Michael Gambon to Get Top Honor at British Independent Film Awards

LONDON -- Michael Gambon and Jude Law will pick up honorary honors during this year's British Independent Film Awards.

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Gambon will receive the Richard Harris Award, while Law will also be honored at the ceremony on Dec. 9. The 15th annual awards will be held at event venue Old Billingsgate here in the British capital.

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This year's recipients of the annual honorary awards were announced by Johanna von Fischer and Tessa Collinson, joint directors of the British Independent Film Awards, sponsored by Moët and Chandon. Both Gambon and Law are expected to pick up the awards in person.

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The Richard Harris Award was introduced in 2002 in honor of the actor and is dished out to recognize an outstanding contribution to British film by an actor.

Previous winners have included John Hurt, David Thewlis, Bob Hoskins, Jim Broadbent, Daniel Day-Lewis, Helena Bonham Carter and most recently Ralph Fiennes in 2011.

Gambon famously took up the role as the beloved Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter franchise starting with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban following Harris' death in 2002.

Gambon’s career as an actor spans six decades, working across theatre, radio, television and cinema.

Gambon’s role in the television series The Singing Detective won him his first of four best actor BAFTA TV awards.

His movie resume includes turns in The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, The Wings of the Dove, Sleepy Hollow, Gosford Park, Layer Cake and The King’s Speech.

Hollywood work includes Michael Mann’s The Insider, Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Robert De Niro’s The Good Shepherd.

Law picks up an award which recognizes an actor, director, writer or producer who has helped to focus the international spotlight on the U.K.

Law has turned out for Steven Spielberg (AI: Artificial Intelligence), Martin Scorsese (Hugo & Aviator), David Cronenberg (eXistenZ), Sam Mendes (The Road To Perdition) Steven Soderbergh (Contagion) and Clint Eastwood (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil).