Photo courtesy of John Russo

New York, NY (January 17, 2024) –  Film at Lincoln Center announces that Academy Award®-winning actor Jeff Bridges is the recipient of the 49th Chaplin Award. He will be honored at a gala evening at Lincoln Center on April 29, 2024.   

An acclaimed actor, producer, and musician, Jeff Bridges has created a range of memorable characters over a rich and varied film career spanning seven decades. Nominated for more than 100 awards, he has made over 70 films, among them The Last Picture Show, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Fearless, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, Hell or High Water, Heaven’s Gate, Tron, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Starman, The Contender, and Crazy Heart, for which he won an Academy Award®, Golden Globe, and SAG Award. The Chaplin Award Tribute will feature excerpts from a selection of his work, appearances by co-stars, friends, and colleagues, and the presentation of the award itself.  

The Chaplin Award has been bestowed upon legendary actors and filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock, Sidney Poitier, Barbara Streisand, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Spike Lee, Cate Blanchett, and Viola Davis (complete list of honorees below). The Chaplin Award Gala is the major annual fundraiser for Film at Lincoln Center; proceeds support the nonprofit organization’s year-round programs, including film series, student programs, and film festivals such as the New York Film Festival and New Directors/New Films.

Dan Stern, Chairman of the Board of Film at Lincoln Center, said, “Jeff Bridges is one of our most distinguished and beloved actors whose body of work, commitment to his art, and lifetime of career achievements demonstrate a significant contribution to the art of film. We at Film at Lincoln Center are honored to present the 49th Chaplin Award to Jeff Bridges, and look forward to celebrating with Jeff, his family, his colleagues, and the Film at Lincoln community and supporters.”

“One of America’s greatest actors, Jeff Bridges is an artist and creative soul who naturally brings compassion and depth to every role he inhabits. His humanity and intelligence inform iconic characters such as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, Duane Jackson in The Last Picture Show (NYFF9), and of course the iconic Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski in The Big Lebowski,” said Lesli Klainberg, president of Film at Lincoln Center. “The Chaplin Award is meant to recognize the work of artists who believe in cinema and Film at Lincoln Center is delighted that Jeff Bridges will receive the 49th Chaplin Award.”

Jeff Bridges is one of the most lauded actors of his generation; the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award®, a SAG Award, and two Golden Globes, a seven-time Academy Award® nominee, and a producer, singer, composer, and photographer. His first major role was in Peter Bogdanovich’s coming-of-age drama The Last Picture Show, for which Bridges earned an Academy Award® nomination. He went on to earn nominations for his work in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), Starman (1984), The Contender (2000), True Grit (2010), and Hell or High Water (2016). For his performance as an alcoholic country music singer in Crazy Heart (2009), he received the Academy Award® for Best Actor,Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama, and SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role. He was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2019 for his lifelong contribution to film.

Born in 1949 to actors Lloyd and Dorothy Bridges, his first role was as a baby in The Company She Keeps.­­­ His work in television began in his youth with his brother Beau in occasional appearances on their father’s show Sea Hunt (1958–1961) and the CBS anthology series The Lloyd Bridges Show (1962–1963). He also appeared in episodes of Lassie and TV movie In Search of America. He is currently starring as retired CIA operative Dan Chase in the FX/Hulu dramatic thriller The Old Man.   

Over the course of a robust seven-decade career, Bridges has starred in numerous critically acclaimed films such as The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), The Fisher King (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998), and Bad Times at the El Royale (2018). He also had roles in the commercially successful films King Kong (1976), Tron (1982), Iron Man (2008), and Tron: Legacy (2010). Additional roles include The Last American Hero (1973), Against All Odds (1984), Jagged Edge (1985), and Fearless (1993).

His additional accomplishments include the publication of two photography books: Pictures and Pictures, Volume 2; and co-writer of The Dude and the Zen Master with Bernie Glassman. 

Bridges lives in California and Montana with his wife of 46 years Susan Geston. He plays guitar, sings, composes songs, and performs with his band The Abiders. Committed to several philanthropic causes, Bridges is the national spokesperson for No Kid Hungry. 

Gala tickets are on sale now. Tribute-only tickets range in price from $80 – $500. You can secure premium seating at the Chaplin Award Gala Tribute by purchasing Gala Dinner and Tribute tickets, available here or by contacting us at [email protected]. All proceeds from the Chaplin Award Gala benefit Film at Lincoln Center’s programs and activities as a nonprofit organization.

For information about attending the Gala, please contact [email protected]. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Liz Gardner at [email protected] or call (212) 671-4559.

Past Chaplin Award Gala Honorees:

2023 Viola Davis
2022 Cate Blanchett
2021 Spike Lee
2018 Helen Mirren
2017 Robert De Niro
2016 Morgan Freeman
2015 Robert Redford
2014 Rob Reiner
2013 Barbra Streisand
2012 Catherine Deneuve
2011 Sidney Poitier
2010 Michael Douglas
2009 Tom Hanks
2008 Meryl Streep
2007 Diane Keaton
2006 Jessica Lange
2005 Dustin Hoffman
2004 Michael Caine
2003 Susan Sarandon
2002 Francis Ford Coppola
2001 Jane Fonda
2000 Al Pacino
1999 Mike Nichols
1998 Martin Scorsese
1997 Sean Connery
1996 Clint Eastwood
1995 Shirley MacLaine
1994 Robert Altman
1993 Jack Lemmon
1992 Gregory Peck
1991 Audrey Hepburn
1990 James Stewart
1989 Bette Davis
1988 Yves Montand
1987 Alec Guinness
1986 Elizabeth Taylor
1985 Federico Fellini
1984 Claudette Colbert
1983 Laurence Olivier
1982 Billy Wilder
1981 Barbara Stanwyck
1980 John Huston
1979 Bob Hope
1978 George Cukor
1975 Joanne Woodward & Paul Newman
1974 Alfred Hitchcock
1973 Fred Astaire
1972 Charles Chaplin

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER
Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) is a nonprofit organization that celebrates cinema as an essential art form and fosters a vibrant home for film culture to thrive. In state-of-the-art theaters at New York’s prestigious Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, FLC presents film festivals, retrospectives, new releases, restorations, and talks, including the New York Film Festival and New Directors/New Films. FLC’s year-round programming reflects the extensive diversity of global cinema, offering audiences the opportunity to discover films by established and emerging directors from around the world.

Founded in 1969, FLC is committed to preserving the excitement of the theatrical experience for all audiences, advancing high-quality film journalism through the publication of Film Comment, cultivating the next generation of film industry professionals through our FLC Academies, and enriching the lives of all who engage with our programs.

The Chaplin Award Gala is generously supported by Media Partner The New York Times. American Airlines is the official airline of Film at Lincoln Center.

Film at Lincoln Center receives generous, year-round support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.org and follow @filmlinc on X and Instagram. 

For press inquiries regarding Film at Lincoln Center, please contact:
John Kwiatkowski, Film at Lincoln Center, [email protected]
Eva Tooley, Film at Lincoln Center, [email protected]