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BEVERLY HILLS — Decades after her provocative Oscar acceptance speech, Vanessa Redgrave will be honored at the film academy's first European tribute to an actor.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says it will honor Redgrave Sunday in London, where she is starring with James Earl Jones in the stage production of "Driving Miss Daisy."
Jones, who is to receive an honorary Oscar Saturday at the academy's Governors Awards, will fete his co-star in person. The 80-year-old actor is skipping the Governors Awards ceremony in Los Angeles to continue the play's run without interruption.
He plans to participate by video in the Governors Awards, where veteran makeup artist Dick Smith is also receiving an honorary Academy Award for his distinguished career in film and Oprah Winfrey will be presented with the academy's humanitarian award.
Meanwhile, across the pond, the academy will honor Redgrave for her five decades in film. The 74-year-old actress has been nominated for six Academy Awards and won for her supporting role in 1977's "Julia," playing an anti-Nazi activist murdered by the Germans. This latest honor does not involve an Oscar statuette.
Redgrave's win for "Julia" led to one of the most startling moments in Oscar history. The Jewish Defense League had objected to her nomination and picketed the ceremony because Redgrave had narrated and helped fund a documentary, "The Palestinian," which supported a Palestinian state.
In her acceptance speech, Redgrave praised the academy for not being intimated by "a small bunch of Zionist hoodlums whose behavior is an insult to the stature of Jews all over the world and their great and heroic record of struggle against fascism and oppression." Her comments were met by gasps, boos and growing applause.
Redgrave and Jones played Miss Daisy and her loyal chauffer, Hoke, on Broadway before the production moved to London.
The academy honored producer Jeremy Thomas in London last year. Previous London honorees include Terry Gilliam, Harold Pinter and Lewis Gilbert.
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AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APSandy .
