Martin Scorsese named Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities

By Susan King

Feb. 19, 2013 12 AM PT

Martin Scorsese is an Oscar-winning director, actor, producer, film historian and film preservationist. And now he can add lecturer to his resume.

The director of such classics as “The Departed,” ’Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “GoodFellas” has been named the 42nd Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities.

The annual lecture, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, is considered the most prestigious honor the federal government can bestow for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.

Scorsese is the first filmmaker to deliver the Jefferson Lecture.

“Martin Scorsese is a scholar of, advocate for, and icon of American cinema,” NEH Chairman Jim Leach said in a statement Tuesday. “He is the first filmmaker designated as a Jefferson Lecturer, but he follows in the tradition of earlier speakers like John Updike, Barbara Tuchman and Arthur Miller in revealing a profound understanding and empathy for the human condition.”

Scorsese will give his lecture April 1 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.

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