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MillimeterGil Cates to receive ASC Award
Oct 19, 2004 2:56 PM
LOS ANGELES--- Gilbert Cates will receive the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Board of Governors Award, which is presented annually to an individual who has made significant and enduring contributions to advancing the art of filmmaking. Cates will receive the tribute during the 19th Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards ceremony on Feb. 20, 2005, at the Century Plaza Hotel.
"Gil Cates is a modern renaissance man," says ASC Vice President Owen Roizman, who chairs the organization's awards committee. "He has produced and directed many memorable movies, television films and stage plays. Gil was also a forward-thinking president of the Directors Guild of America [DGA], and a visionary educator who inspired and enabled countless young filmmakers to follow their dreams."
Cates has compiled some 30 credits as a producer and director of cinema and television films. He has also produced 11 live Academy Award programs that have earned 17 Emmy®Awards and 84 nominations. Cates also served as president of the DGA from 1983 to 1987, and dean of the UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television from 1990 to 1998. He is artistic director of the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, which offers a varied menu of classical and contemporary plays and also provides extensive educational and community outreach programs. His current project is a new stage adaptation of Lerner & Loewe's Paint Your Wagon that he is directing. Cates has also been a longtime member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and currently serves as second vice president. He will also produce the 77th Annual Academy Awards telecast.
Cates joins a formidable list of filmmakers who have received the ASC Board of Governors award, including Gregory Peck, Charles Champlin, Sheldon Leonard, Fay Kanin, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Jodie Foster, Robert Wise, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Warren Beatty, Sally Field, Stanley Donen, Norman Jewison, and Irwin Winkler.
"Gil Cates deserves to be in that distinguished group," says ASC President Richard Crudo. "Whether you are a cinematographer, director, actor, writer or a movie fan, chances are that you have a reason to thank Gil Cates. He has made a difference."
Cates was born and raised in New York City. He earned undergraduate and master's degrees from Syracuse University. During the early 1950s, he worked as a guide at NBC Television Studios in New York City. It was his gateway to the future. Within a few years, Cates was producing and directing game shows for NBC. He produced and directed episodes of the television series Camouflage in 1961. By the end of the 1960s, Cates was producing Broadway plays while he was still in his early 30s.
He produced and directed his first motion picture in 1970. I Never Sang for My Father was adapted from one of his hit Broadway plays. The film earned critical raves, and Melvyn Douglas and Gene Hackman received Oscar nominations for their performances. His other feature credits include The Promise, One Summer Love, The Last Married Couple in America and Oh, God! Book II.
In 1972, Cates produced and directed the Emmy winning telefilm To All My Friends on Shore. He received Emmy nominations for directing Absolute Strangers, Consenting Adult and Do You Know the Muffin Man? His other notable telefilm credits include The Affair, After the Fall, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, The Kid From Nowhere, Country Gold, Hobson's Choice, Fatal Judgment, Call Me Anna, In My Daughter's Name and Netforce, and Faerie Tale Theater's Rapunzel and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Cates also recently produced CBS at 75, a live television program celebrating the network's significant milestone.
The ASC was founded in 1919 during the dawn of the motion picture industry. Movies were black-and-white, silent, and cameras were hand cranked. The 15 charter members were dedicated to advancing the emerging art form. There are currently some 275 active ASC members today with roots in many different countries, and 140 associate members who work in ancillary sectors of the industry that support the art and craft of cinematography.
For information about ASC and the 19th Annual Outstanding Achievement Awards, visit www.theasc.com or call 323-969-4333.
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