Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks to receive honorary Oscars

Angela Bassett will receive an honorary Oscar on Nov. 18, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced. Credit: Invision / AP / Evan Agostini
Angela Bassett may have gone home empty-handed at the Oscars in March, but the two-time nominee will be getting a golden statuette this year after all — and in very good company, too.
In November, Bassett, Mel Brooks and film editor Carol Littleton will receive honorary Oscars at the Governors Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Monday.
Michelle Satter, the founding senior director of the Sundance Institute’s Artist Programs, will also be given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the untelevised event.
Most recipients of the academy’s honorary awards have not won competitive Oscars. Brooks, is an exception, however, having won an original screenplay Oscar for “The Producers.”
The 96-year-old, who began his career writing for Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows,” and over the next 70 years would write, direct, act, produce for film, television and Broadway and write books, including a recent memoir, is among the rare breed of EGOT-winners. (Those are entertainers who have won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards.)
Bassett, whose credits include “Boyz N The Hood,” “Malcolm X,” “Waiting to Exhale” and “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” received her first Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Tina Turner in “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and her second earlier this year for playing the grieving queen in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
Littleton’s name might not be as immediately recognizable as the celebrities being honored alongside her, but she has been working behind the scenes with top filmmakers for nearly five decades.

An Oscar statue appears outside the Dolby Theatre for the 87th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 21, 2015. Credit: AP/Matt Sayles
Satter, meanwhile, has led the Sundance Institute's famed artist programs for more than 40 years.
The Governors Awards will be held on Nov. 18 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
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