Morgan Freeman
© AFP/File Pascal GuyotLOS ANGELES (AFP) - Freeman, the 67-year-old star of the 2004 Oscar-winning boxing drama "Million Dollar Baby," was unveiled as one of the constellation of celebrity presenters due to hand out Academy Awards gold at this year's ceremony.
He will join fellow 2005 Academy Award winners Jamie Foxx and Hilary Swank as presenters at this year's glittering show that will be held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on March 5.
Freeman's Oscar win for his role as a gruff boxing veteran in Clint Eastwood's movie was his first.
He previously earned three other Academy Award nominations, his first in 1987 for his supporting role in "Street Smart," followed by best actor nods for 1989's "Driving Miss Daisy" and 1994's "The Shawshank Redemption."
Foxx, 38, won the best actor Oscar last year for his staggering protrayal of the late soul music legend Ray Charles in the biopic "Ray".
Swank, the first Oscars presenter to be unveiled this year, was invited on the back winning the best actress statuette for her performance as a female boxer in "Million Dollar Baby".
Oscar winners are traditionally invited back to join the star-studded parade of awards presenters the year after they receive their own honours.
The early leaders in this year's Oscar race appear to be the gay cowboy drama "Brokeback Mountain," starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line" with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, and "Capote," starring Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Nominations for the 78th annual Academy Awards will be announced in a pre-dawn ceremony in Beverly Hills on January 31.
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