The DGA Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Achievement in Motion Picture Direction is an American film award presented by the Directors Guild of America (DGA) honoring career achievement in feature film direction. Formerly called D.W. Griffith Award, it was first awarded at the 5th Directors Guild of America Awards in 1953. The award is considered the Directors Guild's highest honor and its recipients are selected by the present and past presidents of the DGA.
History Originally established in honor of D. W. Griffith, the award was called D.W. Griffith Award between 1953 and 1999. In 1999, the DGA national board voted unanimously to remove Griffith's name from the DGA's lifetime achievement award and replace the award. DGA president Jack Shea stated that, although Griffith was an influential and innovative filmmaker, he also "helped foster intolerable racial stereotypes." Particularly Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation is criticized for its heroic portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan and its negative depiction of black people. The guild's decision to change the name of its highest honor caused controversy. While NAACP president Kweisi Mfume called it "the right thing to do" and stated that the award "should have never been given under the name of D. W. Griffith," the National Society of Film Critics criticized the name change in a statement, calling it "a depressing example of political correctness."
Recipients
D.W. Griffith Award (1952–1998)
YearRecipient(s)1952 Cecil B. DeMille1953 John Ford1954 No award1955 Henry King1956 King Vidor1957 No award1958 Frank Capra1959 George Stevens1960 Frank Borzage1961 No award1962196319641965 William Wyler1966 No award1967 Alfred Hitchcock1968 No award1969 Fred Zinnemann1970 No award19711972 David Lean and William A. Wellman1973 No award1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 19791980 George Cukor1981 Rouben Mamoulian1982 John Huston1983 Orson Welles1984 Billy Wilder1985 Joseph L. Mankiewicz1986 Elia Kazan1987 Robert Wise1988 No award1989 Ingmar Bergman1990 No award1991 Akira Kurosawa1992 Sidney Lumet1993 Robert Altman1994 James Ivory1995 Woody Allen1996 Stanley Kubrick1997 Francis Ford Coppola1998 No award
DGA Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Achievement in Motion Picture Direction (1999–present)
YearRecipient(s)1999 Steven Spielberg2000 No award20012002 Martin Scorsese2003 Mike Nichols2004 No award2005 Clint Eastwood2006 No award200720082009 Norman Jewison2010 No award20112012 Miloš Forman2013 No award201420152016 Ridley Scott2017 No award2018201920202021 Spike Lee2022 No award20232024 Ang Lee2025 No award
See also Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award – Television
References
External links Official DGA website