Irons will join director Bernado Bertolucci and Pink Panther star Claudia Cardinale to receive the Rudolph Valentino award for lifetime achievement.

The awards are sponsored by the Italian prime minister and the Motion Picture Association of Italy. They commemorate the silent film actor Rudolph Valentino and are held in different locations across the world every year.

Past winners include Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, Gerard Depardieu, Francis Ford Coppola and Grace Kelly. An actor, an actress and a director are chosen each year, and can only win once.

Bernardo Bertolucci: Directed Last Tango In Paris

The ceremony will be hosted by British TV comedians Griff Rhys-Jones and Rory Bremner.

Irons, who won a Best Actor Oscar in 1991 for his role as murder suspect Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune, was chosen from a shortlist including Dirk Bogarde, Kenneth Branagh, Daniel Day-Lewis and Ewan McGregor.

Married to Sinead Cusack, he hit controversy last year for his role as Humbert Humbert in Lolita, which critics accused of glamourising paedophilia.

Fellow award-winner Bernado Bertolucci is also no stranger to controversy - his film Last Tango In Paris caused uproar in 1973 for its steamy scenes.

The Italian maestro's recent films include Stealing Beauty - which starred Irons alongside Liv Tyler - and Little Buddha, featuring Keanu Reeves.