Gala Event to Air on TV Land PRIME on July 19th

Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Matthew McConaughey, Tobey Maguire, Martin Sheen, Oliver Stone, Benicio Del Toro, and Kathleen Turner were among those honoring Michael Douglas at the 37th AFI Life Achievement Award tribute held at Sony Pictures Studios this evening. The star-studded black tie gala will air on July 19th at 9pm ET/PT on TV Land PRIME, TV Land’s prime time programming block.

After introductions by Sony President and CEO Sir Howard Stringer and AFI President
and CEO Bob Gazzale, the show opened with a surprise ”made-for-the movies”
moment as a stunt double fell through a fake ceiling (re-enacting Douglas’s climactic
dinner entrance in his film, THE GAME). The show pulled out all the stops in
celebrating both Douglas’s impressive career as an Academy Award-winning actor
and producer, and the art of film itself.

Show highlights included a moving appearances by the honoree’s father, film legend
and 1991 AFI honoree Kirk Douglas, and Steve Swankay, an ex-child soldier from
Sierra Leone whose education Douglas had sponsored, as well as a show-stopping
performance of “One” from the musical A CHORUS LINE (the film version of which
starred Douglas), featuring Douglas’s wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones and a surprise
musical performance by Bob Dylan. Several of Douglas’s notable co-stars and friends
also paid tribute.

Jack Nicholson, 1994 AFI Life Achievement recipient and star of the Douglas produced
1975 classic ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST had the honor of presenting the
award to Douglas saying, “I’ve had so many of my high moments and so many of my
fine moments with you”.

Upon receiving the award, Douglas thanked the NBA for making sure the Lakers had
an away game so Nicholson could attend. Douglas continued, saying that in his
travels around the world he is frequently struck by the fact that American films export
the nation’s culture in a way that reflects incredibly well on the country and its values.

Among those he thanked were both of his parents for his “acting DNA”, noting that
both continue to act. Douglas also paid tribute to former THE STREETS OF SAN
FRANCISCO co-star and mentor, Karl Malden. Following up on Malden’s taped
thoughts that he considered Douglas an adopted son, he said, “I’ll be his adopted son
anytime.”

Also among the guests present were Viacom’s Sumner Redstone, Anne Archer, Sean
Astin, Genevieve Bujold, Christopher Lloyd, Eric McCormack, Jesse Metcalfe, Sharon
Stone, Deborah Unger, Paul Verhoeven, and members of the AFI Board of Trustees.

The evening was presented by HP and Intel.

Additional sponsorship was provided by Stella Artois.

The 37th AFI Life Achievement Award marks the first of a four-year deal between
AFI and TV Land.