By Doug Strassler
This week, the Academy announced the recipients of its annual honorary awards, and none other than Darth Vadar himself, James Earl Jones, is this year’s winner. (The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award will be bestowed upon Oprah Winfrey as well.) The honorary Oscar is a safe way to honor stars that were never able to win in a competitive category (though sometimes previous winners have been awarded these as well); it’s how actors like Barbara Stanwyck, Deborah Kerr, Kirk Douglas, and Lauren Bacall (just last year) finally earned the moniker “Oscar winner.â€
And while the Oscar ceremonies no longer televise the honorary awards portion (opting instead to show short clips from a “previously held ceremonyâ€), somethin’ is better than nothin’. And I started thinking about some of my favorite performers, major Hollywood players, who’ve never yet taken an Oscar home, though some have at least been invited to the ball. (A complete list of honorary Academy Award winners can be found here.)
Below are the first few names of personal film favorites of mine (I decided to look at performers over the age of 65; the Academy holds no such rule) who I think are more than due for some lifetime Oscar love.
Doris Day
Though best known for her musical and comedic work on film, to this day (get it?!), the actress remains the top-ranking female box office star of all time. And she’s ranked sixth in the list of all box office performers. (Fun fact: did you know she turned down the role of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate?) There’s no doubt that the Pillow Talk nominee holds a pretty impressive place in film lore. I can only imagine that the reason why she’s never won is because that, famously reclusive in her retirement, she doesn’t want any part of Hollywood. Still, that won’t keep her from ranking first on my list. Que sera, sera.
Donald Sutherland
I’ve already made it clear here how deep my outrage runs that Donald Sutherland has never been nominated – let alone won – for an Oscar. Not for Ordinary People. Or Don’t Look Now. Or Without Limits. Or Klute. Or MASH. Or Six Degrees of Separation. Or Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Okay, I kid with the last one, but it’s no joke: the guy’s an immense talent, and that should be recognized for posterity. (Fun fact: you might remember that Sutherland was one of the Canadians chose to carry the Olympic flag during the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremonies.) Give the guy the gold.
Gena Rowlands
This sultry actress has been of my favorites ever since I caught her landmark, Oscar-nominated performance in A Woman Under the Influence. She’s best known for her marriage to revolutionary indie film pioneer John Cassavetes – or, more recently, for playing moms to women like Sandra Bullock in Hope Floats and Julia Roberts in Something to Talk About – but her work more than stands on her own. In movies like Faces, Gloria (for which she was also nominated), Minnie and Moskowitz, Opening Night, and Unhook the Stars, the actress has proven she can travel to the deepest and darkest of places without fear or peer. (She’s my personal pick to play the matriarch if the film version of August: Osage County ever comes to life.)
Burt Reynolds
No offense to Good Will Hunting fans, but Burt Reynolds deserved the Supporting Actor Oscar that Robin Williams won that year. Reynolds was sensational in Boogie Nights, capping a career that saw him become the top box office draw of the 1970s, thanks in part to Deliverance, The Longest Yard, Semi-Tough, and Smokey and the Bandit. (Fun fact: he was 1980’s Durex Man of the Year.) And yet that was the closest he ever came to the dance (he also should have been nominated for playing against type as the sensitive, confused divorce in Starting Over.) It’s time the Academy rectified their oversight.
Debbie Reynolds
She’s of no relation to Burt, but Debbie Reynolds shares Burt’s record: one Oscar nomination, one loss (hers was for Best Actress in The Unsinkable Molly Brown). The actress has been kicking – literally, since she started as a dancer – for six decades, and while her personal life makes for great fodder (that whole Eddie Fisher leaving her for Liz Taylor thing), her on-screen entertainment deserves plaudits as well. Come on, she was in Singin’ In the Rain! And her work in Mother more than demonstrates her versatility. Reynolds is an actress capable of tackling all kinds of challenges and handling them adroitly. Her problem? She’s made it look too easy.
I have more suggestions where these came from, but I think this is enough for a start. Anyone out there share my opinion that these stars should be adorned with an honorary Oscar? And anyone wish they’d keep this segment as part of the live telecast?
12 responses so far ↓
1 Will // Aug 5, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Agreed about Donald Sutherland. My favorite actor ever, and it’s ridiculous that he’s been so snubbed.
2 Doug Strassler // Aug 5, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Right, Will? One of those cases where it’s so obvious you can’t believe he’s gone ignored.
3 Nafeez // Aug 5, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Sam Peckinpah for sure
4 Erin // Aug 5, 2011 at 4:45 pm
Totally agree that it’s crazy Donald Sutherland has never been nominated. He always makes interesting choices yet every character is so believable – so real. I think everything I’ve ever seen him in was elevated because he was in it (including Buffy).
5 Doug Strassler // Aug 5, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Good idea, Nafeez. Sadly, Peckinpah passed away at 59, in the early 1980s, probably before anyone even thought of adding him to the list of considerations.
Other un-Oscared directors DID finally get an honorary Oscar before passing away, such as Blake Edwards, Sidney Lumet, Robert Altman, and Stanley Donen. And the still-living Norman Jewison did too.
6 Greg // Aug 5, 2011 at 5:27 pm
Ben Burtt, the sound designer for such films as Star Wars and WALL-E, has won before, I believe, but he deserves a lifetime achievement award too.
I’d consider a Herscholt Award for The Farelly Brothers for their work with the disabled.
Andy Serkis should win a Special Achievement Oscar for King Kong, The Lord of the Rings, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, since he’ll never be considered in a competitive category.
Bill Murray might be a little young for a career achievement award, but he definitely deserves one eventually. Steve Martin too.
On that point, I’ve long felt that there should be a category for Best Comedic Performance. No distinction between leading and supporting or men and women, and the nominees would still be eligible in the other categories. It’s downright shameful that comedic acting is essentially completely ignored by the Oscars.
7 Chaz // Aug 5, 2011 at 8:14 pm
Love these choices–and check out Doris Day in Love Me or Leave Me and Debbie Reynolds in The Catered Affair for evidence of more range than doubters might think they have.
Donald Sutherland as the poet/patriarch and Gena Rowlands as crazy addict/mama in August:Osage County? Tantalizing.
I know they finally gave the wonderful Myrna Loy an honorary Oscar, but did they ever do the same for her equally wonderful partner William Powell? I know he was nominated without winning. And this dovetails with what Greg is saying–comedic acting or acting with a light touch don’t get the Oscar love it do deserve. Too bad, because it’s not as easy as it looks. (That’s kinda the point, it looks effortless.)
8 ferretrick // Aug 5, 2011 at 9:15 pm
Sigourney Weaver. The most memorable female character in sci-fi, bar none, as well as many other unforgettable performances. It’s been years since she’s been offered Oscar caliber material, but in her early career there were plenty of chances.
9 Andrew K. // Aug 6, 2011 at 4:01 pm
I still don’t quite get why Sutherland got no love for KLUTE. Obviously, I’m glad it got some love for Jane but the movie’s named after him after all.
10 Orrin // Aug 7, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Debbie Reynolds would be a good honoree because she also had that collection.
My main problem with the honorees is that fans don’t consider it legitimate. I’m sure Lauren Bacall, Kirk Douglas and Eli Wallach consider their Oscars legitimate and are happy to have a statue in their honor.
All the Oscars are is an appreciation of your work by your peers, and if your peers sit around at their annual board meeting and decide that you’re worthy of an Oscar how is that any different than them voting your performance the best of the year?
If anything, an Oscar for a lifetime achievement should mean more because where you can turn in one lucky performance amid an unremarkable career (Cuba Gooding Jr., George Chakiris), you HAVE to have a remarkable career for an honorary award
11 Doug Strassler // Aug 8, 2011 at 9:38 am
Hi ferretrick — I’m all about Sigourney having won several competitive Oscars, so I agree she should get an honorary one. But she’s still under 65, so she doesn’t make this list yet!
12 Michael // Aug 8, 2011 at 12:22 pm
My head is still whirling from trying to comprehend a list that would honor Gena Rowlands and Donald Sutherland with Doris Day, and all for the same recognition; the standards don’t seem consistent. Doris Day may be a fine person and a reliable workhorse (and she’s had some rotten luck in her life), but, past her early tomboy-in-the-musicals phase, her career was a function of 50s-60s pre-feminist ideals of blondeness, blandness and perky sexlessness; she wasn’t a distinctive artist, she was standing in for Betty Crocker. Rowland and Sutherland are at another level of achievement entirely. What if there were an honorary Oscar for longstanding audience favorites, which isn’t called an Oscar for acting?
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