Gordon Willis, Roger Corman, and Lauren Bacall: Honorary Oscars. Gordon Willis, the cinematographer of classics such as The Godfather: Part II, All the President’s Men, and The Purple Rose of Cairo, receives his Honorary Award from Jeff Bridges, one of the stars of Robert Benton’s Bad Company, a 1972 Western shot by Willis
Honorary Oscar recipients Roger Corman, Lauren Bacall, and Gordon Willis at the 2009 Governors Awards ceremony held at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland on Saturday, Nov. 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.
Past Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award recipients Dino de Laurentiis, Warren Beatty, Saul Zaentz, George Lucas, Norman Jewison, Walter Mirisch, Steven Spielberg presenting this year’s Thalberg Award to John Calley, who was unable to attend the 2009 Governors Awards ceremony in the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland on Saturday, November 14.
Honorary Award recipient Roger Corman, the producer-director of numerous low-budget films including Attack of the Crab Monsters, Carnival Rock, Bloody Mama, and House of Usher. Honorary Award recipient Roger Corman, the producer-director of cult classics such as House of Usher, Pit and the Pendulum, Tower of London, The Terror, The Raven, The Masque of the Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, and Bloody Mama, arrives at the 2009 Governors Awards ceremony held at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland on Saturday, November 14.
Richard Harbaugh (Willis/Bridges, group photo), Matt Petit (Corman) / © A.M.P.A.S.
Honorary Award recipient Lauren Bacall, the star of classics such as To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Key Largo, How to Marry a Millionaire, and Designing Woman. Bacall was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar for The Mirror Has Two Faces in 1996. Honorary Award recipient Lauren Bacall, who appeared in, among others, To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Young Man with a Horn, How to Marry a Millionaire, Woman’s World, Sex and the Single Girl, Murder on the Orient Express, The Fan, and The Mirror Has Two Faces, arrives at the 2009 Governors Awards ceremony held at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland on Saturday, November 14.
“A man at last,” the 85-year-old Bacall exclaimed while holding her Honorary Oscar. “I’m here to stay so you better get used to the idea.”
Three-time Oscar nominated actress Annette Bening toasts Honorary Award recipient Lauren Bacall during the 2009 Governors Awards in the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland on Saturday, November 14.
Previous Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award recipient Warren Beatty, who also won a best director Oscar for Reds in 1982, at the presentation of the Thalberg Award to John Calley, who was unable to attend the 2009 Governors Awards ceremony in the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland on Saturday, November 14.
Previous Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award recipient Steven Spielberg, who also won two best directors Oscars, for Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan
Previous Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award recipient Dino de Laurentiis, the producer of classics such as La Strada, Nights of Cabiria, The Great War, The Stranger, and Serpico
Todd Wawrychuk / © A.M.P.A.S.
Previous Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award recipient Norman Jewison, whose socially conscious cop drama In the Heat of the Night won the best picture Oscar in 1968
Todd Wawrychuk (group photos), Matt Petit (Jewison) / © A.M.P.A.S.
Maria Bello, the leading lady in A History of Violence
Photos: Michael Yada / © A.M.P.A.S.
Honorary Award recipient Gordon Willis, the cinematographer of classics such as Klute, The Godfather films, Serpico, All the President’s Men, Annie Hall, Comes a Horseman, Manhattan, Broadway Danny Rose, and The Purple Rose of Cairo, arrives at the 2009 Governors Awards ceremony held at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland on Saturday, November 14. Despite his impressive list of credits, Willis has been nominated for only two Academy Awards: Zelig (1982) and The Godfather: Part III (1990)
Ron Howard, who won a best director Academy Award for A Beautiful Mind in 2002
Actress Dana Delany of the television series Desperate Housewives
Photos: Michael Yada / © A.M.P.A.S.
Actress Vera Farmiga, a potential contender for the 2010 best supporting actress Oscar
Four-time Academy Award nominee Jeff Bridges and wife Susan
Photos: Michael Yada / © A.M.P.A.S.
Academy Award-nominated actresses Jennifer Tilly (as best supporting actress, for Bullets Over Broadway) and Meg Tilly (also in the best supporting actress category, for Agnes of God), arrive at the 2009 Governors Awards ceremony held at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland on Saturday, November 14.
Previous Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award recipient and two-time best director Academy Award nominee George Lucas with investor/TV show hostess Mellody Hobson
Photos: Michael Yada (Jennifer and Meg Tilly, Lucas) / © A.M.P.A.S.
Academy Award-nominated actress Sally Kellerman (in the supporting category, for M*A*S*H, in 1970) and Academy Award winner Anjelica Huston (also as best supporting actress, for Prizzi’s Honor in 1985)
Five-time Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, among whose credits are The Black Stallion, The Right Stuff, The Natural, and The Passion of the Christ
Photos: Michael Yada / © A.M.P.A.S.
1 comment
What a stunningly beautiful photo of Lauren Bacall. It looks like it was a lovely evening all around.