Shirley MacLaine to Recieve AFI Life Achievement Award

Oscar winner will take home the honor at a star-studded gala next June

By Brandi Fowler Oct 09, 2011 3:45 PMTags
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Following in the footsteps of this year's honoree Morgan Freeman, Shirley MacLaine has been tapped by the American Film Institute as the 40th recipient of its Life Achievement award.

And it's an achievement that is well deserved.

Not only has MacLaine sustained a viable career in Hollywood for decades, but the 77-year-old thesp is also an Oscar winner (among many other things).

After making her film debut in Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble With Harry in 1955, the Valentine's Day actress later went on to win an Academy Award in 1984 as Best Actress for her performance in Terms of Endearment.

But that's just one entry on MacLaine's long list of awards. 

To date, MacLaine has nabbed six Academy Award nominations, six Emmy noms and seven Golden Globe Awards, and she's even managed to squeeze in the time to become an established author, most recently penning the book I'm All Over That–And Other Confessions, which was published in April.

"Shirley MacLaine is a powerhouse of personality that has illuminated screens large and small across six decades," Howard Stringer, chair of the AFI's board of trustees, said in announcing her selection. "From ingénue to screen legend, Shirley has entertained a global audience through song, dance, laughter and tears, and her career as writer, director and producer is even further evidence of her passion for the art form and her seemingly boundless talents."

And MacLaine's success appears to run in the family.

MacLaine's brother, Warren Beatty, also received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2008, making them the second family in the history of the award to have multiple honorees (Kirk Douglas and his son Michael were the first, honored in 1991 and 2009, respectively).

Congrats!