On Sunday (Nov. 13), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored Vanessa Redgrave at a London ceremony in what Playbill reports is the Academy's first tribute to a European actor.

Meryl Streep, Ralph Fiennes and James Earl Jones (who himself received an Oscar honor this weekend) were slated to be on hand to celebrate Redgrave's 50-year career. The 72-year-old Redgrave has been nominated for six Oscars, winning one in 1977 for her role as an anti-Nazi activist in "Julia."

In her acceptance speech, reports the Associated Press, Redgrave praised the academy for not "bowing to Zionist hoodlums" who had objected to her nomination because of her support of Palestinian causes.

Redgrave, married since 2006 to Italian actor Franco Nero, is currently starring alongside Jones in a London production of "Driving Miss Daisy."