Glenn Close will finally receive an Oscar after eight nominations but no wins.
Long considered among the best actors never to win one, the eight-time nominee will get an honorary Academy Award along with director Ridley Scott and animator Floyd Norman, the Academy announced Wednesday.
The Academy praised Close, stating: “Throughout her extraordinary body of work, Glenn Close’s unparalleled emotional range has brought to life some of the most complex characters in cinema.”
Floyd Norman was recognised as a “legendary animator who has broken barriers and inspired generations of artists,” while Ridley Scott was hailed as “a true visionary whose decades-long legacy has left an immeasurable impact on global cinema and culture.”
Close, 79, was first nominated in 1983 for The World According to Garp. Her notable nods include 1987’s Fatal Attraction and 2020’s Hillbilly Elegy. Her eight nominations tie her with Peter O’Toole for the most without a competitive win.
She has won virtually every other major award within reach, including three Emmys, three Tonys, three Grammys and three Golden Globes.
open image in galleryThe Governors Awards often go to artists with extraordinary careers, but no competitive Oscar. Tom Cruise, a recipient last year, is a case in point.
Scott, the 88-year-old director of Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator whose epic decades of work have blended popular success and prestige like few others, has also never won despite four nominations, including best director nods for Thelma & Louise and Black Hawk Down.
Norman’s 65-year career began in 1956 when he became the first Black animator for Walt Disney Animation Studios, contributing to Sleeping Beauty, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book and Robin Hood. Decades later, he would work on Mulan, Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc.
Producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler will get the academy’s Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, presented to “a creative producer whose body of work reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production,” the academy said.
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open image in galleryVachon and Koffler co-founded the New York-based indie production hub Killer Films in 1995. Their credits as producers include Hedwig and the Angry Inch, One Hour Photo and May December. Both were nominated for best picture Oscars for Past Lives in 2024. Killer Films’ output includes Velvet Goldmine, Happiness, Boys Don’t Cry, Far from Heaven and Carol.
The academy statement says the two “play a central role in American independent cinema, championing bold, ambitious and distinctive storytelling.”
All the winners will be honored at a ceremony on 15 November at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood, the same complex that hosts the main Oscars ceremony.
Along with luminaries who worked with the honorees, the event has been increasingly packed with young stars as it has become the unofficial kickoff to Hollywood‘s award season campaigning.
The Governors Awards, named for the academy’s board of governors and not the leader of the state, honor “extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences in any discipline, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”