Glenn Close and Ridley Scott to receive honorary Oscars for lifetime achievement

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has moved to correct two of its most glaring omissions, voting to confer honorary Oscars on Glenn Close and Sir Ridley Scott at this year's Governors Awards. Both artists have amassed multiple competitive nominations without a single win — Close with eight, Scott with four — a fact that has been a persistent subplot in Hollywood's awards season narratives. The Board of Governors also selected Floyd Norman, the legendary Disney animator who broke racial barriers, for an honorary statuette, while producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler will receive the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the Academy announced on Wednesday.

Close, now 79, has spent five decades building a body of work that traverses the emotional extremes of cinema, from her debut in 'The World According to Garp' to her searing turn in 'The Wife'. The Academy's statement praised her 'unmatched emotional range' in bringing to life some of the screen's most complex characters. For Scott, the recognition carries a transatlantic resonance. Knighted in 2003, the British director has shaped global visual culture with a filmography that includes 'Blade Runner', 'Gladiator' and 'Thelma & Louise', leaving what the Academy called 'an immeasurable impact on the art of filmmaking'. Norman, meanwhile, is cited as an animator who has 'broken barriers and inspired generations of artists'.

The ceremony will take place on 15 November at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles, a setting that has become the Academy's preferred venue for honouring lifetime contributions away from the live television constraints of the main Oscar broadcast. 'The Academy's Board of Governors is thrilled to present this year's Governors Awards to five remarkable individuals whose groundbreaking work has forever shaped the art of filmmaking,' said Lynette Howell Taylor, the Academy's president, in a statement that framed the honours as a celebration of enduring influence rather than a belated correction.

Seen from London, the Scott award reinforces the symbiotic relationship between the British film industry and Hollywood's primary institution. His knighthood already signalled national cultural esteem, but the Oscar — even an honorary one — consolidates his status as a rare director whose commercial and critical success spans continents and decades. For industry observers in Los Angeles, the Thalberg award to Vachon and Koffler acknowledges a quieter but no less transformative force: the duo's Killer Films has championed independent and queer cinema, producing work that has repeatedly pushed the Academy to broaden its definition of mainstream storytelling.

Looking ahead, the November gala will likely reignite the perennial discussion about whether honorary Oscars suffice to atone for competitive oversights, or whether they merely formalise a parallel canon. As the Academy navigates declining television ratings and a fragmented global audience, these lifetime prizes underscore its evolving role: less an annual arbiter of taste than a custodian of cinema's long memory, conferring legitimacy on careers that have already shaped the medium beyond the fleeting verdict of a single ballot.