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Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

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Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
Awarded forcreative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production.
CountryUnited States
Presented byAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
First awarded1938
Websiteoscars.org
Alfred Hitchcock receiving the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from Robert Wise (40th Academy Awards, 1967)

The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is awarded periodically by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Governors Awards ceremonies to "creative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production". The award is named for Irving Thalberg, head of the Production Division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who developed the company's reputation for sophisticated films. The trophy itself was originally a bust of Thalberg rather than the familiar Oscar statuette. However, it is still counted as an "Honorary Oscar". The bust of Thalberg was last used in 2018 when the award was presented to Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall[1]. When the award was next presented at the 15th Governors Awards to Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson in 2024, the Oscar statuette was used instead.[2]

The award was established in 1937 and was first presented at the 10th Academy Awards, in March 1938. Since 2009, it has been presented at the separate Governors Awards rather than at the main Academy Awards ceremony.

The Award has been awarded 39 times to date. Katharine Hepburn made her only appearance at an Oscar ceremony to present the award to her long-time friend Lawrence Weingarten at the 46th Academy Awards ceremony in 1974.

List of recipients

[edit]
Year Awarded Honorees
1937 Darryl F. Zanuck (1)
1938 Hal B. Wallis
1939 David O. Selznick in 1934 David O. Selznick
1941 Walt Disney in 1946 Walt Disney
1942 Sidney Franklin in 1920 Sidney Franklin
1943 Hal B. Wallis
1944 Darryl F. Zanuck (2)
1946 Samuel Goldwyn in 1919 Samuel Goldwyn
1948 Jerry Wald in 1947 Jerry Wald
1950 Darryl F. Zanuck (3)
1951 Arthur Freed in 1964 Arthur Freed
1952 Cecil B. DeMille circa 1920 Cecil B. DeMille
1953 George Stevens in 1957 George Stevens
1956 Buddy Adler in 1958 Buddy Adler
1958 Jack Warner in 1955 Jack L. Warner
1961 Stanley Kramer circa 1955 Stanley Kramer
1963 Sam Spiegel in 1963 Sam Spiegel
1965 William Wyler circa 1945 William Wyler
1966 Robert Wise in 1990 Robert Wise
1967 Alfred Hitchcock by Jack Mitchell, circa 1972 Alfred Hitchcock
1970 Ingmar Bergman in 1957 Ingmar Bergman
1973 Lawrence Weingarten
1975 Mervyn LeRoy in 1958 Mervyn LeRoy
1976 Pandro S. Berman in 1953 Pandro S. Berman
1977 Walter Mirisch
1979 Ray Stark
1981 Albert R. Broccoli in 1976 Albert R. Broccoli
1986 Steven Spielberg in 2017 Steven Spielberg
1987 Billy Wilder
1990 David Brown in 2000 David Brown
Richard D. Zanuck in 1990 Richard D. Zanuck
1991 George Lucas in 2009 George Lucas
1994 Clint Eastwood in 2010 Clint Eastwood
1996 Saul Zaentz
1998 Norman Jewison in 2012 Norman Jewison
1999 Warren Beatty in 2001 Warren Beatty
2000 Dino De Laurentiis in 2009 Dino De Laurentiis
2009 John Calley
2010 Francis Ford Coppola in 2011 Francis Ford Coppola
2018 Kathleen Kennedy in 2015 Kathleen Kennedy
Frank Marshall in 2012 Frank Marshall
2024 Broccoli in 2015 Barbara Broccoli
Wilson (left) and Daniel Craig in 2006 Michael G. Wilson

Other nominees

[edit]

The 11th Academy Awards, where the award was won by Hal B. Wallis, marks the only occasion for which non-winning nominations were announced. The other nominees were: Samuel Goldwyn, Joe Pasternak, David O. Selznick, Hunt Stromberg, Walter Wanger, Darryl F. Zanuck.

[edit]
  1. ^ "Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy receive an Honorary Award at the 2018 Governors Awards". YouTube. November 19, 2018.
  2. ^ "The Academy to honor Richard Curtis, Quincy Jones, Juliet Taylor, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. June 12, 2024.