Advertisement

Cheers and jeers for Oscar’s choices to receive honorary awards

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

News that honorary Oscars will be bestowed on Oprah Winfrey, James Earl Jones and pioneering makeup artist Dick Smith has sparked strong reactions in our forums. Sample comments below. See more here.

seanflynn: James Earl Jones is a fine actor, but I don’t think his career merits this to be honest compared to some other possibilities. And Dick Smith won a competitive make-up Oscar - this I don’t get. He indeed is a master at his craft, but a 2nd one? They haven’t done that in years. MysteriousRent: I don’t like any of these choices. Jones is a nice actor and his voice work is iconic, but as a film actor he doesn’t have near the record of other people who were passed over. Smith has already won an Oscar. Is that a door they are opening now? And Oprah certainly does a lot of important charity work. So does Bill Gates, who has had only a slightly smaller presence in film than Oprah has. Seriously, she has three acting credits, three voice credits, and produced Beloved. Why is she being recognized by the film industry? hanzz: Why are people in a huff because Dick Smith won a competitive Oscar almost 30 years ago? This isn’t anything new, over the last 20 years alone, Poitier, Loren, and Audrey Hepburn have all won Honorary Oscars. Hell, they gave Coppola the Thalberg last year and not only has he not done anything awards-worthy for the past 30 years, he already has like a million Oscars. While I agree that it’s a bit of an odd and random choice, there’s no denying the iconic work he has done not just in Amadeus but also The Godfather and, Jesus, the Exorcist. Baby Clyde: Awful, dull, uninspired and frankly bizarre choices …. Seriously they think James Earl Jones (Most famous for being a voice actor) is more deserving than Jeanne Moreau, Maureen O’Hara, Debbie Reynolds or of course Doris Day. Ridiculous.Atypical: Oprah isn’t getting the Hersholt for her film work. It’s for her great humanitarian/philanthropic causes. That’s the whole point of the citation. It’s nothing about a long and sustained film career.

Advertisement

— Tom O’Neil

RELATED:

Oprah Winfrey and James Earl Jones to receive honorary Oscars

Will Oscar voters go for ‘Like Crazy’?

Oscar update: Beware, ‘The Ides of March’ and George Clooney

Advertisement