Robert De Niro on Saturday night became the latest recipient of the Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence In Film at a Black Tie gala at Bacara Resort. The award is presented annually by the legendary actor to benefit the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Past recipients include Harrison Ford, Quentin Tarantino, John Travolta, Ed Harris, Kirk’s son Michael Douglas and of course, Kirk himself in the inaugural year.
De Niro is being heavily Oscar-buzzed for his supporting performance in Silver Linings Playbook and director David O. Russell and co-star Bradley Cooper both made the trip north to help honor De Niro along with Douglas of course. SBIFF President Douglas Stone and Executive Director Roger Durling praised the evening’s honoree as well as the legendary star the award is named for. In fact Durling led the crowd (which included several well-known Academy voters from the area including Carol Burnett sitting at SBIFF Chairman Jeffrey Barbakow’s table) in singing a rousing Happy Birthday to Douglas on the eve of his 96th birthday. He called both stars “heroes” and noted Douglas broke the Hollywood Blacklist in 1960 by hiring Dalton Trumbo to adapt Spartacus, and De Niro helped heal New York by bringing business back to NYC in creating the Tribeca Film Festival in the aftermath of 9/11.
Some very well-chosen clips highlighted De Niro’s long career including The Godfather Part II, … Read More »