Martin Receives Career Honour

Comic Steve Martin has been honoured with the AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE ACHIEVEMENT PRIZE in recognition of his multiple contributions to the movie industry.

The TRAINS, PLANES AND AUTOMOBILES funnyman was described as a "Renaissance man" who has excelled in acting, comedy, writing, novels, art and banjo playing at the Los Angeles event on Friday (12NOV04).

He told the audience, "This evening is especially meaningful to me because when I was a kid, my friends and I used to play American Cinematheque awards show.

"There are so many familiar faces tonight, people I've worked with, people I haven't seen in years and I just thought, 'Why can't we wear name tags? What would be so wrong?'"

Previous winners of the prestigious honour include Nicole Kidman, Eddie MURPHY, Mel Gibson, SIR Sean Connery and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

American Cinematheque is a non-profit arts organisation which uses proceeds from its annual awards ceremony to host screenings and other events.