Honorary Oscars Bypass Women
February 13th, 2007 by Andre Soares
In 1936, five years after her screen debut, 19-year-old Danielle Darrieux began worrying about when-oh-when she’d receive an Honorary Oscar for her body of work. Several decades and more than 100 film roles later, she finally came to the realization that life could be merveilleuse even without an Oscar.
At the 1936 Academy Award ceremony, D. W. Griffith became the first individual to win an Honorary Academy Award for his body of work. Sixty-one years and 77 (my count*) Honorary Oscar winners later, a mere eight women have been recognized for their cinematic oeuvre. The chosen 8 — 6 of them actresses, plus one actress-producer — are: Greta Garbo (at the 1955 ceremony), Lillian Gish (1971), actress-producer Mary Pickford (1976, above), editor Margaret Booth (1978), Barbara Stanwyck (1982), Myrna Loy (1991), Sophia Loren (1991), and Deborah Kerr (1994).
Considering the amount of female talent that has gone un-honored these past six decades, I find it impossible not to believe that the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a long-standing problem when it comes to recognizing women’s achievements on a par with those of men. In that regard, the Academy is as selectively near-sighted as the vast majority of film critics and historians — but that is no excuse.
Women, in fact, have fared no better at winning any of the Academy’s honorary prizes. To date, not a single woman has won the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, given out since 1937 to "creative producers whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production," or the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, given out since 1981 to "an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry."
True, the complete absence of women from the list of Thalberg Award winners could be explained by the fact that until quite recently precious few women have been involved in the production of Hollywood movies. The same type of gender imbalance in the technical development of motion pictures may also explain the absence of female Sawyer Award winners.
But what about the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award? In the last 51 years, 32 individuals have been recognized for their "humanitarian efforts [that] have brought credit to the industry." Of these, only five have been women, four of them actresses: Martha Raye (at the 1969 ceremony), Rosalind Russell (1973, right), Elizabeth Taylor (1993), Audrey Hepburn (1993), and this year’s honoree, former Paramount chairman Sherry Lansing.
Are women then more self-absorbed than men? Or does the Academy’s Board of Governors believe that women’s deeds carry less importance than men’s deeds?
Now, I’m not arguing that the Academy should impose some sort of — however unofficial — quota system. That would be both unfair and unworkable, especially considering that throughout the decades men have kept a stranglehold in the industry’s top positions, both in front and behind the camera. As a consequence of this male dominance, it is to be expected that the Academy would honor many more males than females, as the male talent pool is much larger. But, going back to the career achievement Oscar, would that gap explain a male-female ratio of nearly 10 to 1?
No, it wouldn’t. Even sticking only to the acting branch, the ratio currently stands at 28† to 7, or 4 to 1.
Thus, sexism is the only plausible answer, for it is tied to the widespread prejudice that women’s issues — whether in life or on-screen — are less significant than those of men. Women certainly haven’t been ignored because Academy Board members have been unable to find qualified Honorary Award candidates.
Actresses Danielle Darrieux (more than 75 years of screen work, and still active), Doris Day, Lauren Bacall (left), Michèle Morgan, Julie Andrews, Julie Christie, Shirley MacLaine, Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau, Liv Ullmann, Debbie Reynolds, Jennifer Jones, Joan Fontaine, Joanne Woodward, Micheline Presle, Jean Simmons, Angela Lansbury, Mia Farrow, Vanessa Redgrave, Eleanor Parker, Eva Marie Saint, Jane Wyman, Barbra Streisand; directors Agnès Varda and Lina Wertmuller; editors Dede Allen and Anne V. Coates (who’s just received Bafta’s Academy Fellowship); and screenwriter Harriet Frank, Jr., are some of the female film veterans who still haven’t received an Honorary Oscar for their body of work.
Some of those women won a single Oscar decades ago; others have never won. Some have never even been nominated.
I did not include Olivia de Havilland, Elizabeth Taylor, Maggie Smith, Glenda Jackson, and Jane Fonda in the list above because each one of them has already won two best actress awards, while Thelma Schoonmaker has already won two best editing Oscars. Only someone like Elia Kazan — i.e., with friends in high Academy places — can have two Academy Award wins and still be allowed to get a third statuette for career achievement.
Among the distinguished female film professionals who have gone to the Great Beyond without receiving the Academy’s career achievement Oscar are actresses Greer Garson, Claudette Colbert, Gloria Swanson, Audrey Hepburn, Rosalind Russell, Marlene Dietrich, Alida Valli, Simone Signoret, Joan Crawford, Anna Magnani, Susan Hayward, Dolores del Río, Norma Talmadge, Irene Dunne, Jean Arthur, Anne Bancroft, Judy Garland, Norma Shearer, Miriam Hopkins, Ginger Rogers, and the first best actress Oscar winner, Janet Gaynor.
Also, pioneer director/screenwriter/actress Lois Weber, pioneer director/producer Alice Guy, actress/director Ida Lupino, director/editor Dorothy Arzner, editors Anne Bauchens and Barbara McLean; composer/screenwriter Betty Comden; and screenwriters Bess Meredyth, Jane Murfin, Jeanie Macpherson, Lenore J. Coffee, and Anita Loos.
(Once again, the list above doesn’t include women who throughout their careers received two or more Academy Awards in a particular category — e.g., actresses Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Ingrid Bergman, and Vivien Leigh; screenwriter Frances Marion; costume designer Edith Head.)
In the meantime, the Academy has recognized the body of work of numerous male actors (from Alec Guinness to Robert Redford, from Laurence Olivier to Eddie Cantor, from Danny Kaye to Sidney Poitier) and directors (from King Vidor to Satyajit Ray, from Jean Renoir to Blake Edwards), in addition to male producers (Joseph M. Schenck, B. B. Kahane), studio heads (Louis B. Mayer, Hal Roach), animators (Chuck Jones, Walter Lantz), inventors (Lee De Forest, George Alfred Mitchell), composers (Alex North and this year’s Ennio Morricone), a choreographer (Michael Kidd), a stunt coordinator (Yakima Canutt), a cinematographer (Jack Cardiff), a short-film creator (Pete Smith), a screenwriter (Ernest Lehman), a film exhibitor (Sid Grauman), a film archivist (Henri Langlois), and even a censor (the infamous Joseph Breen).
Most — though definitely not all — male winners of career Honorary Oscars merited their statuettes because, whether or not you or I admire their acting or directorial skills, they hold an indelible place in motion picture history. But if gender-related prejudices haven’t played a role in the selection of honorees, why hasn’t the Academy been able to find more women deserving of that same recognition?
* I didn’t count the numerous special Oscars given to individuals for specific achievements (e.g., to William Cameron Menzies for his work with color in Gone with the Wind), or to those who provided "contributions" to the Academy (those Honorary Oscars were "Thank You" — not career — awards). In any case, with one exception — Onna White, who won for her choreography for Oliver! in 1968 — all other such Honorary winners were men.
† Several of those 28 actors also performed other cinematic duties, such as directing or producing films. But their Honorary Oscars were undeniably a direct result of their activities in front of the camera.
Miriam Hopkins biography in the works
Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge at the Donnell Media Center
William Wyler: Top Oscar Directors for Actors I
Elia Kazan: Top Oscar Directors for Actors - II
George Cukor: Top Oscar Directors for Actors - III
Fred Zinnemann: Top Oscar Directors for Actors - IV
Martin Scorsese: Top Oscar Directors for Actors - V
Oscar Nominations 2007 - Article
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This has long been a sore issue with the Academy for me, like 30 years or so, back when they gave the career achivement award to Alec Guinness. Yes, he deserved being honored but can anyone defend giving him such an award over Gloria Swanson or Mae West, both of them alive and well at the time and whose cinema careers certainly dwarf Mr. Guinness’.
Jane Russell founded WAIF back in the 1950’s which has since placed over 50,000 children in American homes yet she has yet to be given the Humanitarian award and I wonder if she has ever even being seriously considered.
There would be no Motion Picture Home without Mary Pickford’s activity and yet she was apparently never considered for the Humanitarian award either despite the fact that thousands in the industry have benefited from it. And they were ridiculously late giving Mary the “career achievement” Oscar - and THAT was met by a lot of bitchy mysogenetic talk and articles about how old and frail she was!