Veteran live-TV helmer and former DGA national board member Don Mischer is set to receive the guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Achievement in Television Direction. The honor will be handed out during the 71st annual DGA Awards on February 2 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland.

Mischer has amassed 40-plus Primetime Emmys nominations and won more than a dozen — including two in the same year three different times — and won 10 DGA Awards. His long career ranges from directing the 1975 pilot for Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell and producing The Barbra Walters Summer Special the following year to producing and directing Mickey’s 90th Spectacular, which aired this month on ABC.

DGA

The San Antonio native has produced 15 Primetime Emmys telecasts, directed and produced the 2011 and 2012 Academy Awards and produced three consecutive Tony Awards among dozens of live awards-show credits. He also was director-producer of several Super Bowls and Halftime Shows and led coverage of multiple Olympics Opening and Closing ceremonies and President Barack Obama’s 2009 inaugural.

“Don’s mastery of directing live events is a sight to behold: a fast-paced symphony of meticulous planning and on-the-spot decision-making that brings our nation’s greatest cultural events into our living rooms,” DGA President Thomas Schlamme said. “And he does it all with grace and confidence. … His skill as a director captures a range of human experiences which transcend the present, creating lifelong memories for audiences around the world. We couldn’t be more proud to present Don with our Guild’s highest honor in television for his enduring contributions.”

Mischer also served two terms on the Directors Guild of America National Board, two terms on the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, received the Governors Award from the National Association of Choreographers and is a member of the Event Industry Hall of Fame.

Don Mischer is an internationally acclaimed director and producer of television and live events. He has been honored with fifteen Emmy Awards, a record 10 Directors Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, two NAACP Image Awards, a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting, and the 2012 Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television from the Producers Guild of America.