What the Honorary Oscar Means to Me
This year’s recipients—an actor, a publicist, a composer—share
In 2009, the Academy Board of Governors voted to establish an annual event to honor outstanding people in the movie industry, from stuntmen to philanthropists, Charlie Chaplin to Oprah. This year, we recognize publicist Marvin Levy, composer Lalo Schifrin and actor Cicely Tyson with Honorary Oscars. Producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall will receive the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for their impact.
Honorary Oscars recognize entire bodies of work, decades of dedication and creativity. Here is how the 2018 Honorary Oscar recipients feel about getting their due.
Lalo Schifrin
Born and raised in Argentina, Schifrin studied classical music and jazz in France before beginning to compose for film in Buenos Aires in the mid-1950s. He has written scores for more than 100 films and came up with the memorable theme of “Mission: Impossible.” Schifrin has received six Oscar nominations for his work.
“Very early in my life, I developed a love and appreciation for motion pictures. I watched the screen, but more importantly, I listened to the music. The music was like an artist’s pallet offering many colors to enhance the visual.
In time, I would become that artist.
Composing for movies has given me a lifetime of joy and creativity. Receiving this Honorary Oscar is a culmination of a dream… ‘Mission: Accomplished.’”
Cicely Tyson
Raised in Harlem, Ms. Tyson began her career as a model and a theater actress, appearing both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. After playing small roles in film and television, she was cast as Portia in “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” in 1968. Four years later, she received an Oscar nomination for her leading role in “Sounder.” Her other notable film credits include “The River Niger,” “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” and “The Help.”
“I received a call from my manager saying that he had good news for me. My thoughts immediately went to the Emmy Awards, as I had received another Emmy nomination for my recurring guest role in ‘How To Get Away With Murder.’ ‘Cicely,’ my manager said, ‘I have John Bailey, the President of the Motion Picture Academy holding, and he would like to give you the news himself.’
I’m saying to myself, ‘President of the Academy? What is he talking about?’
‘Miss Tyson,’ John Bailey said, ‘I cannot tell you what joy it gives me to let you know that yesterday the Board of Governors, all 50, elected to give you an Honorary Oscar.’
I literally went to water. I had not done a movie since ‘Last Flag Flying.’ I do not feel that I qualify for this honor.
When I made the decision that I could not afford the luxury of just being an actress (there were some negative experiences and issues I encountered while promoting the movie ‘Sounder’), I was not sure whether people would recognize what I was trying to accomplish — to be more than just an entertainer but to be an educator as well. I realize now that, despite the cost of being selective about what roles I chose in my career to achieve my goals, I made the right decision and held fast to it. This confirms that.
My deepest gratitude for the garland, Academy, as opposed to the ashes that might have been.”
Marvin Levy
Levy began his career in publicity working for MGM in New York City before joining Columbia Pictures in Hollywood, where he guided the advertising for films including “The Deep” and “Kramer vs. Kramer.” His work for the 1977 film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” marked the beginning of a four-decade-long partnership with Steven Spielberg. Levy has worked on publicity campaigns for such films as “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial,” “Back to the Future” and “Lincoln.” Levy is the first publicist to receive an Honorary Oscar.
“The Honorary Oscar is clearly the most significant and surprising award I have ever received. It is also the most humbling. I could never have imagined such an honor for anyone in our Public Relations Branch even though we have had three Past Presidents in Dick Kahn, Sid Ganis and Cheryl Boone Isaacs, and I was on the Board of Governors for a total of 23 years. Clearly, the Academy has been a big part of my life as a member since 1969, and I continue to enjoy every minute of it.”
