LOS ANGELES — Canadian actor Donald Sutherland is to receive an honorary Oscar to recognise a glittering career that has seen him become one of Hollywood’s most recognisable faces.

The 82-year-old two-time Golden Globe winner got his big break in The Dirty Dozen (1967) and has more than 140 film credits spanning six decades.

Writer-director Charles Burnett, cinematographer Owen Roizman and filmmaker Agnes Varda will also be awarded Oscar statuettes at the Academy’s 9th Annual Governors Awards in November.

"This year’s Governors Awards reflect the breadth of international, independent and mainstream filmmaking, and are tributes to four great artists whose work embodies the diversity of our shared humanity," said Academy President John Bailey.

Sutherland has had starring roles in numerous iconic movies, including M*A*S*H, Don’t Look Now, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Italian Job, Pride and Prejudice and The Hunger Games series.

Married three times, he is the father of five children, including actor Kiefer Sutherland (The Lost Boys, 24).

Raised in Los Angeles, Burnett is an independent filmmaker whose work has been praised for its portrayal of the African-American experience.

Roizman earned five Oscar nominations for his work on The French Connection (1971), The Exorcist (1973), Network (1976), Tootsie (1982) and Wyatt Earp (1994).

Belgian-born Varda, sometimes described as the "mother of the French New Wave," wrote and directed her debut feature, La Pointe Courte (1956), with no formal training and has had career spanning more than 60 years.

Previous winners of honorary Oscars include Jackie Chan, Lauren Bacall, Francis Ford Coppola, Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie and Spike Lee.

The Governors Awards were created as a separate event in 2009 to allow more space for the honorees to accept their statuettes and to declutter the main show’s packed schedule. — AFP