Earlier this week, Variety reported that Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, was lobbying members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to bestow an Honorary Oscar on Bob Iger, chief executive of the Walt Disney Company and Kennedy’s boss. This created a major conflict of interest problem, since Disney’s broadcast division ABC is the broadcast partner of the Academy Awards, and the two are now in negotiations to renew the Academy’s licensing agreement beyond 2028.
Iger was ultimately passed over for an Honorary Oscar – formally called the Academy Honorary Award and known simply as a Special Award prior to 1950 – in favor of Tom Cruise. But if Iger was honored, it would not be the first time that this prize had some peculiarities surrounding its presentation. For the sake of brevity, here are examples of 10 Honorary Oscars that probably should not have been presented.
Charlie Chaplin, 1927/28. For the first Oscar competition, Chaplin’s work on “The Circus” was nominated for Best Director (Comedy Picture), Best Actor and Best Writing (Original Story). Fearing that Chaplin would sweep the new awards, the Academy removed him from the categories and granted a Special Award for his “collective accomplishments” under the excuse that “The Circus” merited his placement in a class by himself. Yeah, right!
Edgar Bergen, 1937. The beloved ventriloquist received a Special Award “for his outstanding comedy creation, Charlie McCarthy” – with Bergen receiving a wooden Oscar with a movable mouth designed as a tribute to his smart aleck dummy. While few people would deny Bergen was a very funny man, he was not a film star – at the time he received this award, he only appeared in two films, a 1931 short called “The Eyes Have It” and a guest role in “The Goldwyn Follies” that was released one month before the Academy Awards ceremony. Rarely had a Special Award been given to someone with such a minimal cinematic impact.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1942. The entire studio was honored with a 1942 Special Award “for its achievement in representing the American Way of Life in the production of the ‘Andy Hardy’ series of films.” Really? The films were pleasant and amusing, but the reasoning behind the award and the gifting of the prize to the studio rather than any of its creative artists was a tad bizarre.
“Bill and Coo,” 1947. The cast of this hour-long film was primarily made up of parakeets that were part of a vaudeville act concocted by George Burton. Comedian Ken Murray backed this production shot in Trucolor for release by Republic Pictures. The film’s Special Award was presented with a proclamation that said: “In which artistry and patience blended in a novel and entertaining use of the medium of motion pictures.” Well, that’s being generous – try sitting through this novelty and you’ll start to feel like Tippi Hedren.
William L. Hendricks, 1961. I know what you’re thinking – who is this? Hendricks was a former colonel in the US Marine Corps Reserve who created the Toys for Tots program. The Academy announced that his Honorary Oscar was “for his outstanding patriotic service in the conception, writing and production of the Marine Corps film, ‘A Force in Readiness,’ which has brought honor to the Academy and the motion picture industry.” I still know what you’re thinking – ‘A Force of Readiness’? Yes, he got an Oscar for creating a Marines promotional film. Hendricks later took over Warner Bros.’ animation studio during its final two years of theatrical film production, which was arguably the worst stretch in that studio’s history.
William J. Tuttle, 1964. The first Oscar given to a make-up artist went to Tuttle, whose work on the MGM feature “7 Faces of Dr. Lao” is anything but Oscar-worthy. The key feature to Tuttle’s work was turning Tony Randall into a Chinese magician and six other dull characters including Merlin the Magician and Medusa. To be cruel, there was absolutely nothing in Tuttle’s make-up designs that warranted an Academy Award – Randall’s silly performance didn’t help matters – and it is baffling that this film would be the first time make-up artistry was honored by the Academy.
Bob Hope, 1965. Yes, Bob Hope was an American institution and his work in bringing entertainment to the troops made him beloved for generation. But this Honorary Oscar was his fourth in a quarter-century. Really, four Honorary Oscars?
Elia Kazan, 1998. One of the most controversial Honorary Oscars was presented to the two-time Oscar winning director, whose unapologetic willingness to rat out his fellow creative artists during the McCarthy-era House Un-American Activities Committee hearings earned him withering scorn from many in the film industry. During the ceremony when he received his Honorary Oscar, many prominent Hollywood stars pointedly refused to applaud him. In view of his political history and the fact that he already secured two Academy Awards, Kazan should not have been chosen for this tribute.
Marvin Levy, 2018. Yes, you’re probably thinking, “Marvin Who?” He was a film publicist, a profession that was not lacking in participants – heck, the writer of this article was also a film publicist for 10 years, and a damn good one at that! So why did Levy get an Honorary Oscar? Well, he was a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Public Relations Branch for many years. Hey, you know that old saying: It’s not what you know, it’s who you know!
Angela Bassett, 2023. Let’s be honest – Bassett would never have been considered for an Honorary Oscar had she not been snubbed one year earlier in the Best Supporting Actress category for her work in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Bassett’s dramatically sour reaction to losing that competitive award to Jamie Lee Curtis’ performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” clearly sparked the woke-fueled Academy into giving her the Honorary Oscar as a consolation prize. And the Academy’s declaration that she “has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting” is, to borrow a phrase from a former mentally incompetent president, a bunch of malarkey.
Photo: Tony Randall as one of the “7 Faces of Dr. Lao”