The Bette Davis Foundation Honors Academy Award Winner, Political Advocate & Boston University Alumna Geena Davis

The Bette Davis Foundation will honor Geena Davis with the Bette Davis Lifetime Achievement Award on Friday, March 28, 2014 at Boston University. Ms. Davis will be honored for her extensive film & television work, as well as her work with her Institute on Gender in Media. Past winners include Meryl Streep, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, Lauren Bacall and Susan Sarandon. The event will feature tribute remarks from special guest speakers. The Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center will open a new exhibition of Geena Davis’ archive titled Geena Davis: Actor & Advocate. The Award presentation will coincide with a major conference called A Revolutionary Moment: The Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1960’s and Early 1970’s. Special guests at the conference will be Susan Faludi, Demita Frazier, Linda Gordon, Marge Piercy, Kathie Sarachild and more. The Bette Davis Award will be given Friday night at the climactic event of the conference. Geena Davis is one of Hollywood’s most respected actors, appearing in several roles that have became cultural landmarks, such as her Academy Award winning performance in The Accidental Tourist, her Golden Globe winning portrayal of President Mackenzie Allen in ABC’s Commander in Chief, and her Academy Award nominated role in Thelma and Louise. She has also starred in such films as A League of Their Own, Tootsie, The Fly, Beetlejuice, Earth Girls are Easy, Angie, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Stuart Little. Ms. Davis, a member of the genius society Mensa, has worked with the Women’s Sports Foundation for over a decade, and supports Title IX and girls’ participation in sports. Although she only took up the sport in 1997, Ms. Davis was one of only 32 women to qualify to compete in the 2000 Olympic Trials for archery. A long-time advocate for women, Ms. Davis is becoming recognized for her tireless efforts on behalf of girls nearly as much as for her acting accomplishments. She is the founder of the non-profit The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and its programming arm, See Jane, which engages film and television creators to dramatically increase the percentages of female characters -- and reduce gender stereotyping -- in media made for children 11 and under. For more information, log on to www.seejane.org.