American director Martin Scorsese, shown May 15, will be honoured at the Golden Globes ceremony in January. (Francois Mori/Associated Press)

Martin Scorsese, the director and producer who created Taxi Driver, Goodfellas and The Departed, will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement.

Scorsese, 67, will be presented with the honour at the 67th annual Golden Globes on Jan. 17.

Scorsese, one of Hollywood's most influential directors, won Golden Globes for The Departed and Gangs of New York.

He has also been nominated for an Academy Award seven times, winning in 2007 for The Departed.

His other Oscar-nominated films include Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Aviator and Goodfellas, which remains a perennial favourite among movie-goers.

The Cecil B. DeMille Award, named after the man who pioneered early Hollywood blockbusters, is given annually at the Golden Globe ceremony by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Past recipients include Steven Spielberg, who won last year, and Warren Beatty, Shirley MacLaine, Anthony Hopkins and Michael Douglas.

Scorsese is currently in production on The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, about the formative years of the late U.S. president, and on the thriller Shutter Island.

With files from the Associated Press