Actor Michael J. Fox to receive honorary Oscar

Fox founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in 2000 and was diagnosed with the disease in 1991 when he was 29.

Other recipients include director Peter Weir, songwriter Diane Warren and filmmaker Euzhan Palcy. They will receive career achievement Oscar awards, USA Today reported. Warren has been nominated 13 times for an Oscar, while Weir has been an Academy Award runner-up six times.

The awards will be presented during the 13th annual Governors Awards on Nov. 19 in Los Angeles, the academy said in a news release.

The academy’s board of governors selected the honorees for their “indelible contributions to cinema and the world at large.”

“The Academy’s Board of Governors is honored to recognize four individuals who have made indelible contributions to cinema and the world at large,” Academy President David Rubin said in a statement. “Michael J. Fox’s tireless advocacy of research on Parkinson’s disease alongside his boundless optimism exemplifies the impact of one person in changing the future for millions. Euzhan Palcy is a pioneering filmmaker whose groundbreaking significance in international cinema is cemented in film history. Diane Warren’s music and lyrics have magnified the emotional impact of countless motion pictures and inspired generations of musical artists. Peter Weir is a director of consummate skill and artistry whose work reminds us of the power of film to reveal the full range of human experience.”

The Hersholt Award has been presented only 42 times. Previous recipients include Gregory Peck, Frank Sinatra, Oprah Winfrey, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Angelina Jolie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. According to the academy, it is awarded “to an individual in the motion picture arts and sciences whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.”

Weir’s films include “Picnic at Hanging Rock” and “The Last Wave,” according to IMDb.com. He earned Oscar nominations for Directing for “Witness,” “Dead Poets Society,” “The Truman Show” and “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” for which he also received a Best Picture nomination, He also earned a writing nomination for “Green Card.”

Warren’s songwriting credits include “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” “Because You Loved Me,” “How Do I Live,” “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing,” “Til It Happens To You” and “Stand Up for Something,” the news release stated.

Palcy is a writer, director and producer whose first feature film, “Sugar Cane Alley,” won the Silver Lion at the 1983 Venice Film Festival, a first for a Black director, the Academy said. Other notable films include “A Dry White Season” (1989), and “Siméon.”