The Film Society of Lincoln Center has named Robert De Niro the recipient of its 44th annual Chaplin Award, which honors major industry talents.
De Niro earns the 2017 trophy for a four-decade acting career that stretches from early work, including “Mean Streets,” “Raging Bull” and “The Godfather Part II,” to more recent projects such as “Silver Linings Playbook.”
He’s also the co-founder of the Tribeca Film Fest, launched in the wake of 9/11 in an effort to boost the economic prospects of lower Manhattan.
The actor-producer-director will be honored by the Film Society at a springtime gala featuring notable guests and presenters as well as movie and interview footage drawn from De Niro’s career.
He joins a list of previous Chaplin recipients that includes Alfred Hitchcock, Elizabeth Taylor, Meryl Streep, Billy Wilder and Morgan Freeman.
De Niro’s Chaplin Award was announced on the closing night of the New York Film Festival, presented every year by the Film Society.
The 44th annual Chaplin Award gala is set for May 8.
De Niro’s latest project is the Broadway musical adaptation of “A Bronx Tale,” which he had directed as a movie in 1993.