George Stevens, Jr., Washington, DC

In a career spanning fifty years George Stevens, Jr. has created a legacy of distinguished work as a writer, director, producer of motion pictures and television. In 1962 he became the head of the Motion Picture Service of the U.S. Information Agency under Edward R. Murrow, and in 1967 founded the American Film Institute. He continues to serve on the AFI Board. As a writer and producer Stevens has earned 11 Emmys, two George Foster Peabody Awards for Meritorious Service to Broadcasting and nine awards from the Writers Guild of America. Among his honored productions are The Kennedy Center Honors which he launched in 1978; the mini-series Separate But Equal and The Murder of Mary Phagan; George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey; We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration from the Lincoln Memorial; and the feature film The Thin Red Line which was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. In 2008 he made his debut as a playwright on Broadway with Thurgood which earned a Tony nomination for its star Laurence Fishburne. He is also a successful author. Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood's Golden Age was published in 2005. Currently, Stevens is producing the thirty-second annual Kennedy Center Honors, a feature length documentary on the famed political cartoonist Herb Block, and writing a new book on film for Knopf.