BAFTA Los Angeles To Honor Warren Beatty November 30

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles® (BAFTA Los Angeles) will honor BAFTA and Academy Award winner Warren Beatty with the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film at the 2011 BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Awards on Wednesday, November 30 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The Britannia Awards are BAFTA Los Angeles' highest accolade, a celebration of achievements honoring individuals and companies that have dedicated their careers or corporate missions to advancing the entertainment arts.

"Warren Beatty is an undisputed film icon who, during nearly a half-century, has created a body of work that transcends trends and remains timeless," says Nigel Lythgoe, Chairman of BAFTA Los Angeles. "He is a powerful and original creative force, both in front and behind the camera, and it is our distinct pleasure to honor and celebrate his immense talents."

Beatty joins the previously announced 2011 honorees: Ben Stiller (Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy), Helena Bonham Carter (Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year), John Lasseter (Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment), and David Yates (John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing).

Emmy nominated and Tony winning actor Alan Cumming will serve as Master of Ceremonies.

The BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Awards will air on TV Guide Network on Sunday, December 4.

The Britannia Awards are presented annually at a gala dinner, where peers and colleagues celebrate the work and accomplishments of the distinguished honorees. Proceeds from the gala ceremony support BAFTA Los Angeles' ongoing education, scholarship, community outreach and archival projects.

The first Britannia Award was presented to Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli, pioneer producer of the James Bond films. Since the awards were first created in1989 Britannia Awards have been given to Michael Caine, Tom Cruise, Robert De Niro, Clint Eastwood, Colin Firth, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Anthony Hopkins, the late Stanley Kubrick (in whose name an award is now given), George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Chris Nolan, Emily Blunt, Sean Penn, Dame Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet and Denzel Washington.

Warren Beatty
A star since his first film, Splendor in the Grass, in 1961, Warren Beatty has been said to have demonstrated a greater longevity in movies than any actor of his generation.

Few people have taken so many responsibilities for all phases of the production of films as producer, director, writer, and actor, and few have evidenced so high a level of integrity in a body of work. At least fifteen of his films are often referred to as classics: Bonnie and Clyde, Shampoo, Reds, Heaven Can Wait, Dick Tracy, Bugsy, Bulworth, Splendor in the Grass, All Fall Down, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, Mickey One, The Only Game in Town, Lilith, and The Parallax View.

Only Beatty and Orson Welles have been nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an actor, a director, a writer, and a producer for the same film. Beatty did it twice, for Heaven Can Wait and again for Reds. Welles once for Citizen Kane.

Beatty has been nominated fifteen times in these categories and eight pictures he has produced have earned 53 nominations. In 1980 he won the Academy Award for Directing and in 2000 was given the Academy's highest honor, the Irving G. Thalberg Award.

He has won the Best Director Award from the Directors Guild of America and has been nominated twice. He has won the Writers Guild of America Award three times for Best Screenplay and has been nominated four times. He has won sixteen awards from the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics, the National Board of Review, and the Golden Globes. In France he was made a Commander of Arts and Letters in 1990. In Great Britain he has received The British Academy's highest honor - a Fellowship in 2000. In Italy he received the David di Donatello award in 1968 and again in 1981 and its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998. In Spain he was awarded the Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award. The National Association of Theater Owners has honored him as Director of the Year, as Producer of the Year and as Actor of the Year. He has received The Milestone Award from the Producers Guild.
He has received the Board of Governors Award from the American Society of Cinematographers. He was given the Directors Award from the Costume Designers Guild. He was given the Life Achievement Award from the Publicists Guild. He has received the Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award from The Art Directors Guild. He has received the Cecil B. DeMille Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. He has been honored at numerous film festivals throughout the world. In December 2004, he received The Kennedy Center Honor in Washington, D.C. In 2008, Beatty received the American Film Institute's highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Politically active since the 1960's, he campaigned with Robert Kennedy in his 1968 presidential campaign. That same year he traveled throughout the United States speaking in favor of gun control and against the war in Vietnam. In 1972 he took a year off from motion pictures to campaign with George McGovern.

In 1981 he was a founding board member of the Center for National Policy. He is a founding member of The Progressive Majority, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has participated in the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland.

He is on the Board of Trustees of The Scripps Research Institute and on the Board of Directors of the Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation.

He has received the Eleanor Roosevelt Award from the Americans for Democratic Action, the Brennan Legacy Award from the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, and the Philip Burton Public Service Award from The Foundation For Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.

With his wife, Annette Bening, he received the Caritas Award from the Saint John's Health Center, and the Stem Cell Champions Award from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

In multiple forums he has addressed campaign finance reform, the increasing disparity of wealth, universal health care and the need for the Democratic Party to return to its roots.

He was born in Richmond, Virginia. He and Annette live in Los Angeles with their four children.

BAFTA Los Angeles
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles is the only Anglo-American professional organization founded to promote and advance original work in film, television and interactive media. BAFTA Los Angeles serves as the bridge between the Hollywood and British production and entertainment business communities, and provides exclusive access to screenings, Q&As with creative talent, produces seminars with leading UK film and television executives and the Heritage Archive, featuring broadcast-quality interviews with distinguished British members of the film and television industries, giving life to the preservation of the UK film industry for future generations.

Maintaining a long tradition of recognizing the finest filmmaking and television talent, BAFTA Los Angeles hosts a series of events, including the prestigious Britannia Awards, the Awards Season Film and Television Tea Parties in January and September and the annual GArden Party.

In July, 2011, BAFTA presented the "Brits to Watch" event in Los Angeles which was attended by BAFTA's President, HRH The Duke of Cambridge and HRH The Duchess of Cambridge. The star-studded evening celebrated the incredible depth and range of great British talent emerging in film, television and video games.

A commitment to professional and community education is at the heart of the Academy's charitable remit. BAFTA Los Angeles hosts the Student Film Awards and has an active Scholarship Program offering financial support and mentorship to UK students studying in the U.S. The Academy created The Inner City Cinema, a screening program providing free screenings of theatrical films to inner city areas not served by theatres. The success of Inner City Cinema has led to further free screening programs extended to multiple inner city parks through the Academy's work with both the County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation (Parks After Dark) and The City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks (Teen Summer Camps). Collaborating with Washington Prep's Drama Department, members of the Academy filmed a student production of Romeo and Juliet, which is currently being turned into the documentary "Shakespeare in The Hood."

For more information on the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles, visit www.baftala.org

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