Terence Stamp To Receive Peter J. Owens Award At 54th San Francisco International Film Festival

Actor Will Receive Honor at Film Society Awards Night at Bimbo’s 365 Club
and Onstage Tribute at Castro Theatre

San Francisco, CA — The San Francisco Film Society has announced that Terence Stamp will be the recipient of the Peter J. Owens Award at the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21 – May 5). The Owens Award, named for the longtime San Francisco benefactor of arts and charitable organizations and Film Society board member, honors an actor whose work exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity. The award will be presented to Stamp at Film Society Awards Night, Thursday, April 28 at Bimbo’s 365 Club.

The Film Society’s highly regarded Youth Education program will be the beneficiary of the glamorous fundraiser honoring Stamp. Oliver Stone, recipient of the Founder’s Directing Award and Frank Pierson, recipient of the Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting will also be honored at the star-studded event. Melanie and Lawrence Blum are chairs of this year’s Film Society Awards Night, and Carla Emil and Rich Silverstein are the honorary chairs.

“I am exceptionally happy that we are able to honor Terence Stamp at this year’s Festival,” said Graham Leggat, the San Francisco Film Society’s executive director. “From his Oscar-nominated debut in Billy Budd (1962) through countless wonderful roles since, he has created truly memorable onscreen characters with a remarkable blend of élan, intensity and charisma.” 

Stamp will also be honored at An Evening with Terence Stamp at the Castro Theatre at 7:30 pm, Friday, April 29. A screening of a film featuring one of his iconic performances will follow an onstage interview and a selection of clips from his impressive career.

Terence Stamp’s motion picture debut in the title role in Peter Ustinov’s 1962 film adaptation of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, brought him not only an Academy Award nomination but also international attention. He went on to collaborate with some of cinema’s most revered filmmakers including William Wyler (The Collector 1965), Joseph Losey (Modesty Blaise 1966), John Schlesinger (Far from the Madding Crowd 1967), Ken Loach (Poor Cow 1967), Federico Fellini (Toby Dammit segment of Spirits of the Dead 1968), Pier Palo Pasolini (Teorema 1968), Peter Brook (Meetings with Remarkable Men 1979), Richard Lester (Superman II 1980), Stephen Frears (The Hit 1984) and Oliver Stone (Wall Street 1987).

Stamp began his fourth decade as an actor in Stefan Elliot’s comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) and attended the picture’s world premiere at the San Francisco International Film Festival. For his lead role in Steven Soderbergh’s The Limey (1999), which debuted to widespread critical acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival, he received nominations for Best Male Lead at the 2000 Independent Spirit Awards and for Best British Actor at the London Film Critic Circle Awards.

Currently he can be seen opposite Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in The Adjustment Bureau.

Previous recipients of the Film Society’s Peter J. Owens Award are Robert Duvall, Robert Redford, Maria Bello, Robin Williams, Ed Harris, Joan Allen, Chris Cooper, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Spacey, Stockard Channing, Winona Ryder, Sean Penn, Nicolas Cage, Annette Bening and Harvey Keitel. The Peter J. Owens Award is made possible through a grant from the Peter J. Owens Trust at the San Francisco Foundation.

For tickets and information for Film Society Awards Night only call 415-561-5049. Admission to the tribute to Terence Stamp at the Castro Theatre on Friday, April 29 is $20 for San Francisco Film Society members and $25 for the general public. For tickets and information visit sffs.org/tickets.

For tickets and information visit fest11.sffs.org.