Alec Baldwin To Present Dick Cavett With Hamptons International Film Festival’s Inaugural The Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award

The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) will introduce The Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award during the Festival’s 25th anniversary. The inaugural honor will celebrate the award’s namesake, Emmy® Award winning television personality and former talk show host Dick Cavett.

During HIFF’s opening night (Thursday, October 5), HIFF Co-Chairman Alec Baldwin will present Cavett with the award, which was established to pay tribute to a person who has continually backed the arts throughout their career and has made a noteworthy impact and contribution within the industry.

“Of course, when it came time to create an award on behalf of those in our industry who have supported artists and the arts in unique and indelible ways, we realized we not only had to name the award after Dick, but also give our first award to him,” shared HIFF Co-Chairman Alec Baldwin.

Cavett’s illustrious television career spans over five decades, during which he has been nominated for ten Emmy® Awards, taking home three awards. He began as a writer on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Later on, Cavett hosted his own late night TV show, The Dick Cavett Show, which ran on various television networks. In 2016, Decades, a CBS-owned digital channel, started reairing full-length episodes of the show.

“This is very good news to me. I’m thrilled. And it’ll be delightful for all those people who constantly ask me, ‘Is there any way we can ever see those shows again?’ Now they can. And I can,” Cavett said about the Decades deal. “That may sound funny, but many times when I was just too tired or had to go somewhere when the show aired, I missed it. Now I can catch up with myself.”

“Cavett’s television program was a showcase for artists like no other, and his work with HIFF over the years is something we are most grateful for,” Baldwin added.

Cavett also penned four books, Cavett, Eye on Cavett, Talk Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary, and Off-Screen Secrets, and Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic Moments, and Assorted Hijinks – which he signed copies of at this year’s East Hampton Library Authors Night, and has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, TV Guide, Vanity Fair, and other notable publications.

The 25th annual Hamptons International Film Festival will be held Thursday, October 5 through Monday, October 9. Founders Passes are currently available for purchase.

For more information, visit hamptonsfilmfest.org.