Hoo-Ah! AFI Honoring Pacino

Fri., Oct. 20, 2006 3:51 PM PDT by Josh Grossberg

The American Film Institute's about to make Al Pacino an offer he can't refuse.

The Oscar-winning actor, known for riveting performances in such classics as The Godfather, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and Scarface, has been tapped to receive AFI's 35th Life Achievement Award, the highest honor given for a career in film.

"I am moved and honored to be considered for such a prestigious award," said Pacino, 66.

In making the announcement Friday, Howard Stringer, chair of the AFI board of trustees, called Pacino "an icon of American film."

"He has created some of the greatest characters in the movies—from Michael Corleone to Tony Montana to Roy Cohn. His career inspires audiences and artists alike, with each new performance a master class for a generation of actors to follow."

We'll conveniently forget about 1985's Revolution and 2003's Gigli.

Before finally claiming a Best Actor Academy Award for 1992's Scent of a Woman, in which he played a tough-talking blind colonel teaching his young aide the finer things in life, including wine, women and the tango, Pacino was the Susan Lucci of the Oscars, going 0-for-7.

He scored his first nod for Best Supporting Actor as the young Michael Corleone, forced to take over the family business in The Godfather. His next film, the Sydney Lumet-helmed Serpico, proved he was no fluke. The police-corruption drama garnered him his second Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Actor. He scored his third for 1974's The Godfather Part II and his fourth a year later for Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon.

His fifth nomination came for Norman Jewison's ...And Justice for All.

Pacino curtailed his screen work in the '80s, appearing in only five films. One of those, however, was legendary—playing coked-out drug lord Tony Montana in Brian DePalma's Scarface. Pacino's next film was anything but legendary: 1985's Revolution, a historical drama about the American Revolutionary War, was such a critical and commercial stinker that Pacino took a four-year hiatus from moviemaking to return to the theater (he owns two Tony Awards). He finally resurfaced onscreen in 1989's well-received cop thriller Sea of Love.

He nabbed another Supporting Actor nomination for hamming it up as Big Boy Caprice in 1990's Dick Tracy. That same year, Pacino reprised Michael Corleone for The Godfather Part III before reuniting with his Scarface costar Michelle Pfeiffer in the 1991 romantic comedy Frankie and Johnny. After earning another Best Actor nod for 1993's Glengarry Glen Ross, he finally scored the statuette for Scent of a Woman.

Other memorable films include 1993's Carlito's Way, 1995's Heat, 1997's Donnie Brasco and The Devil's Advocate, 1999's The Insider, 2002's Insomnia and 2003's HBO miniseries, Angels in America, for which he earned a Golden Globe Award and his first career Emmy.

Next up, Pacino stars in the crime thriller 88 Minutes and appears opposite George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Sea of Love costar Ellen Barkin in the sequel, Ocean's Thirteen. Both films hit theaters next year.

Pacino joins Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, George Lucas, Jack Nicholson, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Harrison Ford, Billy Wilder, James Stewart, Alfred Hitchcock, Henry Fonda, James Cagney, Bette Davis, Orson Welles and last year's recipient, Sean Connery, among the rarefied ranks of AFI Lifetime Achievement Award honorees.

The Pacino tribute is scheduled to be held in Hollywood on June 7, 2007 and airs later that month on USA Network.