Rita Moreno will be presented with the Producers Guild’s Stanley Kramer award at the 2022 PGA Awards, the group announced Wednesday.
The Award recognizes excellence “a production, producer or other individuals whose achievement or contribution illuminates and raises public awareness of important social issues.” It’s named for producerAnd director Stanley Kramer whose film credits include “Inherit the Wind,” On the Beach,” “The Defiant Ones,” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
Jane Fonda was one of the honorees in the past. “Get Out,” “Loving,” “Fruitvale Station,” “The Normal Heart,” “Bombshell,” “The Hunting Ground,” “An Inconvenient Truth,” and “Hotel Rwanda.”
“With grace, intelligence, charisma, and kindness, Rita Moreno made her mark in history as a brilliant entertainer and leveraged that star power to shepherd stories that tap into the human experience and represent people and communities we rarely see celebrated in film and TV,” PGA Presidents Gail BermanAnd Lucy Fisher said in a statement.
“Beyond her onscreen contributions, she has used her unmistakable voice to hold a mirror to the prejudices and inequities that she so often experienced throughout her career,”This is the statement. “Her activism, strength, and artistic contributions set the precedent for how to be a changemaker in Hollywood, and it is our great honor to present Rita with the Stanley Kramer Award this year.”
Moreno replied in her own statement. “The last thing I ever dreamed of in my young life was being honored in any circumstance. That the Producers Guild of America has chosen to honor me not only for my work but for the principles I have tried to uphold and live by throughout my life is so gratifying. I am thrilled.”
An EGOT achiever whose career spans more than 70 years, Moreno most recently co-starred in and was an executive producer on Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” remake. Other honors she has received include the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Arts.
The Fairmont Century Plaza will host the 33rd Annual Producers Guild Awards on Saturday, March 19.