Actor John Hurt has been honored with lifetime achievement award at the Bradford International Film Festival (BIFF).

The festival's artistic director Tony Earnshaw presented the award.

"John Hurt has been leading man, supporting player and scene-stealer," the BBC News quoted Earnshow as saying.e added: "Always he has breathed vivid life into believable, plausible and credible characters, often against a backdrop of fancy, whimsy or plain bafflement.

"He appears in the final films in the Harry Potter franchise, thus enchanting an entirely new generation of admirers. It's what going to the cinema is all about."

Meanwhile, Hurt maintained that he would like independent films to be successful alongside large-scale Hollywood movies.

He said: "It's been my constant fight all my life. All you can do is prepare the ground. You can't just say this is how it ought to be because you've got to create a public that actually enjoys it - and therein lies the difficulties."

Hurt also has no plans to stop making films.

He said: "I can't see any other reason to be alive unless you're taking an active interest in your area of life.

"If life was to be just to stop and watch television - I couldn't contemplate that as being worthwhile at all."

The ceremony took place at the National Media Museum. (ANI)