Who should receive an Honorary Oscar?
Friday, May 31, 2019 at 5:15PM 
Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow in "Shame"Pete Hammond at Deadline revealed this morning that with all the dates moving earlier next Oscar season, the Academy is actually choosing the next Honorary Oscar winners THIS WEEKEND. It's too late then for an FYC but we feel the need to do one anyway. In the past we've made great suggestions like Albert Finney, Doris Day, Neil Simon, Michael Ballhaus, and Marni Nixon but they let all those people die without honoring them which is such bad form. At least they heard us on Maureen O'Hara, Harry Belafonte, and Angela Lansbury!
I have a suspicion that Caleb Deschanel, obviously a well-loved cinematographer given that surprise sixth nomination for the German film Never Look Away last season, will be named this year. He's 74 years old. For some reason I don't think they'll go with Glenn Close quite yet though she's a common prediction. She's 72 but working a lot right now and still in her prime.
TWELVE SUGGESTIONS...
JEAN HERSHOLT HUMANITARIAN AWARD
- Tippi Hedren - but will they consider animal rights work 'humanitarian?'
- Sir Ian McKellen - A two time Oscar nominee and a gay icon and advocate for LGBTQ rights. Oscar has not been kind to the gays in many ways so this would be a deserving and smart gesture.
HONORARY OSCAR
- Catherine Deneuve -total screen icon. Former nominee. Bonafide classics across four entire decades (1960s-2000s) and still acting, too, and often with fine or challenging directors in France. She's 75.
- Max Von Sydow & Liv Ullmann - Ingmar Bergman's Scandinavian muses have both been Oscar nominated multiple times and have rich filmographies. Von Sydow is 90 and Ullmann is 80.
- Glynis Johns - She was only nominated once but she has a really fun filmography and she was one of a kind on the screen. She'll turn 96 just a week or two before the Honoraries this year.
- David Lynch - so unique as a writer/director that he has his own adjective and everyone understands what "Lynchian" means. Multiple classics, four previous nominations. He's 73 years old and will clearly never win an Oscar given that he's too iconoclastic. You have to be on his wavelength.
- John Waters - like Lynch he's one of a kind. It would be a daring nod to really "indie" filmmakers who create their own worlds onscren and change the culture. Even if they embrace "trash" rather than respectability where Oscars usually come from. He's 73 years old.
- David Cronenberg - For the same reasons as Lynch & Waters - one of a kind. Though I fear they've missed a window with him. There were a few years in which people felt he was undervalued but that time frame isn't right now. He's 76 years old.
- Ridley Scott - Always a bridesmaid at the Oscars (4 nominations) despite unassailable classics like Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, and Alien and a Best Picture winner in Gladiator. He's 81 years old.
- Zhang Yimou. He's 69 and has so many great films under his belt. He's been up twice for the Best Foreign Film Award.
- Sigourney Weaver. Three-time nominee. Still awesome. 69 years old
Who is your dream for an Honorary Oscar this year? You know I wanted to say Pfeiffer, Bassett, Woodard, and The Bening but they're all in their early to mid sixties which is a bit young for an Honorary.
Reader Comments (60)
"And force James Woods, Jon Voight and Clint Eastwood to present them."
Ugh, no, who wants to see any of those meatheads anymore? Esp Woods, who seems to be getting more and more unhinged with every passing year.
Some of the folks being suggested here (Dianne Carrroll, Blythe Danner spring instantly to mind), while certainly fine people with respectable careers, are not exactly film legends and have not contributed much if anything in the Genuinely Classic Film department.
Carroll's case is no different than Tyson's, where systemic racism prevented a healthy career in film, whereas their artistic gifts found place and space in theater and television.
My preferences: David Lynch, Peter Weir, and Lily Tomlin, and Danny Glover for the Hersholt.
That said, I would be surprised if Glenn Close doesn't win an Honorary this year, all things considered.
I love everyone’s choices. John Waters would be a huge delight. How about Frank Oz or Joe Dante. If they want to award someone who isn’t a filmmaker but has done great things for film preservation, how about Leonard Maltin?
I vote Bette Midler. I pray somehow she could still win a competitive but I know that's delusional.
on my shortlist...
John Carpenter - never nominated!!! not for Directing, Producing, Writting or Scoring!!!
The Monty Python - neither of them ever won. Never nominated for song or writting for their films (Cleese got nom'd for A Fish Called Wanda, though)
Frank Oz - not only most of his directing efforts are comedy classics, but he's also Ms Piggy and Yoda! Two icons
Steve Buscemi
Javier Aguirresarobe
Carmen Maura - like, REALLY.
Zhang Yimou
Gong Li
Nani Moretti
Paul Verhoeven
Brian de Palma
Glen Close
Sigourney Weaver
Costa-Gavras
Tom Cruise
John Travolta
John Carpenter is an excellent choice, especially since they already missed the boat with Wes Craven (okay, that was never going to happen, but it would have been very much deserved).
Agree with everyone who has said Gong Li, and she works so rarely now.
I support Jesus Alonso for a honorary Oscar to Carmen Maura, and i could add:
Mia Farrow
Norma Aleandro
Monica Vitti
Ana Ofelia Murguia (She is not well-known outside from México but she is a legend)
I hope that Imelda Staunton and Judy Davis still could win a competitive Oscar.
Is too exagerated a honorary Oscar to Christopher Lloyd? I just love that man.
@3rtful: I totally agree. Dianne Carroll is a legend - just not in the world of Film. She could have been one of the greats if not for all the odds stacked unfairly against her. History will remember her particularly as a pioneer in Television, I feel.