Today, UCLA’s Campus Events Commission will present actor
Morgan Freeman with an award to honor his lifetime achievement in
drama.
This year’s Spencer Tracy Award is the first award to be
given since 2000, when Jack Lemmon was recognized.
Freeman was chosen for this award because of his contributions
to the craft and his exemplification of “what we need in a
dramatic actor,” said Campus Events Commissioner Jason
Kaminsky.
Freeman has acted in over 70 films, including “Batman
Begins” and “The Sum of All Fears,” been
nominated for three Academy Awards, and received an Oscar in 2004
for best supporting actor for his role in “Million Dollar
Baby.”
The Spencer Tracy Award was created in 1988 by Campus Events and
Susie Tracy, daughter of actor Spencer Tracy, to “honor
outstanding screen performances and professional
achievement,” according to the award’s Web site.
The award has been on a five-year hiatus due to a lack of
leadership within Campus Events, said Nish Chari, a fourth-year
English student and special events director for Campus Events. With
other commissioners busy running regular events, the position of
special events director was created to focus solely on events such
as awards ceremonies.
The focus of Campus Events this year was to re-establish some
campus traditions that have been lost, including the Spencer Tracy
award, Chari said.
Tracy is best known for his roles in “Captain
Courageous” and “Boy’s Town,” for which he
received consecutive Best Actor Oscars in 1937 and 1938.
“Spencer Tracy is known by many as one of the finest
actors in film history. Receiving this award is truly an honor, and
to be included among this group of highly accomplished actors
““ past recipients of the award ““ is just
magical,” Freeman said in a statement.
Past recipients of the award include Michael Douglas, Jodie
Foster, Denzel Washington and Nicolas Cage.
The ceremony will be hosted by Robert Rosen, dean of the UCLA
School of Film, Theater and Television, and will also feature Susie
Tracy as a presenter.
Though the focus of the event is to honor Freeman, students and
faculty in attendance will also have the opportunity to ask him
questions.
Most of the hour will be a question and answer period with
Freeman, and that is part of what makes this ceremony so special,
Chari said.