Aged 61, he received the statuette aimed at underlining the humanitarian commitment of a personality from the world of cinema, during a gala evening, Saturday evening in Los Angeles, where the All-Hollywood crowded.
You make me tremble, stop it!
the actor joked as he received a standing ovation before qualifying the award totally unexpected honor
.
Michael J. Fox achieved star status in the Back to the Future trilogy, filmed between 1985 and 1990, in which he played time-traveling teenager Marty McFly.
In 1991, when he was just 29 years old, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and was told he had only 10 more years of activity ahead of him. Some 10 million people worldwide suffer from this disease which affects motor functions.
A diagnosis made public in 1998
Woody Harrelson, who starred with him in Doc Hollywood (1991) at the time of this diagnosis, told the public on Saturday that he couldn’t believe it, because Mike had such invincible, superhuman qualities
.
He never indulged in self-pity, on the contrary, he turned a chilling diagnosis into a courageous commitment.
he added.
Fox, who shot to fame in the 1980s with NBC’s sitcom Family Ties, went public with his illness in 1998, when the hit television series was released Spin City.
More than 1 billion dollars raised
He went into partial retirement a few years later, dedicating himself to his foundation to fund research into Parkinson’s disease, for which he raised more than 1 billion US dollars (more than 1.3 billion Canadian dollars ). I didn’t do anything heroic
he assured on Saturday.
The actor, who retired from filming permanently in 2020, suffered multiple bone fractures and other injuries from falls in recent months, requiring shoulder surgery.
On Saturday, he walked the stage, asking his wife and former partner in Family Ties, Tracy Pollan, to help carry her statuette.
Diane Warren, Peter Weir and Euzhan Palcy also in the spotlight
The honorary Oscars are awarded to reward the work of a lifetime and have been the subject, since 2009, of a separate award from the main ceremony, with an overloaded program.
Among the main personalities honored in the past are the actresses Angelina Jolie and Liz Taylor, and the star host Oprah Winfrey.
A statuette of honor was also awarded on Saturday to Diane Warren, songwriter of hits like I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing of Aerosmith, title song of the film Armageddon, released in 1998. Nominated 13 times for Oscars, she had never won one before.
I’ve got a lot of speeches that’s been crumpled up in my pockets
she joked, to loud applause.
Peter Weir, the Australian director of Witness under surveillance (Witness), The Society of Dead Poets (Dead Poets Society) or The Truman Show (The Truman Show), made a rare return to Hollywood to also receive an honorary Oscar.
French director Euzhan Palcy, originally from Martinique, received the statuette for a career including, in 1989, A white and dry season (A Dry White Season), a film based on André Brink’s novel about apartheid in South Africa, with Marlon Brando in the cast.
My stories are neither white nor black, they are universal, colorful
did she say.
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Tribute to Michael J. Fox by the Academy of Oscars for his fight against Parkinson’s