Veteran singer Harry Belafonte has been honoured with Humanitarian Oscar for his lifelong commitment to civil rights and social justice, both in America and around the world.
Belafonte, 87, who marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr in the '60s, received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian honour at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' sixth annual awards, said The Hollywood Reporter.
He used the occasion to remind the filmmakers and celebrities that movies can be a force for both good and ill.
Belafonte shared the moment with his longtime friend and actor Sidney Poitier, whom he invited to the stage to thunderous applause, calling him 'a man who gave so much of his own life to redirect the ship of racial hatred in American culture'.
Academy also presented honorary Oscars to French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere, master Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki and screen siren Maureen O'Hara.
