Los Angeles, Aug 26 (DPA): Legendary directors Francis Ford Coppola and Jean-Luc Godard are to receive honorary Oscars in recognition of their contribution to the cinematic arts, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced.

Also receiving honorary awards are veteran character actor Eli Wallach, 94, and film historian Kevin Brownlow, 72.

The awards will be presented at the traditional Governors Awards Dinner Nov 13.

Coppola, 72, who has already won five Oscars, will receive the Academy's prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in recognition of a career that has featured such classics as "The Godfather" trilogy, "Apocalypse Now", "The Conversation" and "The Outsiders".

Godard, 79, whose work includes "Breathless", "A Woman Is a Woman", "Band of Outsiders", "Contempt" and "Alphaville", is a hugely influential filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave movement.

Wallach is best known for his role opposite Clint Eastwood in "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" but also starred in "The Magnificent Seven", "The Misfits" and "Lord Jim". He will soon be seen in cinemas in Oliver Stone's forthcoming "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps".

Brownlow is one of the world's foremost experts on silent films.