Veteran comic actress Franca Valeri will receive a special David di Donatello award at the 65th annual edition of Italy's Oscars on Friday, the Italian film academy said Tuesday. Valeri, who turns 100 on July 31, will receive the career award at the ceremony hosted by Carlo Conti and broadcast live by RAI state TV from 21:25 May 8, said academy president and artistic director Piera Detassis.

Born in Milan as Alma Franca Maria Norsa, a Jew, she was able to survive the Holocaust in Milan with her non-Jewish mother due to a fake I.D. which purported that she was the illegitimate daughter of a gentleman from Pavia. Her father and brother were able to flee to Switzerland. Norsa adopted the surname Valeri in the 1950s as an homage to French critic and poet Paul Valéry.