Robert De Niro, left, with actor Edward Norton in Toronto in September, will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes in January. (Mike Cassese/Reuters)Veteran actor Robert De Niro will be honoured for his lifetime achievement at the next Golden Globe Awards, organizers revealed Tuesday.

The gruff New York actor, star of such classics as Taxi Driver, Mean Streets and Raging Bull, will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award at January's Golden Globe Awards.

Actor Kevin Spacey, who announced the news on behalf of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which presents the annual awards, hailed De Niro as being "universally acknowledged as one of the greatest actors of all time."

Along with his prolific career in front of the camera — recently in dramas such as Stone and Everybody's Fine or the Meet the Parents comedy series — De Niro also works behind the scenes as a director, producer and co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival. The notable New York festival helped revitalize the city's Lower Manhattan community following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Previous De Mille recipients include his longtime collaborator and friend, director Martin Scorsese, as well as Lauren Bacall, Robert Redford, Alfred Hitchcock, Bob Hope, Sidney Poitier and Sophia Loren.

Hosted for a second year by comic actor Ricky Gervais, the 2011 Golden Globe Awards will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 16.

With files from The Associated Press