"There is no one more worthy of this award than Woody Allen," said HFPA president Theo Kingma in a statement. "His contributions to filmmaking have been phenomenal and he is an international treasure."
Allen told the HFPA, "Fame has many drawbacks and many advantages and it’s close, but the advantages just outweigh the drawbacks. Believe it or not, there are many terrible things about being famous and many wonderful things, too. In the end, the good things are better than the bad, so if you have the chance, it’s better to be famous."
Other recipients of the Cecil B. De Mille Award, which was established in 1952, include Walt Disney, Sidney Poitier, Henry Fonda, Paul Newman, Steven Spielberg, Robin Williams, Warren Beatty, Robert De Niro and, last year, Jodie Foster.
The musical adaptation of Allen's Bullets Over Broadway will begin performacnes at Broadway's St. James Theatre March 11, 2014. Allen is also the author of Relatively Speaking; The Floating Light Bulb; Play It Again, Sam; Don't Drink the Water; and From A to Z. His film credits are numerous.
