The widely admired actors will be honored at the April event.
UPDATE, MARCH 23, 2020: Due to concerns about the Covid-19 situation, The Western Heritage Awards' events will now take place October 2 and 3 after being postponed by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Among this year’s honorees are Robert Duvall (lifetime achievement award) and Kurt Russell (Hall of Great Western Performers).
ORIGINAL ITEM: Two long-time C&I reader favorites — Robert Duvall and Kurt Russell — will be honored this spring by The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum during the 60th annual Western Heritage Awards, an event widely known as “The Oscars of the West.”
Russell and his father, the late Bing Russell, will be inducted into the prestigious Hall of Great Western Performers during the April 17-18 celebration of all things western in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Duvall will receive the ceremony's lifetime achievement award.
“The 60th annual Western Heritage Awards will bring together some of Hollywood’s biggest western performers,” museum president and CEO Natalie Shirley said in a prepared statement. “This is an event that speaks to the heart of what the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is all about, and we are so pleased to have Mr. Duvall and Mr. Russell with us to honor and celebrate the American West.”
Several past Western Heritage honorees will serve as presenters during the awards ceremony. Among the notables expected to attend: Actor and producer Barry Corbin; actor, musician, poet and C&I contributor Red Stegall; actor Patrick Wayne, son of the legendary John Wayne; actor and producer Bruce Boxleitner and actor and producer Rex Linn.
During the April event, the Western Heritage Awards will also induct cattle ranchers Montford T. Johnson and Bennett Richard Houston into the Hall of Great Westerners. Third-generation rancher John Scott will receive the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award, named in honor of the founder of the museum.