David Lynch Among Honorary Oscar Winners

The Motion Picture Academy this week announced this year’s winners of honorary Oscars. The four recipients include director David Lynch, actor Wes Studi, and writer/director Lina Wertmüller.

Meanwhile, Geena Davis will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the Academy announced on its official website.

The honorary Oscars were moved off of the main Oscar ceremony several years ago, and will be presented at the Governor’s Awards in October. The awards usually go to Hollywood legends who had never received a competitive Oscar before, but those who receive honorary Academy Awards are presented with Oscar statues and are considered Oscar winners.

The Academy also presents the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, though not on a regular basis; it was presented most recently to producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy in 2018.

Lynch is the director of such films as Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, and Mulholland Drive, and also created the old and new incarnations of the TV series Twin Peaks. Lynch was nominated for four Academy Awards, including two for 1980’s The Elephant Man, but has never won one.

Studi is a Cherokee actor who has played Native American roles in a variety of films, including Dances With Wolves, Geronimo: An American Legend, The New World, and Crazy Horse. While he has presented in the past, Studi has not been nominated for an Academy Award previously.

Wertmüller, the 90-year-old Italian director of The Seduction of Mimi, and Love and Anarchy, was nominated for Seven Beauties in the 1970s, becoming the first woman ever nominated for Best Director.

Davis has had a long career in movies and television, appearing in such notable films as The Fly, Thelma & Louise, A League of Their Own and Speechless. She won an Oscar in 1989 for Best Supporting Actress for The Accidental Tourist, and was nominated once more the following year for Thelma & Louise.

Geena Davis
David Lynch
Wes Studi
Lina Wertmüller

These four filmmakers have transformed the film industry. This year, we celebrate them. #HonoraryOscars https://t.co/t5gV89q7jM

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) June 3, 2019

“These Governors Awards given by the Academy each year recognize individuals who have devoted themselves to a lifetime of artistic accomplishment and brought outstanding contributions to our industry, and beyond,” Academy President John Bailey said in a statement. “It is with great pleasure that we announce this year’s recipients.”

The 2018 winners of the honorary Oscars to publicist Marvin Levy, composer Lalo Schifrin and actress Cicely Tyson.

Spike Lee won an honorary Oscar back in 2015, but then went on to receive his first-ever competitive Oscar, for Best Adapted Screenplay, for co-writing 2018’s Blackkklansman.