Redgrave to receive BAFTA fellowship

Vanessa Redgrave will receive the Academy Fellowship at this year's Orange British Academy Film Awards.

The honour, the highest accolade awarded by BAFTA for contribution to film, has previously been handed to Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Sean Connery, Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick, Judi Dench and Terry Gilliam.

Redgrave said of the award: "I'm truly delighted, it's such an honour to be recognised in this way. Looking through the list of past recipients shows what a wonderful accolade this is, and the fact that Alfred Hitchcock was the very first recipient makes it even more special, as my father made his first film with him."

BAFTA chairman David Parfitt added: "We are absolutely thrilled to be awarding the fellowship to Vanessa. She is a hugely talented and respected actress who has served as an inspiration to the British film industry."

Redgrave, whose screen work includes Julia, Howards End, Mission: Impossible and Atonement, will pick up the fellowship at the BAFTAs on February 21.