The award, named after renowned actor, past Academy president and motion picture industry supporter Jean Hersholt, is bestowed by the Academy on an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.
Lewis, 82, one of the world’s great acting, directing and comedy talents, and national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, has devoted most of his adult life to seeking treatments and cures for people with muscular dystrophy and other devastating diseases.
“MDA is immensely proud that the man who has personified, for more than five decades, the Association’s dual missions of help and hope has received this extraordinary honor,” said Gerald C. Weinberg, MDA president and CEO. “The impact of his humanitarian efforts on all the peoples of the world is beyond measure.”
