ACADEMY TAPS GIL CATES AS PRODUCER OF 80TH OSCAR� TELECAST, AIRING FEBRUARY 24, 2008 ON ABC

Gilbert Cates will helm the 80th Academy Awards� presentation airing Sunday, February 24, 2008, on the ABC Television Network, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis announced today. This will be Cates' 14th assignment as Oscar� telecast producer � more than any other individual.

"I'm thrilled that Gil has signed on to again produce the show," said Ganis. "He's so talented� so creative and inventive, and so enormously passionate about the Oscars. All of that will again translate into a night that people can't wait to experience."

Previous Oscar telecasts produced by Cates have garnered 99 Emmy� nominations and 25 Emmy Awards. He won an Emmy in 1991 for producing the 63rd Annual Academy Awards telecast. Most recently Cates produced the 78th Academy Awards, which aired in 2006.

"I love the Oscars and it's a great treat to be asked back for the 80th presentation," said Cates. "I can't wait to work with Sid, Bruce Davis and the entire Oscar team."

Since 1994 Cates has served as producing director of UCLA's Geffen Playhouse, for which he received the Jimmy Doolittle Award for Outstanding Contribution to Los Angeles Theater. His production of "Collected Stories" earned an Ovation Award for best play.

Cates is a former member of the Academy's Board of Governors, representing the Directors Branch from 1984 to 1993 and most recently from 2002 to 2005. He has also served as dean of UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television and is a former two-term president of the Directors Guild of America.

In addition to his theater work, Cates has had a distinguished career in both motion pictures and television. He produced and directed the feature film "I Never Sang for My Father" (1970), which earned three Academy Award nominations, and directed "Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams" (1973), which collected two more Oscar nominations.

Cates' stints as Oscar telecast producer are among a long roster of television credits. He earned Emmy nominations as director of the 1991 television movie, "Absolute Strangers," starring Henry Winkler, as well as "Do You Know the Muffin Man?" (1989) and "Consenting Adult" (1985). Other directing credits include "Fatal Judgement" (1988) and "Hobson's Choice" (1983). In addition, Cates directed "A Death in the Family" (2002) and "Confessions: Two Faces of Evil" (1994), both under his Cates/Doty Productions banner, and the critically acclaimed "Call Me Anna," the telefilm based on Patty Duke's autobiography.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2008, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center�, and televised live on ABC.