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George Eastman House will honor Academy Award^® winner Michael Douglas with the George Eastman Award, the museum’s highest honor in motion pictures, on Thursday, May 14. The award recognizes Douglas’s distinguished contribution to the art of film. In accepting the honor, he joins the company of film legends such as Charles Chaplin, Gary Cooper, Cecil B. DeMille, Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Martin Scorsese, James Stewart, and Meryl Streep. The George Eastman Award was established in 1955 as the first retrospective film award to honor artistic work of enduring value.

An actor with nearly fifty years of experience in theatre, film, and television, Douglas has brought to the screen some of the most memorable characters in modern Hollywood, including Gordon Gekko, the ruthless corporate raider in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street (1987), for which he won the Academy Award^®for Best Actor. He made his film debut in Cast a Giant Shadow (1966), but it was his breakout role on the television series The Streets of San Francisco (1972–76) that put Michael Douglas on the map. He branched out into independent feature production in 1975 with the Academy Award–winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and since then has proven his skill for choosing projects that reflect changing trends and public concerns. Douglas has produced or acted in more than 75 motion picture films and television series, and has more than forty industry awards to his name, including two Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards.

“Michael Douglas’s contribution to the art of cinema as both actor and producer have established him as an elite member of the motion picture community,” said Bruce Barnes, Ron and Donna Fielding Director, George Eastman House. “The breadth and depth of his talents are manifest in the projects he has pursued and the recognition he has received from film critics, his peers, and the Academy. We are honored to bestow upon him the George Eastman Award this spring, and we look forward to his visit to Eastman House.”

To celebrate Douglas’s illustrious career, the Dryden Theatre will screen five of his films leading up to the award ceremony on May 14. All screenings will be at 8 p.m., and tickets are available online at dryden.eastmanhouse.org or at the Dryden Theatre box office at 900 East Avenue, Rochester, New York.

•  May 5 - One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Miloš Forman, US 1975)
•  May 7 - Wall Street (Oliver Stone, US 1987)
•  May 8 - The War of the Roses (Danny DeVito, US 1989)
•  May 12 - Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, US 1992)
•  May 13 - The Game (David Fincher, US 1997)

Douglas will accept the George Eastman Award in a ceremony on May 14, at 8 p.m. in the Dryden Theatre, featuring a video compilation of his work, followed by a black-tie gala reception in the museum hosted by the Eastman House Council. The event is open to the public, and tickets begin at $125. Tickets will go on sale to the public on April 1 at 9 a.m. Members of the museum will have access to advance ticket sales, beginning March 25. To become a member of the museum, visit eastmanhouse.org or call (585) 271-3361 ext. 261 for more information.

Ticket Information
A limited number of tickets are available at each level. All tickets include valet parking and admittance to the gala reception following the award ceremony.

Patron tickets: $225

•  Ticket includes preferred seating for the award ceremony, recognition in event program, and a program signed by Mr. Douglas.

Tickets: $125

•  Ticket includes reserved seats for the award ceremony.

For more information about the 2015 George Eastman Award, visit eastmanhouse.org/eastmanaward2015 or call (585) 530-3367.

About the George Eastman Award
George Eastman House has championed the art, creativity, history, and preservation of photography and film since opening its doors in 1949. The George Eastman Award for distinguished contribution to the art of film was established by the museum in 1955 to recognize that same commitment in individuals. The George Eastman Award was the first film award given by a U.S. cultural institution to honor artistic work of enduring value. The first two presentations of the award in 1955 and 1957, known as the Festival of Film Artists, recognized the legends of the silent film era (1915–1930). Since then, the George Eastman Award has evolved to recognize a range of artistic talent in the film industry that includes actors, directors, and cinematographers.

About Michael Douglas
Douglas is an award-winning actor and producer, and has been involved in such controversial and politically influential motion pictures as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The China Syndrome, and Traffic, and such popular films as Fatal Attraction and Romancing the Stone. In addition to two Academy Awards, he was also the recipient of the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award and the Producers Guild Award in 2009. In spring 2010, he received the New York Film Society’s Charlie Chaplin Award.

About George Eastman House
George Eastman House holds unparalleled collections—encompassing several million objects—in the fields of photography, cinema, cameras and related technology, and photographically illustrated books. The museum is located in Rochester, New York, on the National Historic Landmark estate of entrepreneur and philanthropist George Eastman, who was the father of popular photography and motion picture film. Established as an independent nonprofit institution in 1947, it is the world’s oldest photography museum and third largest film archive in the United States. The cinema collection includes 28,000 film titles and millions of cinema-related publicity stills, posters, scores, scripts, and pre-cinema artifacts. The museum’s L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation is regarded as the premier venue of professional training in film preservation, restoration, and archiving. Many filmmakers—including Kathryn Bigelow, Ken Burns, Cecil B. DeMille, Spike Lee, and Martin Scorsese—have chosen to preserve their films at the George Eastman House film archives. Learn more at eastmanhouse.org.