Thaindian News

November 15, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): Francis Ford Coppola, the Oscar winner was honored by noted actors Robet De Niro and George Lucas on the 13th of November. He was presented with a lifetime achievement award.

The famous producer and director Coppola was handed with the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award on Saturday evening. The felicitation was part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Governors Awards held at Los Angeles.

A number of stars graced the occasion and even took the stage in order to pay rich tributes to Coppola. De Niro himself went on to label Coppola as one of his greatest inspirations and influences.

Lucas, the creator of ‘Star Wars’ was not to be outdone either. He stated that it had been Coppola who had taught him to not only write but direct as well. He went to say that Coppola had single handedly personified an entire era of the American film industry. He had been a leader as well as an inspiration, concluded Lucas.

Coppola accepted the prize stating that he had every admiration for the tradition of Hollywood. It was likewise for the Irving Thalberg tradition as well. He stressed that he couldn’t have been any happier. The award certainly wasn’t Coppola’s first though. He has a rich collection of five Academy awards so far, four of which had come from his films based on the,’Godfather’. His very first award had been for co-writing of ‘Patton’ back in 1970.

There were several other stars honored that evening too. Kevin Brownlow, the historian, Jean-Luc Godard, the director and actor Eli Wallach were all recipients of awards at the glittering ceremony on Saturday.