Turner Entertainment Co. prexy-chief operating officer Roger Mayer will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ board of governors.
Exec has been involved with the Motion Picture and Television Fund for more than 25 years, eight as chair of the board of trustees. In the 1940s, the eponymous Hersholt served as president of the org, then known as the Motion Picture Relief Fund.
Mayer is also being honored for his service as founding chair of the board of directors of the National Film Preservation Foundation, established by Congress in 1996.
Before joining Turner in 1986, Mayer worked at MGM as assistant general manager, senior VP of administration and president of MGM Laboratories. He has also served three three-year terms as Acad governor.
Past recipients of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award include Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Lew Wasserman, Audrey Hepburn (posthumously), Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman.
Mayer will be feted with an Oscar statuette at the 77th annual Academy Awards ceremony Feb. 27.
