On Saturday, a Belated Inauguration for Daniel Day-Lewis

By DAVE ITZKOFF

He drinks your milkshake â€" he drinks it up â€" and then goes onto win Oscars for his performances in films like “There Will Be Blood” and “My Left Foot.” But, as selective as he is with his film work, sometimes Daniel Day-Lewis is too pinned down by his acting commitments to receive all the honors that arts groups want to bestow on him. And then a year later, he makes up for his absences.

On Monday, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge, Mass., said that Mr. Day-Lewis will be one of the 180 new members of that organization (whose roster includes many leading artists, writers, scientists, executives and philanthropists) when its 232nd class is officially inducted on Saturday.

Careful students of history may recall that Mr. Day-Lewis was first announced as a member of the academy in 2011. But his work on “Lincoln,” the coming Steven Spielberg film in which he plays the 16th President of the United States, prevented him from attending that year's induction event.

Now, four score and a bunch of days later, the actor will be brought forth to attend the ceremony, where he will present a special reading of works by Presidents Lincoln and Washington.

Leslie Berlowitz, the president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, said in a telephone interview that its customs encouraged the in-person inauguration of its new members but also allowed flexibility for those who could not attend.

While the academy was founded in 1780, and elected its first class (including Washington and Benjamin Franklin) in 1781, Ms. Berlowitz said it was not until 1785 “that the academy decided that they should formally induct the members they had invited and elected to become members.”

“They had a signing ceremony, in which the â€" at that time â€" 62 members all signed a document attesting to the fact that they had not only be en elected but were sworn members of the academy,” she continued. “In that regard, the tradition follows that while we'd like to induct members as soon after their election as possible, it's also possible for a member to come the following year or at some other time when it works for their schedule.”

Ms. Berlowitz said that Mr. Day-Lewis's readings would include portions of Lincoln's addresses “that personally moved him,” as well as a letter that Washington wrote to the academy on the occasion of his election. (Somewhere, Mr. Spielberg is stroking his chin, thinking of new collaborations.)

The academy also plans on Saturday to instate Bill Cosby, who was announced as an elected member in 1994; as well as the baritone Thomas Hampson, who will perform from the “Song of America” project. Other new members include the composer Andre Previn; the historian David W. Blight; the journalists Judy Woodruff and Martin Baron; and Sanford I. Weill, the former ch airman and chief executive of Citigroup.