most visible programme, the Sundance Film Festival, which has grown into the world's premiere showcase for independent movies, has just finished this year's screenings in Park City, Utah.
The citation on Redford's honorary Oscar will read: "Robert Redford - Actor, Director, Producer, Creator of Sundance, Inspiration to independent and innovative filmmakers everywhere."
Redford has appeared in more than 35 films since making his big-screen acting debut in the 1962 drama War Hunt.
His best-known movies include The Way We Were with Barbra Streisand, All the President's Men with Dustin Hoffman and his two pairings with Paul Newman - as an outlaw in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and as a con artist in The Sting, for which he earned an Oscar nomination.
Redford's 1980 feature directorial debut, the family drama Ordinary People, earned him an Academy Award, and he was nominated as best director again for 1994's expose of game show scandals, Quiz Show.
The 74th annual Academy Awards will be presented on March 24.
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American movie-goers remain on combat alert. The frenzied military thriller Black Hawk Down held the top spot at the box office for a second straight weekend, taking in $US18.2 million ($43 million). It boosted its total domestic take to $US60.1 million.
The No 2 slot shaped up as a photo finish between Cuba Gooding jun's canine comedy Snow Dogs and pop singer Mandy Moore's weepy teen romance A Walk to Remember.
Distributor Disney estimated Snow Dogs grossed $US13.6 million in its second weekend. Warner Bros said A Walk to Remember debuted with $US13.57 million.
The Richard Gere supernatural thriller The Mothman Prophecies debuted at No 4 with $US11.8 million.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring dropped to eighth position, earning $US8 million to take its US gross to $US258 million.
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Lassie has proved his pedigree by being voted the most popular animal in a film.
The resourceful dog came top in the survey with 54 per cent of the votes, ahead of talking pig Babe with 22 per cent and Hedwig, the owl, who features in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, on 11 per cent.
Fourth and fifth places in the survey were taken by Lou, the puppy from Cats and Dogs, and Toto, the much-loved terrier from The Wizard of Oz.
- NZPA
Robert Redford will receive an honorary Oscar at the Academy Awards in March, recognising his work as an actor, director and founder of the Sundance Institute for aspiring filmmakers.
Presentation of the award comes as Redford, 64, revives his acting career with the films The Last Castle and Spy Games and
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