Al Pacino: An inspiration

Los Angeles, Oct. 21 (AP): Al Pacino can add another acting accolade to his collection.

The 66-year-old actor will receive the American Film Institute’s highest honour, the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, it was announced on Friday.

Sir Howard Stringer, chairman of the AFI board of trustees, called Pacino “an icon of American film”. “His career inspires audiences and artistes alike,” Stringer said.

The 35th AFI Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Pacino at a tribute dinner in Los Angeles on June 7, 2007.

Past recipients of the honour include Sean Connery, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Elizabeth Taylor.

A two-time Tony winner and eight-time Oscar nominee, Pacino won an Academy Award in 1992 for his role in Scent of a Woman.

He was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996 by the Independent Feature Project. The Hollywood Foreign Press presented Pacino with its Cecil B. De Mille Award at the Golden Globes in 2001.