LONDON -- Oscar-winning thesp Ben Kingsley and director, writer and producer Alan Parker were named in the Queen's annual New Year Honors' List in Britain Tuesday.
Kingsley and Parker were both knighted, giving them the right to be addressed as Sir Ben and Sir Alan.
Twice nominated for an Oscar as best director, Parker, whose film credits include "Angela's Ashes" and "Midnight Express," has played a major part in advising and steering film industry policy and strategy in Blighty.
Before his appointment as chairman of the Film Council in 1999, he was chairman of the Board of Governors of the British Film Institute. He is a founding member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain. In 1995, Parker received a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for services to the U.K. film industry.
Kingsley is best known for his Oscar-winning portrayal of Gandhi in Richard Attenborough's biopic of India's legendary leader and for his role in the Steven Spielberg Holocaust drama "Schindler's List." He received Golden Globe nominations last month for supporting actor in "Sexy Beast" and for actor in a miniseries or movie made for television for "Anne Frank."
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A string of other showbiz personalities were also honored, including Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb. Others feted include thesps Lynn Redgrave, Denis Quilley and Miriam Margolyes, singer-actress Barbara Dickson and singer Helen Sade, who all received OBEs (Officer of the Order of the British Empire). A clutch of writers were recognized in the arts-heavy list, including poet Carol Ann Duffy and the novelists Penelope Lively and Rosamunde Pilcher.
Brit radio broadcasting institution Jimmy Young dedicated his knighthood to his 5 million listeners. Almost 1,000 people received honors from all sectors of the community.
Although described as the Queen's honors list, nearly all those chosen are put forward by Prime Minister Tony Blair.
(Bobbie Whiteman in Los Angeles contributed to this report.)
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