The actor of the “Back to the Future” saga, Michael J. Fox, received this Saturday November 19 an Oscar of honor, awarded for his action in favor of the fight against Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative condition from which he suffers for over thirty years.
His courage and dignity arouse admiration. Michael J. Fox, 61, was presented with an honorary Oscar this Saturday, November 19, for his action in the fight against Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative condition from which the Canadian actor has suffered for thirty years.
“You make me tremble, stop!” the actor joked, receiving a standing ovation. This award of honor is, he said, “totally unexpected.” The ‘Back to the Future’ star was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991, when he was just 29 years old. At that time, the doctors announced only ten years of activity ahead of him.
Son May Woody Harrelson, who had starred with him in “Doc Hollywood” at the time of this diagnosis, came to give him the statuette and told the audience that they “couldn’t believe it, because Mike had such invincible, super-human qualities.
“He never indulged in self-pity, instead turning a chilling diagnosis into a courageous commitment,” she added. Michael J. Fox had publicly announced his illness in 1998, during the release of the hit television series “Spin City”.
He took partial retirement a few years later, dedicating himself to his foundation created in 1991 to fund Parkinson’s disease research and raising more than a billion dollars. “I haven’t done anything heroic,” she said modestly on Saturday. The star, who stopped touring permanently in 2020, has suffered multiple bone fractures and other fall-related injuries in recent months, requiring shoulder surgery.
He took to the stage on Saturday, asking Tracy Pollan, a wife of 30 and mother of four, to help him carry his statuette.
It should be noted that the evening organized this Saturday in Los Angeles saw, in addition to Michael J. Fox, three other cinema personalities: the American composer Diane Warren, the Australian director Peter Weir but also the French Euzhan Palcy, director of “A White and Dry Season,” who was the “first black director to be produced by a major studio,” the Academy particularly noted. “You didn’t defend yourself from the color of your skin, you didn’t defend yourself from your femininity. You used it as fuel to fight,” actress Viola Davis said, handing her the statuette.
