Bill Collins to receive ASTRA Lifetime Achievement Award
“Mr Movies” Bill Collins will receive the ASTRA (Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association) Award for Lifetime Achievement in honour of his 50 year television career at the annual award ceremony at the Sydney Theatre in Walsh Bay tonight.
The announcement:
Known to Australia as “Mr Movies”, Bill Collins – who is celebrating 50 years of television in 2013 – will receive the inaugural ASTRA Lifetime Achievement Award at the 11th annual ASTRA Awards tonight.
“Bill Collins has introduced generations of Australians to the greatest films ever made, so we could think of no better tribute than to award him the inaugural ASTRA Lifetime Achievement Award,” ASTRA CEO, Andrew Maiden, said today.
Beginning his career as a teacher and later a college lecturer, Bill moved into television in 1963 as a presenter/producer of film appreciation segments on ABC-TV’s Roundabout.
He worked at each of the three commercial free to air networks before joining Foxtel in 1995: the year it launched. Bill became an integral part of subscription TV as it transformed the television landscape and on FOX Classics, continues to entertain and educate audiences on Bill Collins’ Golden Years of Hollywood every Saturday at 8.30pm.
Halfway through his career, in 1987, Bill was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for services to film and television.
His ASTRA Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented by the host of this year’s awards, Deborah Hutton.
“I am very excited and honoured by this special recognition of my work in television,” Bill said. “I love what I do. I love movies and I love teaching and for 50 years I have been able to teach in my own way on television about the art of great movies.”
Bill Collins will attend the 11th ASTRA Awards with his wife, Joan.
Source: ASTRAAwards press release
