LONDON -- A-list celebrities leaped to their feet on Sunday night when movie icon Michael J. Fox made a surprise appearance at the BAFTA awards in London.
The âBack to the Futureâ star was greeted with rapturous applause when he was introduced by the eventâs host, âDoctor Whoâ star David Tennant, who described him as a âtrue legend of cinema.â
The camera panned around the audience at the Royal Festival Hall as surprised stars including Robert Downey Jr., Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling stood up for the 62-year-old actor who, Tennant said, was âthe film star of the 1980s.â
Fox, who rose to fame as Alex P. Keaton on the hit 1980s sitcom âFamily Ties,â was diagnosed with Parkinsonâs Disease in 1991, at age 29. Parkinson is an incurable degenerative condition that affects the nervous system and motor skills, including walking and speech.
The five-time Emmy Award-winning actor, who also has four Golden Globes, a Grammy and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, came onto the stage in a wheelchair but made the final few steps to the podium unaided.
Fox was there to present the Best Film award, which eventually went to âOppenheimer.â The four other contenders were: âAnatomy of a Fall,â âKillers of the Flower Moon,â âThe Holdoversâ and âPoor Things.â
Before revealing the winner, Fox said: âAll five of them have something in common: They are the best of what we do.
âNo matter who you are or where youâre from, films can bring us together.
âThereâs a reason why they say movies are magic, because movies can change your day, they can change your outlook, sometimes it can even change your life.â
Viewers took to social media to react to Foxâs emotional appearance, with many saying they were âin tearsâ after hearing the 62-year-old actor speak.
In 2000, the actor started the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinsonâs Research. Tennant told the audience that the foundation has raised more than SU$2 billion to date.
Foxâs life with his family, and how living with Parkinsonâs affects their day-to-day reality, is the subject of the Apple TV+ documentary âStill: A Michael J. Fox Movie.â
It intercuts the actorâs narration of his life - more than 30 years of which have been with Parkinsonâs - with clips from movies like âBack To The Futureâ and his many other career highlights.
In it, Fox talks about the shock of his diagnosis, which led to heavy drinking and other coping mechanisms, the massive impact on his family and his feelings about the future.
The film received a BAFTA nomination for the best documentary award but lost out to â20 Days in Mariupol.â