Actors including Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson, Julia Roberts and Helen Mirren turned out to honour The Graduate director at the event, held at the Sony Pictures Studio in Culver City.
The 78-year-old Oscar-winner was presented with the coveted prize by Meryl Streep, and admitted he was deeply honoured by the tribute, saying, “Something like this, you look back and you remember everything that happened, all the people and all the fun you had and all the laughs you had… it’s a nice way to make a living.”
Last year’s winner of the award, Michael Douglas, later joked about the event, telling Entertainment Tonight, “The American Film Institute in particular, when you look at the roster of people you’re surrounded with, obviously they set the bar kind of low last year. Now we’re getting back up to where it should be: someone like Mike Nichols.”
