The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences has named David Lynch, Wes Studi, Lina Wertmuller as honorary Oscar recipients with Geena Davis, receiving the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 11th Governors Awards to be presented on Sunday, October 27, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom inside Hollywood & Highland center.
All four will receive the Governors’ award based on their lifetime achievement and accomplishment in the field of arts as recognized by the Academy. “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,” said Academy president John Bailey.
Davis will be honored based on her passionate advocate for gender equality in media. She is the founder and chair of the Geena Davis institute on Gender in Media, a nonprofit dedicated to educating and influencing film and television content creators to eliminate gender bias and stereotypes and create a wide variety of female characters in entertainment and media aimed at children. The actress/advocate won an Oscar in 1988 with the movie ‘The Accidental Tourist.’
Lynch is highly recognized by the Academy on merits of his first produced and directed feature film ‘Eraserhead’ in 1977, which scored him subsequent gigs in the film industry. Notable amongst them is ‘The Elephant Man’ 1980, which received 8 Oscar nominations including directing and adapted screenplay for Lynch himself.
Studi is a Cherokee-American actor who has appeared in more than 30 films. His lauded performance on screen is rated by the Academy with the films; ‘Dances with Wolves’ 1990, ‘The Last of the Mohicans’ 1992, ‘Geronimo: An American Legend’ 1993, ‘Heat’ 1995, ‘The New World’ 2005 and ‘Avatar’ 2009. He is set to be the first native American actor to get honorary Oscar title.
Wertmuller in 1976 became the first woman to receive an Academy Award nomination for Directing with ‘Seven Beauties’, which also landed her an original screenplay nomination that same year. Her works has over the years focused on political and social issues clearly represented in her written and directed films, ‘The Basilisks’ 1963, ‘The Seduction of Mimi’ 1972, ‘Love and Anarchy’ 1973 and ‘Swept Away’ 1974.
The order of given-out the honorary Oscar statutes changed in 2009, when the Academy separated it form the Oscar broadcast night. Last year saw actress Cicely Tyson, composer Lalo Schifrin and publicist Marvin Levy, take home the lifetime achievement prizes whiles, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall won the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for their works as producers instead of the humanitarian award going out this year.
