The AFI Life Achievement Award was established by the Board of Directors of the American Film Institute on February 26, 1973 to honor a single individual for his or her lifetime contribution to enriching American culture through motion pictures and television. The Trustees initially specified that the recipient must be one who fundamentally advanced the art of film and whose achievements had been acknowledged by the general public as well as by film scholars and critics and the individual's peers. The Trustees also specified that the work of the recipient must have withstood the test of time. The American Film Institute (AFI) is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act. ... February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ...

Director John Ford was the unanimous choice of the Board of Trustees for the first award as he "clearly stands preeminent in the history of motion pictures." President Richard M. Nixon attended the gala dinner at which Ford was presented the award on March 31, 1973. John Ford (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973) was one of the most accomplished American film directors of the 1930s to 1960s, known particularly as a director of the Westerns, although his tributes to the veterans of World War II and Americana are also equally effective. ... Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ... March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years), with 275 days remaining. ...

The Board of Trustees later amended the "test of time" requirement to enable the AFI Life Achievement Award to be presented to individuals with shorter careers, such as Tom Hanks, who at age 46, was the youngest recipient ever, and Steven Spielberg, who received the award at age 49. Thomas Jeffrey Tom Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American actor, voice-over artist and movie producer who starred in family-friendly and screwball comedies before achieving notable success as a dramatic actor. ... Steven Allen Spielberg, KBE (born December 18, 1946) is a three-time Academy Award-winning American film director and producer. ...

All 34 Life Achievement Award ceremonies have been televised. Agreeing to appear at the televised ceremony apparently is part of the AFI's criteria for selecting the award, which would explain the absence of such greats as Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda and Paul Newman from the rolls of the honored. (According to George Englund, Brando had been approached by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences about receiving an honorary Academy Award, but the Oscar offer was withdrawn when he would not agree to appear at the televised ceremony.) Fonda and Newman both were recipients of the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Gala Tribute, the most prestigious lifetime achievement award after the Oscar and the AFI award. Marlon Brando, Jr. ... Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. ... Paul Leonard Newman (born January 26, 1925) is an Academy Award-winning American actor and film director who is also known for his food products that are used to fund several charities. ...

The televised ceremony generates income for the AFI, which is no longer funded by the US federal government. Due to the exigencies of television, the popularity of the award recipient in terms of potential ratings likely is a factor in selecting the Life Achievement Award honoree, which could explain why it never has been awarded to such major American directors as Robert Altman and Francis Ford Coppola, both of whom were Film Society of Lincoln Center Gala Tribute honorees, or such distinguished actors as Robert Duvall and Gene Hackman, the latter of whom was a recipient of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Cecil B. DeMille Award for life achievement. ... Filmmaker Robert Altman on the set of The Gingerbread Man. ... Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is a five time Academy Award winning American film director, producer, and screenwriter. ... Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (born January 5, 1931) is an Academy Award-winning American film actor and director. ... Gene Hackman Eugene Alden Hackman (born January 30, 1930) is an Academy Award-winning American actor. ... Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959) was one of the most successful filmmakers during the first half of the 20th century. ...

Politics also seems to be a factor in the award, as that likely was behind the notable omissions of Charles Chaplin, exiled from America during the Cold War for his left-wing sympathies, director Elia Kazan, controversial due to his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the Cold War, and Charlton Heston, whose presidency of the National Rifle Association made him unpopular in many circles. Heston was the chair of the AFI Board of Trustees that created the award in 1973. For the Jamaican musician named Charlie Chaplin, see Charlie Chaplin (singer). ... Elia Kazan, (Greek Ηλίας Καζάν), (September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director and producer. ... HUAC hearings House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC or HCUA) (1938-1975) was an investigating committee of the United States House of Representatives. ... Charlton Heston (born October 4, 1923) is an Academy Award-winning American film actor noted for heroic roles and his long involvement in political issues. ... This article concerns the National Rifle Association of the USA. For the UK organisation, see National Rifle Association, UK The National Rifle Association, or NRA, is a 501(c)(4) group for the protection of gun rights in the United States, established in New York in 1871 as the American...

Other notable omissions were Claudette Colbert, George Cukor, Audrey Hepburn, Bob Hope, Shirley MacLaine, and Mike Nichols, all recipients of a Lincoln Center Gala Tribute. Claudette Colbert Claudette Colbert (September 13, 1903 - July 30, 1996) was an Academy Award-winning French-American actress for It Happened One Night. ... George Cukor George Cukor (July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director. ... Audrey Hepburn (May 4, 1929 – January 20, 1993) was an iconic Academy Award-winning actress, fashion model and humanitarian. ... Bob Hope KBE, KCSG, (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003), born Leslie Townes Hope, was a famous British-born American entertainer who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, on radio and television, in movies, and in performing tours for U.S. Military personnel. ... Shirley MacLaine (born April 24, 1934) is an Academy Award-winning American actress well-known not only for her acting, but for her devotion to her belief in reincarnation. ... Mike Nichols (born Michael Igor Peschkowsky) is an Academy Award winning movie director of films such as The Graduate and Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He was born on November 6, 1931 in Berlin, to a Jewish Russian family. ...

Sir David Lean and Sir Sean Connery are the only non-Americans to win the award. Notable omissions of non-Americans are Alec Guinness and Laurence Olivier—winners of both life achievement Oscars and Lincoln Center Tributes—and Michael Caine, Federico Fellini, and Yves Montand, recipients of the Lincoln Center honor. Sir David Lean, KBE (March 25, 1908 – April 16, 1991) was an English film director and producer, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Doctor Zhivago . ... Sir Thomas Sean Connery, KBE, (born August 25, 1930) is an Oscar-winning Scottish film actor who is best known as the original cinematic James Bond. ... Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (April 2, 1914 – August 5, 2000) was an Oscar-winning English actor who became one of the most versatile and best-loved performers of his generation. ... Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM (22 May 1907–11 July 1989) was an Academy Award winning English actor, director, and producer. ... Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth in Batman Begins Sir Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, CBE (born 14 March 1933), known professionally as Sir Michael Caine, is a double Oscar-winning English film actor. ... Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (January 20, 1920 – October 31, 1993) was one of the most influential and widely revered Italian film-makers of the 20th century and is considered to be one of the finest film directors of all time. ... Yves Montand Yves Montand (October 13, 1921 – November 9, 1991) was a French/Italian actor, born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Alto, Italy. ...

List of awardees

• 1973 John Ford
• 1974 James Cagney
• 1975 Orson Welles
• 1976 William Wyler
• 1977 Bette Davis
• 1978 Henry Fonda
• 1979 Alfred Hitchcock
• 1980 James Stewart
• 1981 Fred Astaire
• 1982 Frank Capra
• 1983 John Huston
• 1984 Lillian Gish
• 1985 Gene Kelly
• 1986 Billy Wilder
• 1987 Barbara Stanwyck
• 1988 Jack Lemmon
• 1989 Gregory Peck
• 1990 David Lean
• 1991 Kirk Douglas
• 1992 Sidney Poitier
• 1993 Elizabeth Taylor
• 1994 Jack Nicholson
• 1995 Steven Spielberg
• 1996 Clint Eastwood
• 1997 Martin Scorsese
• 1998 Robert Wise
• 1999 Dustin Hoffman
• 2000 Harrison Ford
• 2001 Barbra Streisand
• 2002 Tom Hanks
• 2003 Robert De Niro
• 2004 Meryl Streep
• 2005 George Lucas
• 2006 Sean Connery
• 2007 Al Pacino