Bafta award ceremony in LA

The A-listers of LA have been out in force as The British Academy of Film and Television Arts honoured the heavyweights of Hollywood.Clint Eastwood and Sir Sidney Poitier picked up lifetime achievement awards while British actress Rachel Weisz won Artist of the Year.Speaking about his fellow award recipient, Poitier had nothing but high praise for the four-time Oscar winning actor and director of Million Dollar Baby.He said: "I think he is a quintessential American director, I think as an actor he need not be spoken of except in the highest of regard, and I am a fan and I call myself a friend."Master of Ceremonies Stephen Fry expressed his reverence for Eastwood and Poitier on the red carpet at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel ceremony.He said: "People like Clint Eastwood can do that to Brits, and to Americans of course. He and Sydney Poitier, they are carved in the Mount Rushmore of our imagination when it comes to film stardom. There are very few people of that dignity around anymore."Eastwood's latest film, Flags of Our Fathers, about the six men who famously raised the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima, is currently number four in the US box office.He won two Oscars each for 1992's Unforgiven and 2004's Million Dollar Baby, picking up both Best Picture and Best Director for each film.© Independent Television News Limited 2006. All rights reserved.

ITN | November 3, 2006

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