The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the honorees for the 2018 Governors Awards and the five recipients cover a wide spectrum of the industry. Actress Cicely Tyson, publicist Marvin Levy and composer Lalo Schifrin will receive honorary Oscars while the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award will be awarded to producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. This is the 10th annual Governors Awards and the event will once again be held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center in November.
In a statement from the Academy, AMPAS president John Bailey noted, “Choosing the honorees for its awards each year is the happiest of all the Board of Governors’ work. And this year, its selection of five iconic artists was made with universal acclaim by the Academy’s 54 spirited governors.”
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Tyson is best known for her television and stage work, but the now 93-year-old icon earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance in the 1972 drama “Sounder.” Her other movie credits include “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter,” “The River Niger,” “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” “The Help,” “Alex Cross” and, most recently, “Last Flag Flying.”
Levy will become the first publicist to ever win an honorary Oscar. Over a forty plus years career he’s best known for guiding the films of Steven Spielberg and later at Amblin Entertainment and Dreamworks Studios. He’s worked on such classics as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial,” “Back to the Future,” “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “Schindler’s List,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Gladiator” and “Lincoln.”
Born and raised in Argentina, Shifrin began to compose for films in the 1950’s. He’s scored over 100 films and earned six Oscar nominations for the scores of “Cool Hand Luke,” “The Fox,” “Voyage of the Damned” “The Sting II” and “The Amityville Horror” as well as an Original Song nod for “People Alone” from the film “The Completion.” The now 86-year-old composer also scored “Dirty Harry,” all three “Rush Hour” films as well as cult classics such as “Enter the Dragon,” “Doctor Detroit” and “THX 1138.”
Kennedy and Marshall formed the production entity Kennedy/Marshall in 1991. Over 27 years they have shepherded four Best Picture nominees: “The Sixth Sense,” “Seabiscuit,” “Munich” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” They are also responsible for all five “Jason Bourne” films and the Oscar-nominated “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” Before Kennedy/Marshall they co-founded Amblin Productions with Spielberg earning a Best Picture nomination for “The Color Purple.” Their relationship with Spielberg has individually earned Marshall an Oscar nod for Best Picture for ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark” while Kennedy has earned nods for “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial,” “War Horse” and “Lincoln.” Kennedy is the first woman to ever receive the Thalberg Award which is given to creative producers “whose body of work reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production.” Kennedy is currently best known as the president of Lucasfilm.
The Governors Awards has become a prime campaign stop on the awards circuit and you can expect many high profile contenders to get up on stage to honor each of these winners. This year’s ceremony will be held on Nov. 18.
