The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will award honorary Oscars to veteran actress Glenn Close, legendary director Ridley Scott, and Disney’s first black animator Floyd Norman, while producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, longtime champions of independent film, will receive the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, as voted by the board of directors.
The statuette will be presented at the Academy’s 17th Annual Governors Awards on November 15th at Ovation Hollywood’s Ray Dolby Ballroom.
For Close and Scott, the recognition came as a long-awaited hug from the Academy, which has repeatedly nominated them without ever handing them a competitive award. Close holds eight acting nominations but no wins, tying him with the late Peter O’Toole for the most actor nominations without a win in Oscar history.
Scott has been nominated three times for Best Director and nominated for Best Picture for Best Production, but has never taken home a statuette as well, despite winning five Oscars, including Best Picture for his 2000 action blockbuster Gladiator. This prestigious recognition finally bridges the gap between two of the industry’s most respected artists.
“The Academy Board of Governors is thrilled to award this year’s Governors Awards to five outstanding individuals whose groundbreaking work has forever shaped the art of filmmaking,” said Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor. “Through her extraordinary body of work, Glenn Close’s unparalleled emotional range has brought to life some of the most complex characters in film. Floyd Norman is a legendary animator who has broken barriers and inspired generations of artists throughout his remarkable career.” Ridley Scott is a true visionary whose decades-long legacy has left an immeasurable impact on world cinema and culture. Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler are champions of bold, daring cinema and are central to American independent filmmaking. ”
Close’s career spanned more than 50 years and included more than 100 film appearances. Her eight nominations began with her feature debut in “The World According to Garp,” followed by “The Big Chill,” “The Natural,” “Dangerous Liaisons,” “Albert Knobbs,” “The Wife,” and “Hillbilly Elegy.” Her other notable credits include “Jagged Edge,” “Reversal of Fortune,” “Hamlet,” “101 Dalmatians,” “Mars Attacks!,” “Air Force One,” “The Stepford Wives” and “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.” This year, she starred in the darkly comedic Hulu series “Old’s Fair,” directed by Ryan Murphy. Later this year, he will appear in the Spanish-language drama “La Bola Negra,” which won the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival, which was acquired by Netflix, and the YA version of “The Hunger Games: Sunrise of the Reap.”
Scott is the eighth highest-grossing director of all time, with his films grossing $5 billion worldwide. The British filmmaker, whose career spans nearly 60 years, has been nominated for Best Director for Thelma & Louise, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down, as well as Best Picture as a producer for the space survival drama The Martian. His filmography includes science fiction and action classics such as “Alien,” “Blade Runner,” and “Prometheus,” as well as epics and dramas such as “Kingdom of Heaven,” “American Gangster,” “All the Money in the World,” “House of Gucci,” “The Last Duel,” and “Napoleon.” His next film will be a 20th Century Studios adaptation of the post-apocalyptic science fiction novel The Dog Stars, starring Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin. He was awarded a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 2024 for his contribution to the British film industry.
An animator and storyboard artist, Norman began his 65-year career at Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1956, becoming the studio’s first black animator. His first Disney feature film was the 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty, and he went on to contribute to The Sword in the Stone, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, and Robin Hood, as well as the short films Donald in Mass Magic Land, Goliath II, and Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. His other notable credits include “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Mulan,” “Toy Story 2” and “Monsters, Inc.”
Vachon and Koffler founded Killer Films, an independent production company based in New York, in 1995. Their works include the musicals “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” “One Hour Photo,” “Camp,” “The Company,” “The Notorious Bettie Page,” “May December,” and “The Materialist.” The two were nominated for Best Picture in 2024 for Celine Song’s debut drama Past Lives. Killer Films’ work ranges from films starring Todd Haynes, such as “Safe,” “Velvet Goldmine,” “Far From Heaven,” “I’m Not There,” and “Carol,” to indie classics such as “Happiness,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Still Alice,” and “First Reformed.” “Vox Lux,” “Zola,” and “A Different Man,” many of which were nominated for and won multiple Oscars.
The honorary award recognizes “a lifetime of achievement, an extraordinary contribution to the state of motion picture art and science in any field, or an outstanding contribution to the Academy.” Named after a pioneering MGM executive, Thalberg is commissioned by a creative producer whose body of work reflects a consistently high standard of filmmaking.
The 17th Annual Governor’s Awards are presented in partnership with Rolex.
