DGA getting Wise with Prexy Award
Oscar winner dedicated professional life to guild service, Shea sez
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Wise, who served as the org's president from 1971-75, will be honored March 10 at the 53rd annual DGA Awards dinner at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. The award is given after a unanimous vote of former guild presidents and the sitting prexy.
"It seems only fitting that Robert Wise, who has dedicated so much of his professional life to guild service, should receive this prestigious award for his leadership and extraordinary service to the guild and the industry," said DGA prexy Jack Shea.
Wise is the second recipient of the award, after the first was given three years ago to former guild president George Sidney.
Wise joined the DGA in 1945 and its national board of directors nine years later. He also has served as chair of the guild's Special Projects since its inception in 1976.
"Special Projects is what I'm most proud of in my service with the guild, because it is something that has grown to be a highly thought-of program and it has extended and broadened its outreach," Wise said.
Special Projects programs include screenings, directors retreats, workshops, seminars, new technology demonstrations and the Robert E. Wise Library.
Wise has received the org's Honorary Life Member, the Robert B. Aldrich and Lifetime Achievement awards. He won Oscars and DGA nods for "The Sound of Music" and "West Side Story," and has directed more than 40 features, including "The Andromeda Strain," "Run Silent, Run Deep," "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "The Sand Pebbles" and "The Hindenburg."
Wise also served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for three terms from 1985-88.
