Angela Bassett may have gone home empty-handed to the Oscars in March, but the two-time nominee will receive a golden statuette this year after all — and in great company, too.
In November, Bassett, Mel Brooks and editor Carol Littleton will receive honorary Oscars at the Governors Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday.
Michelle Satter, founding director of artist programs at Sundance Institute, will also receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the non-televised event.
“The Academy’s Board of Governors is thrilled to honor four trailblazers who transformed the film industry and inspired generations of filmmakers and moviegoers,” Academy President Janet Yang said in a statement.
Most recipients of honorary academy awards have not won competitive Oscars. Brooks, however, is an exception, having won an Oscar for original screenplay for “The Producers.” At the ceremony, in 1969, he said he wanted “to thank the Academy of Sciences of Art and Money for this magnificent award”. In his speech, which had the audience laughing, he also thanked Gene Wilder three times.
The 96-year-old, who began his career writing for Sid Caesar’s ‘Your Show of Shows’, and over the next 70 years would write, direct, perform, produce for film, TV and Broadway and write books, including a recent memoir. , is one of the rare breed of EGOT winners. (These are artists who have won Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tony Awards.) He also received two other Oscar nominations, for writing the lyrics to John Morris’ song “Blazing Saddles” and another nod. screenwriting eye for “Young Frankenstein,” which he shared with Wilder.
“Mel Brooks lights up our hearts with his humor, and his legacy has had a lasting impact on all facets of entertainment,” Yang said.
Bassett, whose credits include “Boyz N the Hood,” “Malcolm X,” “Waiting to Exhale” and “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” received her first Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Tina Turner in “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and her second earlier this year for playing the grieving queen in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” The 64-year-old told the AP earlier this year that “that moment was so special, it was a highlight of my career.”
Yang said in a statement that “Throughout her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting.”
Littleton’s name may not be as instantly recognizable as the celebrities honored alongside, but has worked behind the scenes with top filmmakers for nearly five decades. The 81-year-old Oklahoma native has worked frequently with Lawrence Kasdan and Jonathan Demme, editing films like “Body Heat,” “The Big Chill,” “Swimming to Cambodia” and “The Manchurian Candidate.” She received her first and only Oscar nomination for “ET the Extra-Terrestrial”, the only film she edited for Steven Spielberg. She is also married to cinematographer and former Academy President John Bailey.
Honorary awards are given “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, outstanding contributions to the state of the motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”
Satter, meanwhile, has run Sundance Institute’s famed artist programs for more than 40 years, helping filmmakers in the early stages of their careers, from Paul Thomas Anderson to Ryan Coogler.
The Governors Awards will take place on November 18 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.