ASCAP Honors Top Film and Television Composers and Songwriters at 19th Annual Awards Celebration; Howard Shore Receives The ASCAP Henry Mancini Award For Lifetime Achievement.

Entertainment & Music Reporters

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 21, 2004

Clint Eastwood Receives The ASCAP Opus Award; Penny Marshall and

Herbie Hancock Make Special Award Presentations; Monica Mancini

Performs The Music Of Henry Mancini

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) presented its distinguished Henry Mancini Award to Howard Shore and its prestigious Opus Award to Clint Eastwood during the 19th annual ASCAP Film and Television Awards gala held on April 21st at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. In addition to honoring Shore and Eastwood, the event honored the composers, songwriters and publishers of the biggest box office film music and the most performed television music of the year. Over 700 members of the music industry elite attended the event, which was hosted by Academy-Award winning lyricist and President and Chairman of ASCAP, Marilyn Bergman.

One of the evening's special highlights was the presentation of the ASCAP Henry Mancini Award to Oscar, Golden Globe, and Grammy-award winning composer Howard Shore, in recognition of his outstanding achievements and contributions to the world of film and television music. Comedic actress, producer and director Penny Marshall presented the award to Shore along with Marilyn Bergman. Shore and Marshall collaborated on the box office hit Big.

Past recipients of the award include Quincy Jones, Michel Legrand, Johnny Mandel, Randy Newman, James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri, and Hans Zimmer.

Shore has been a positive creative force in film and television music for over twenty-five years, encompassing a wide variety of box office hits including: The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Gangs of New York, Ed Wood, The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, The Fly and Big, among many others. He was the musical director of Saturday Night Live from 1975-80.

"Howard Shore is one of the most accomplished composers of film music," said ASCAP President and Chairman of the Board Marilyn Bergman. "His scores for The Lord of the Rings trilogy are examples of the finest in this very special realm of music's contribution to film. ASCAP is truly proud to honor Howard for this most recent achievement in a remarkable career."

The ASCAP Opus Award honors individuals who recognize and understand the importance of music to film. This year's recipient, Clint Eastwood, joins a select group of directors who have previously received the award. They are Stanley Donen, Norman Jewison and Robert Wise. Jazz great Herbie Hancock was on hand to help Bergman make the presentation to Eastwood.

Eastwood is the consummate filmmaker, having appeared in fifty-five features, starring in forty-three, while also directing twenty-four films and producing seventeen. He is the recipient of two Oscars, one as Best Director and one as Best Picture for Unforgiven. He is also a composer member of ASCAP and has composed music for several of his films, among them Bridges of Madison County and Mystic River.

"ASCAP is proud to honor Clint Eastwood, an accomplished composer in his own right, for his work as a director who has shown deep understanding of the singular contribution of music to film," said ASCAP President and Chairman of the Board Marilyn Bergman.

Another highlight of the evening was a tribute by Henry Mancini's daughter, Monica, who performed the songs "Dear Heart" and "Two for the Road," in honor of her father. ASCAP renamed its "Golden Soundtrack Award" in honor of Mancini in 1996 to pay tribute to one of the most successful music composers in the history of film and television. 2004 marks the 80th birthday year of Mancini, and on April 13th of this year, a commemorative U.S. postage stamp was issued in his honor.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sent a letter congratulating ASCAP on its 90th birthday, and all of the award winners including Clint Eastwood, Howard Shore, and Marco Beltrami who was honored for his score to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

2004 marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of ASCAP. As the world's largest Performing Rights Organization, ASCAP has over 175,000 composer, lyricist and music publisher members representing all genres of music. ASCAP is committed to protecting the rights of its members by licensing and collecting royalties for the public performance of their copyrighted works, and then distributing these fees to the Society's members based on performances. ASCAP's Board of Directors is made up solely of writers and publishers, elected by the membership every two years.

For a complete list of winners, go to http://www.ascap.com.