Tootsie screenwriter Larry Gelbart will receive the Writers Guild of America, West's (WGAW) Valentine Davies Award at the 2007 Writers Guild Awards on Feb 11 in Los Angeles.

'The Valentine Davies Award recognises service to the entertainment industry and to the community at large,' WGAW president Patric M Verrone said.

'We are presenting this award to Larry Gelbart not only for being a leader in both regards for decades, but because we know that he will give an acceptance speech at the ceremony that will bring down the house.'

Gelbart's credits include Oh, God! and Movie, Movie for the big screen, M*A*S*H for television, and the telefilms Weapons Of Mass Distraction and And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself. He earned two Oscar nominations for Tootsie in 1983 and Oh, God! in 1978.

Previous recipients of the Valentine Davies Award include Fay Kanin, Garry Marshall, Hal Kanter, Phil Alden Robinson, Norman Lear, Neal Baer, and Irma Kalish.

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