After a storied career spanning four decades in which she has played Tina Turner, Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks and Black Panther’s Queen Ramonda, Angela Bassett received her first Academy Award on Tuesday – an honorary Oscar.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honoured the actor at its 14th annual Governors awards, an event recognising lifetime achievement in film as well as in humanitarian efforts.
The 65-year-old actor was previously nominated for Oscars for her performance as Tina Turner in the biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It? and for her role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – the first actor in a Marvel film and the first woman from a superhero movie to receive such a nod.
Mel Brooks, 97, and Carol Littleton, the film editor behind ET and Body Heat, were also recognised with honorary Oscars at the ceremony, which was originally scheduled for November but delayed due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes. The award honours “extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy”.
The Sundance Institute’s Michelle Satter received the Jean Hersholt humanitarian award.
The Governors awards serve as an opportunity for the Academy to correct past oversights and honour the careers of beloved Hollywood icons while bringing together some of the biggest names in the industry. Tuesday’s ceremony was hosted by comedian John Mulaney and widely attended by A-listers and Oscar hopefuls, including Margot Robbie, Bradley Cooper, America Ferrera, Cillian Murphy, Lenny Kravitz, Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, among others.
The mood was relaxed and celebratory inside of the Dolby theatre with the winners of the evening’s awards announced far in advance.
Regina King, Bassett’s co-star in the 1991 film Boyz n the Hood, introduced the actor, describing her as an incomparable “national treasure”.
“She has a perspective and a voice and a beauty that is proudly Black but what she embodies at her core is beyond anything that is skin deep,” King said. “She is artistic excellence embodied in human form.”
Bassett appeared on stage to a lengthy applause, offering her thanks to her family, including her husband, the actor Courtney B Vance.
“I have considered acting my calling and not just my career. I do this work because I find it meaningful. And I hope in some way that it makes a difference and has an impact,” she said. “To be recognised in this way for what I’m doing is truly wonderful. And I am beyond grateful.”
Bassett is just the second Black female actor to receive an honorary Oscar (after Cicely Tyson), she said during her speech, in which she recognised trailblazers who came before her such as Hattie McDaniel. McDaniel, the first Black person to win an Oscar, tore down barriers to allow Black women to receive recognition at the highest levels in the industry, Bassett said.
“To my fellow Black actresses, fill your hearts with courage and strength because regardless of what you may think or see or feel your contributions do matter,” she said. “Remember who you are and who our ancestors intended you to be.”
“I proudly share this moment with women who stand up when they are told to stand back, who speak up when they are silenced, who remain determined when they are told they are defeated. These women represent those that I’ve had the honour to portray, as well as the everyday women who surround us and inspire us to keep striving.”
Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, who starred in the 2005 version of Brooks’ The Producers, presented the honorary Oscar to the comedian, actor and film-maker with a song based on some of his biggest hits.
“This is beautiful. I gotta tell you this means a lot to me. It really means a lot. I feel so bad about the Oscar I got for best original screenplay for The Producers. I never should have sold it,” he said to laughs.
“When your peers appreciate your work and they salute you with this golden statue it means a great deal. It really does.”
Directors Ryan Coogler and Chloé Zhao presented the humanitarian award to Michelle Satter, whose work has “changed the world,” Coogler said. Past recipients of the award include Frank Sinatra, Angelina Jolie and Oprah Winfrey.
Satter, the founding director of the Sundance Institute, has worked with countless independent film-makers, including Coogler and Zhao, through the institute’s labs.
Glenn Close introduced Littleton, highlighting the role of film editors in crafting cinema. Littleton dedicated her award to all the editors “who toil in the darkness of an editing room, weighing each cut, making infinite choices to create a unique believable world born of imagination.” Littleton reminisced on her experiences editing ET, which she described as “a powerful story about tolerance for the other”.
“With a little humility and patience we too can find our common humanity in uncommon places,” she said.
