Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

ITALIANO wrote:

mojoe92 wrote: Meg Tilly
Margaret Avery

???

Plus, Kahn and Clift aren't with us anymore.

Yeah, Meg Tilly, and Margaret Avery. Why?

and Kahn and Clift would be posthmortem... or whatever the hell that word is

mojoe92 wrote: Meg Tilly
Margaret Avery

???

Plus, Kahn and Clift aren't with us anymore.

Angela Lansbury
Jane Alexander
Cicely Tyson
Liv Ulmann
Isabelle Adjani
Karen Black
Meg Tilly
Margaret Avery
Madeline Kahn
Ruby Dee
The Women who I think deserve an Honorary

Donald Sutherland
Christopher Lee
Montgomery Clift
James Caan
Spike Lee
Hal Holbrook
Gerard DePardieu
The Men who I think deserve an Honorary

Max Von Sydow would be a very decent choice... Actually he's in the top of my list. The guy is working regularly these days, he's a legend in his own time and his contribution to cinema is undisputable... Besides, he has never won a competitive Oscar dispite being nominated for a great performance... What else is necessary for being considered for this thing?

Mister Tee wrote:The Academy has followed SAG in the past, though: Sidney Poitier won the latter in, I believe, '99, and the Honorary Oscar 2 years later.

You know they considered Betty White.

tootpadu wrote:

Mister Tee wrote:For the record, I'd put James Earl Jones somewhere in a limbo between Bellamy/Wallach level and the genuine legend group represented by O'Toole. Jones, too, has put in about half a century, though it's been more diffuse -- his most famous work remains onstage or as a voice behind animation (Lion King) or intoning "This...is...CNN". None of this is to dispute his contibutions to film, from Dr. Strangelove through Field of Dreams. But he seems a firmer candidate for SAG Lifetime Achievement than the honorary Oscar.

He got that one two years ago, which makes this award all the more redundant.

And that shows you how closely I pay attention to the SAG prozes. I didn't even remember that.

The Academy has followed SAG in the past, though: Sidney Poitier won the latter in, I believe, '99, and the Honorary Oscar 2 years later.

Lansbury is certainly justifiable for a honorary, given the clear feeling she could have won for the still widely-watched Manchurian Candidate. But she, too, has largely stayed on top because of the theatre and television, so she wouldn't be a choice on a par with Kerr/O'Toole.

Mister Tee wrote:For the record, I'd put James Earl Jones somewhere in a limbo between Bellamy/Wallach level and the genuine legend group represented by O'Toole. Jones, too, has put in about half a century, though it's been more diffuse -- his most famous work remains onstage or as a voice behind animation (Lion King) or intoning "This...is...CNN". None of this is to dispute his contibutions to film, from Dr. Strangelove through Field of Dreams. But he seems a firmer candidate for SAG Lifetime Achievement than the honorary Oscar.

He got that one two years ago, which makes this award all the more redundant.

How would you feel about someone like Angela Lansbury (a person I'm beginning to think will never get one of these things).

I have to be honest: now that these have been totally separated from the Oscar ceremony -- and upped to an automatic 3-4 a year -- I give them far less consideration than I used to.

I also think of them in different terms. Before, it was "Who should have won an Oscar at some point but slipped through the cracks?" -- it was something for (in the old days)Hitchcock, Rosalind Russell, Edward G. Robinson, or, more recently, Deborah Kerr, Myrna Loy, Peter O'Toole. When they gave career awards to people who already had Oscars -- Jimmy Stewart, Sophia Loren, Sidney Poitier -- it seemed redundant. And when they dug down to second-tier actors like Ralph Bellamy, it felt like a violation of the premise.

But now that's changed. You're not going to find 3-4 clearly Oscar-snubbed folk every year, any more than baseball writers could come up with 4 new Hall of Famers every year and maintain the Hall's high standard. So, now, Eli Wallach -- who I put at the Ralph Bellamy level (others may disagree) -- represents actors, and Dick Smith gets an honorary prize to go with his regular Amadeus prize.

And that's OK. Wallach is a half-century screen presence (albeit to me a sometimes irritating one), and I can see wanting to honor him. And the career of the man whose name I've known since he aged Dustin Hoffman to over 100 years old -- who created indelible looks for The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Altered States -- deserves more than a caught-up-in-the-sweep prize for one movie. It's just not quite the same as getting to see the standing ovation for the long-denied Barbara Stanwyck on the real Academy night.

For the record, I'd put James Earl Jones somewhere in a limbo between Bellamy/Wallach level and the genuine legend group represented by O'Toole. Jones, too, has put in about half a century, though it's been more diffuse -- his most famous work remains onstage or as a voice behind animation (Lion King) or intoning "This...is...CNN". None of this is to dispute his contibutions to film, from Dr. Strangelove through Field of Dreams. But he seems a firmer candidate for SAG Lifetime Achievement than the honorary Oscar.

As for Oprah -- charity work unassailable; movie connection, despite a few obvious high spots, somewhat tenuous.

End somewhat cranky rant.

Here I sit all broken hearted. Came to shit but only farted.

One always expects more from the Academy only to be disappointed by their choices. Does the Academy ever reveal who were the contenders from which the final selections were made?

James Earl Jones seems like the kind of actor for whom the Honorary Oscar was made. He's had a long, honorable career, and is respected by just about everybody, but I think most would have trouble coming up with a spot where he should have won a competitive statue. I find it difficult to argue with this choice.

So...let me get this straight...James Earl Jones and, of all people, Oprah will be receiving their awards on a different evening so as not to hurt the ratings of the regular Oscar telecast? Anyone ready to rethink this yet?

Governors Awards announced.

James Earl Jones and makeup maestro Dick Smith will receive Honorary Oscars.

Oprah Winfrey will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.