The Honorary Oscars are back with a worthy quartet!
Thursday, June 24, 2021 at 3:32PM by Nathaniel R
After a year off from the Honorary Oscars, thanks to COVID-19, we deserved an awesome list this year and the Academy has provided. This is exactly the type of list we need each year wherein the Academy honors people who haven't already won Oscars but contributed indelibly to film culture. At the next Governor's Awards, which will be on January 15th, 2022 (instead of in its usual November spot) the Honorary Oscar will be given to actors Samuel L Jackson (one previous nomination, Pulp Fiction) and Liv Ullmann (two previous nominations, The Emigrants and Face to Face), and the actress/director/screenwriter Elaine May (two previous nominations for writing for Primary Colors and Heaven Can Wait). If you count honorary prizes this means 89 year old Elaine May will just be an Emmy short of EGOTing since she's already won a Tony (The Waverly Gallery) and a Grammy (An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May)...
Danny Glover, who has starred in co-starred in everything from acclaimed indies (To Sleep With Anger, Last Black Man in San Francisco), to Oscar favourites (The Color Purple, Places in the Heart, Witness, Dreamgirls), to new classics (Royal Tenenbaums) and blockbusters (the Lethal Weapon franchise) across four decades of American cinema has been selected for the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. This award isn't technically for acting but Glover has an awards-worthy resume there, too. Glover has been a lifelong activist serving for the United Nations Development Program, and UNICEF, and fighting for healthcare and education.
We've been pushing for Liv Ullmann whenever this topic came up for years so you know we're thrilled about that one but all four are stupendous choices and the right age for it, too: Jackson is the youngest at 72 and May the oldest at 89.
No notes. Well done, Academy.
(Actually one note: PUT THESE TRIBUTES BACK ON TELEVISION, DAMNIT. We deserve to see the legends honored)
Reader Comments (50)
Oh so cool! All four of them really deserve this honor. But I'm esp glad to see Elaine May's name on the list.
Too bad they let Max Von Sydow die without one, but I'm happy for Ullmann.
Fantastic list but wish Jackson had won a competitive one just for the speech he might give.
What a wonderful group of very deserving honorees. Ullmann's inclusion in particular brings me great joy
Saw Skammen last night. A masterpiece.
I had no idea Danny Glover did so much humanitarian work. I assumed his award was for his career; it's worthy of an honorary Oscar.
They could have given a couple more to compensate last year. Better luck next time, Catherine Deneuve and Harvey Keitel.
Sorry, Elaine, but I don’t consider an Honorary Oscar to be counted for an EGOT. You deserve this honor and, to me, you should’ve been nominated Best Director for The Heartbreak Kid, but that 1972 line-up was fierce. You were also great in Small Time Crooks.
Happy for Liv Ullman. Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t need this award now. He’s bound to earn a real one in the future. Give it to Shelly Duvall or John Waters instead.
All solid choices. I'm especially enthused for Glover.
Glenn Close, Alfre Woodard, Sigourney Weaver, Judy Davis, Barbara Hershey, and Michelle Pfeiffer the wait continues.
Elaine May!!
Great news. I only hope if Samuel L. Jackson gives a fantastic performance in the years to come, the Academy won't hesitate to honor him... but they were willing to honor Spike Lee after he won an Honorary (and Paul Newman decades ago), so it shouldn't be a factor.
This is a great list, especially May!
Hopefully Glenn Close makes the list next year!
I don't object to Jackson's award per se, but he's still actively working, and should still be given a shot at a competitive Oscar. I'm beyond thrilled that Liv Ullmann. She should have won both times she was nominated, and been nominated in 1969 for Shame (its eligibility year), 1970 (Passion of Anna) 1973 (for either The New Land - my 1st choice, or Cries and Whispers) and 1978 (Autumn Sonata - I'm in the minority who thinks she was even better than Ingrid Bergman (which is saying a lot) in a thankless role)
With honorary Oscars to Lina Wertmuller, Owen Roizman, Gena Rowlands, Cicely Tyson, Donald Sutherland, Fredrick Wiseman, James Earl Jones and finally Liv Ullmann, the AMPAS Board of Governors has rectified the sins of omission from the 1970s.
Onward to the 1980s. Get ready for Peter Weir, Glenn Close, Judy Davis, Harrison Ford, Alfre Woodard, Dolly Parton, Bette Midler and some surprising inclusions.
White, straight, really-deserving... Harvey Keitel does not tick any boxes.
So happy for Elaine May!
Can someone explain to me the greatness of Elaine May. All the movies she directed are BAD.
A great list!
Ullmann is my favorite, but Jackson and Glover are really fantastic choices.
May is just ok for me.
So happy for Ullmann who should have at least 2 competitive Oscars by now, also Elaine May is a very inspired choice and a way to encourage younger audiences to see her work
YES!
My Norwegian acting Queen Liv. I am beyond proud and happy for her :)
Someone who shot Ishtar should never win an Oscar.
Really happy for these four. They're awesome.
Max Von Sydow. They really dropped the ball on this one.
Don't be suck a white male fountain of resentment, @Bojangles. Jesius.
Donald Sutherland, Fredrick Wiseman, David Lynch, Owen Roizman, Lynn Stalmaster, and Marvin Levy are all white and all deserving and all won honorary Oscars recently. The Academy just gave Best Actor and Actress to really-deserving white people despite fierce competition from people of color. Sheesh. The world is not anything like what you seem to think it is. Readjust those lenses, buddy.
I think Bojangles might need to be reminded that 92% of the winners of the Honorary Oscars from 2000-2010 were white Interestingly, 92% were also men. The only woman was Lauren Bacall and the only person of color was Sidney Poitier. Most of them were really talented, too, so there is that.
The Academy is just balancing things out for all the times they snubbed people of color, women, etc. Also, I cannot think of a single person known to be a member of the LGBTQ community who's EVER won an Honorary Oscar. I could be wrong. Maybe Blake Edwards was Bi and maybe Hollywood knew it. He did make VICTOR/VICTORIA. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Dan -- the Academy has been grossly negligent with LGBTQ artists but that's a topic for another time apparently. They're still working through their race issues.. but eventually i hope we can address the queer elephant in the room. It's pretty annoying that they have yet to honor an out queer director even with an Honorary Award and when they do love a queer picture it's often from a straight director (Brokeback, Moonlight, Kiss of the Spider-Woman)
They're willing to award queer musicians, screenwriters, and craftsmen but not directors or actors.
The number of famous queer actors that have been nominated after coming out: One.
Sir Ian McKellen (Gods and Monsters)
The number of LGBTQ people nominated for Best Director since the 1980s: Six
James Ivory, Gus Van Sant, Pedro Almodovar, Stephen Daldry, Lee Daniels, Rob Marshall -- all of them lost.
Recent LGBTQ directors behind films Oscar voters watched & nominated for things (including Best Picture in some cases) but not the directors themselves: Bill Condon, Luca Guadagnino, Todd Haynes, Lisa Cholodenko, Tate Taylor, Dee Rees, George C Wolfe
Nice to see the stats, even though it's also kind of depressing to see the stats. I'm just amazed that there are people who see today's announcements and think straight white guys with talent are being discriminated against. Except for Max Von Sydow, I'm trying to think of one who scandalously missed getting the honorary Oscar he deserved, at least recently. Ivory really deserves one, so does Almodovar. McKellen... sure. It wouldn't be a scandal if he didn't get one, but if Eli Wallach deserved one, so does McKellen. Every year I feel like there's one person who wasn't THAT great who gets one but I'm honestly happy for all four of these choices. I really do wish the show was televised but I'm sure they have their reasons. The clips they show never seem to wind up on YouTube. I'm guessing the price of obtaining those for a broadcasted show might be part of the issue. Still, it seems odd. I'm sure somebody would want to show it. There's two gazillion channels and streaming services out there.
@Nathaniel R
I thought Jerome Robbins was open about his sexuality as a New York dancer and then choreographer before he won two Oscars (Director and honorary) in 1960 for West Side Story.
Everyone seems to be forgetting that Liv Ullmann is also a screenwriter and director, even if she is better known for her acting.
really, really happy for Ullman and Glover... Jackson, well, yes, but honestly, his career has really been hit and miss, and I can think of so many more deserving names (Glover, for example, for acting), and I am still in anger that names like the Monty Python - are they waiting for all of them to be dead? -, John Carpenter, Frank Oz (I mean, look at his comedies!), and many others are still waiting for any recognition, despite producing classics galore in genre films.
@Nathaniel R
As delighted as you are about this quartet of winners. And if not putting these tributes back to television... They are four legends, they will have an Academy Award, by the time of 94th Academy Awards, so it would be nice, at the very least, to have them on stage as presenters!
"The Academy is just balancing things out for all the times they snubbed people of color, women, etc."
Ok, so we can say it is officially understood, known and accepted that white, straight, male men are purposedly not being awarded because it's not a good image to award them right now.
Unknown: I wouldn't worry too much for straight white male men. They're never down and out for long.
Where is Kim Novak ? Samuel l. Jackson really ? Go Liv .
@Unknown. In any given year there are probably something like 25 people who are deserving of an Honorary Oscar, but the Academy can only give out 3 or 4. If, after years of ignoring the people of color in that group of 25 + or -, they decide to balance things out by picking a little more from the people of color side, that's fine. Only a racist would have a problem with that. As for the "male men" comment, I guess that's a crude way of saying cisgender men, but name one trangender person who's won an Honorary Oscar. Yup. There hasn't been one. As for straight... um.... see above.
Every single winner this year is heterosexual and cisgender, just like every year. 50% this year are white, which is actually an overrepresentation of white people in the world's population (and the Academy is an international organization.) You're literally angry about nothing, unless what you really want is to go back to the days of Black underrepresentation.
Seriously... It's like whack-a-mole with these people.
Dan, by your logic the 50% of the recipients being black is also an overrepresentation (unless you're lumping all people "of color" into one category). Such considerations are absurd. And just what percentage of the world's population is trans?
@Amy I think what's absurd is the initial complaint, which was, basically, not enough white people were picked this year for me to feel comfortable.
And I didn't complain that there aren't any trans people selected. Other people, who seem totally delusional, seem to think, I dunno... that Elaine May is trans and was favored because of that?
Why did anyone bring up the idea that trans people are favored by the Academy? It's just some sort of right wing delusion, like Hilary Clinton eating babies. But I'm done here. Have a good weekend.
The amount of white fragility on this thread is quite something. For years, as a Scandinavian, I was disappointed that Max von Sydow kept getting passed over as an Honorary Oscar winner. Then he died and it was too late, but never in a million years would it have occurred to me to blame political correctness or reverse discrimination against white men.
I know they're white and therefore Uneligible but I would really want to see Ed Harris and Steve Buscemi to win this.
@Martin82' LOL. Troll.
I chuckle when they toss out these honorary awards, then try to pass them off as the real deal. The obits for Cecily Tyson would state 'Cecily Tyson, Oscar winner.' It's almost like the Academy is scrambling to make good with past 'snubs.' Danny Glover, 'Oscar winner.' Correction-it's Honorary Oscar recipient, there's a big difference.
It could be called the People-in-the-Organization-with-Better-Taste-Coming-in-at-the-End-of-Someone's-Live-to-Make-Up-for-the-Poor-Taste-of-the-General-Voters Award. How else do you account for the fact that Antonioni, Hitchcock, Godard, and Kurosawa have one of these, while Michel Hazanavicius, Tom Hooper, George Roy Hill, and Franklin J. Schaffner got the "real ones."
Very good news for Alfre Woodard.
One of the best honorary lineups in a while! They're all so well-deserved.
@Martin82' Ed Harris and Steve Buscemi are really pretty B-list compared to people like Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Kirk Douglas and Satyajit Ray, but I guess being white causes some to over value them, huh?
Ed Harris and Steve Buscemi are two of the greatest character actors of all time, you're a bit ignorant.
Not here for the SLJ slander. He definitely should’ve won an Oscar by now.
The fact that Samuel L. Jackson wasn't even nominated for his performance in DJANGO UNCHAINED so that the Academy could make room post Oscar-win Alan Arkin to rack up another nomination and post Oscar-win Christoph Waltz so that they could give him a SECOND Oscar, this time in a category-fraud role as a White Savior for the Blacks is all you really need to know about how white Hollywood thinks and why these Honorary Oscars are necessary.
Dear Academy,
Change the date.
The right is 27 March 2022.
It's the right place and time to this kind of honors!
Do the right thing!
I have been watching the Oscars since 1964! One of my favorite parts has always been the presentation of the honorary awards (Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, Myrna Loy, Barbara Stanwyck, Cary Grant, Alfred Hitchcock) even as a kid I liked it. I think it’s shameful they took it off. So much wasted time in these shows lately....like Ellen spending about 10 minutes distributing pizza, and one year there was a tour group pass through, such BS. If I were the producer - I would cut way back on the documentaries/ short subjects - and announce the winners going into commercial breaks.....they do that on the Grammy’s and Tony’s do. Put the honors awards back on. This year’s show was terrible - not really anyone’s fault. Ratings continue to plummet, I would assume one of the many reasons are these pampered rich actors & their constant political harping. It’s their industry - they work in it. I don’t. If there’s not enough diversity - change it....I can’t / they can. I feel as if I am being blamed for the film industry’s racism and homophobia. Not my fault - it’s their fault. The theatre and television industries are clearly much better at inclusion and diversity. Interesting the year “brokeback mountain” should have been awarded “Best Picture” - the Academy....not the general public they are always whining to....chose to snub it. They also snubbed Ian McKellen.....gay actor playing a gay character in “God’s & Monsters” in favor of Roberto Benigni....rolling my eyes. It remains baffling to me McKellen lost. That said - Glenn Close - please put her out of her misery....she richly deserves to get an honorary win....she can and has done everything. Just a case of bad timing for her over the past 4 decades.