Who Should Receive Honorary Oscars Next?
Tuesday, July 19, 2016 at 5:30PM We're about one month away from the announcement of this year's Honorary Oscar recipients. They're usuallly announced at the end of August for a November Governor's Awards ceremony. This year's ceremony will be on November 12th. Last year rumors circled that it was Doris Day's turn but that didn't turn out to be accurate. For the past two years, The Film Experience has tried to make up for the dearth of movie site reporting about the Oscar Honorary careers (beyond the sharing of press releases / YouTube videos of their speeches) with mini-retrospectives so we're always hoping they'll choose well to give us wonderful careers to discuss right here.
Let's reprint a list of worthies we shared a year or so ago, with a few adjustments, in case any of the elites in the Academy are undecided about who to put forth or get behind for these coveted honors.
James Ivory (left) is still with us though his filmmaking and life partner Ismail Merchant (right) died 11 years ago. Oscar rarely honors LGBT giants and he's 100% HONORARY OSCAR WORTHY WITH MULTIPLE BEST PICTURE NOMINEES79 SUGGESTIONS FOR HONORARIES
None of whom have Oscars or honoraries but many of whom have been nominated
Voice To The Stars:
Marni Nixon... this is a dream but an impossible one. There's no branch to advocate for her but she'd be more than worthy having contributed so much to an entire genre: the movie musical.
Directors
James Ivory would be an ideal choice at 88 years of age. He's still with us but his partner (Ismail Merchant) has already passed away and together they made movies that Oscar outright adored. It would also be a nod to the LGBT community which the Academy really ought to make nice with given their history. What's the hold up, honestly? He'd be a PERFECT choice.
Others: Mike Leigh, David Lynch, Werner Herzog, Agnes Varda, Jan Troell, or David Cronenberg. more suggestions follow...
Actresses Catherine Deneuve is our most fervent dream these days. She's still working and still challenging herself and that filmography is gorgeous and long-lasting and has an enviable number of classics in it.
Other great options: Liv Ullmann, Glynis Johns, Jeanne Moreau, Doris Day, Glenn Close, Mia Farrow, Pam Grier (defined a whole subgenre!) or Gong Li (stellar acting and filmography and they NEVER honor Asian actors). But we'd like to take this moment to thank AMPAS profusely for actually forcing us to change this list up about, having recently honored two of our most frequent suggestions: Debbie Reynolds & Maureen O'Hara.
Casting Directors: Lynn Stalmaster, Juliet Taylor, Ellen Lewis
Producers Kathleen Kennedy, Ridley Scott, Zhang Yimou, Carlos Saura
Actors Albert Finney, Max Von Sydow, Sir Ian Holm, Sir Ian McKellen, Donald Sutherland, Harrison Ford , and James Caan
Costume Designers Penny Rose (egregiously never nominated), Anna B Sheppard, Julie Weiss, Jeffrey Kurland, or Bob Mackie.
Michael Ballhaus's amazing work spans several classics from Rainer Werner Fassbender to Martin Scorsese and richly beautiful 80s films like The Fabulous Baker Boys
Cinematographers Michael Ballhaus, who is 80 years old, is our favorite option here -- that filmography is splendid and international and he's been nominated three times and he basically retired with the Best Picture winner The Departed (2006). But there's also Roger Deakins and Allen Daviau. They waited too long on our Douglas Slocombe suggestion and he passed away around Oscar time earlier this year.
Production Designer Jeannine Oppenwall
Sound Kevin O'Connell, Michael J Kohut, Greg P. Russell
Editor Richard Marks, Sally Menke (posthumously... Tarantino's movies have never been the same since)
Makeup Edouard F Henriques, Aldo Signoretti
Music Diane Warren, Thomas Newman, Danny Elfman, Philip Glass, or Angelo Badalementi
Documentaries: Frederick Wiseman, Steve James, Michael Apted, or Werner Herzog
Finally...
Though we don't normally approve of and often are outright puzzled by Oscars willingness to give Honorarys to people who've already won -- some more than once! -- we would understand honoraries for the following two win since their wins came very early in incredible careers.
Anne V Coates with Ethan Hawke recently Photo Source
Anne V Coates -Editor, won for Lawrence of Arabia. Much brilliant work thereafter including Soderbergh classics
Julie Andrews -Actress, won for her debut. Bonafide classics followed. Beloved by multiple generations.
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Reader Comments (66)
people I know deserve Honorary Oscars:Doris Day,Max Von Sydow,cinematographer Roger Deakins and singing voice over Marni Nixon.Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award should go to Sir Roger Moore for his work with UNICEF.Maybe there are too many people in my selection,but all deservingly.
I have heard that they have been trying for years to give Doris Day an honorary Oscar but she refuses to show to receive it. I vote for Brian DePalma, Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau, James Ivory, Albert Finney, Liv Ullmann or Max von Sydow.
Max von Sydow has two Oscar nominations. His career dates back to the 1960s when he gave indelible performances in Bergman films. He is a master deserving of acknowledgement with an Honorary Oscar.
Doris Day
Max Von Sydow
Albert Finney
. . . and one to a great English actor who has made more movies than anyone I can remember: Ian Holm. His filmography is jaw-dropping, and astonishingly, he only received one Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor in "Chariots of Fire" in 1981. I would give an Honorary Oscar to Ian Holm in a second..
Not only is Max Von Sydow exceptional in Bergman and Troell movies, I mean how hard is it to follow the guidance of two of the greatest directors of all time? But he gave stunning performances in The Greatest Story Ever Told and Voyage of the Damned, two legendary all-time stinkers. Now that's genius!
I always felt Max Von Sydow should have won the Oscar for "Pelle the Conqueror" - a titanic performance. And he should at least have been nominated for "The Exorcist" and "Three Days of the Condor" - two stunning supporting performances.
Andy Serkis
Kim Novak
Donald Sutherland
James Ivory
Michael Ballhaus
Ridley Scott should get one ! He has been ignored by the Academy so many times, it's not funny anymore...and he's now 78 years old. Since he's doing at least 2 more "Alien" movies and a western next, all unlikely to get him an Academy Award, they should honor him in this way.
John Carpenter should get one, too.
Honorary Oscars: Doris Day,Max Von Sydow and Roger Dearkins(cinematographer)
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Sir Roger Moore
Thalberg Award(if given out):James Ivory
Simple.
I think there should be between 3 and 5 recipients every year.
I agree with many of the people mentioned already. My choices would be;-
Doris Day, Donald Sutherland, James Earl Jones, Catherine Deneauvue and Zhang Yimou.
Honorary Oscars: Doris Day
Max Von Sydow
Roger Dearkins,cinematographer
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Sir Roger Moore
Thalberg Award(if given out): Ridley Scott or James Ivory
Joan Plowright
Valentina Cortese
Mike Leigh
Humanitarian: Vanessa Redgrave
Honorary: Doris Day
Honorary: Max Von Sydow
Honorary: James Ivory(Director)
Hersholt Award: Sir Roger Moore
This is as simple as I can get and as obvious as I can get.
John Carpenter, because he had a huge impact on the horror, thriller, fantasy & SiFi genres & revolutionized film music. He never got an Oscar nom, but he created multiple classics.
Most of his films were remade or remakes are planned. He is one of the big giants of popular cinema who never got any serious awards recognition !
For similar reasons I would like to see Paul Verhoeven and Brian de Palma getting the honor.
I don't agree with Michael Ballhaus: He already got multiple Oscar noms and a Golden Bear award for Lifetime Achievement last year. That's enough.
Claude Lanzmann.
He made one of the greatest films ever with "Shoah". It's more important than a dozen Academy Award winners, but it wasn't even nominated ! The Academy should make up for it & give him at least an Honorary Academy Award.
Since he's already 90 years old, they should do it NOW !
He's a giant.