Honorary Award recipients Roger Corman, Lauren Bacall, and Gordon Willis at the 2009 Governors Awards ceremony held at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland on Saturday, November 14.
"It's so much better … that nobody's worrying whether 36.5 million people are watching us or 29.2," remarked Warren Beatty, a former Irving G. Thalberg Award recipient who paid homage to this year's Thalberg Award honoree John Calley, who, reportedly suffering from serious health issues, was unable to attend the ceremony.
After Kirk Douglas declared he once unsuccessfully tried to seduce her, and Anjelica Huston praised her "steadfastness," 85-year-old Lauren Bacall waved away an escort trying to help her get to the podium, remembered her "great love" Humphrey Bogart, her myriad leading men, and said that "the thought when I get home that I'm going to have a two-legged man in my room is so exciting."
At the event, director/screenwriter Quentin Tarantino paid homage to Honorary Award recipient Roger Corman. Tarantino, who said that Corman inspired him to become a filmmaker, remarked on the producer-director's "undeniable impact on the industry, both as a business and as an art form."
Among Corman's countless credits are cult classics — which at the time of released were dismissed by critics — such as It Conquered the World, Teenage Doll, House of Usher, Pit and the Pendulum, Tower of London, Premature Burial, The Terror, The Raven, The Masque of the Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and Bloody Mama.
Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme attended the ceremony to hand out the Honorary Award to Roger Corman.
Formerly, Honorary Awards were given out at the Oscar ceremony, but falling ratings and decades-long complaints about the show's length has made the Academy decide to hand out its honorary awards at a separate, non-televised ceremony.
Snippets from the Governors Awards presentation will be shown at the Oscar 2010 telecast.
Richard Harbaugh (Bacall / Corman / Willis, Tarantino), Michael Yada (Demme) / ©A.M.P.A.S.
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