Elaine May was the final to reach and the primary to go away on the Governors Awards on Friday in Los Angeles.
Her fellow honorees, Samuel L Jackson, Liv Ullmann and Danny Glover, all arrived hours earlier, every holding court docket on the Ray Dolby Ballroom, posing for photographs and having fun with their second amid the lead-up to the 94th Academy Awards.
It was a celebration, in any case. They had been about to get one thing for the primary time of their lengthy Hollywood careers: An Oscar statuette of their very own.
Denzel Washington, left, presents Samuel L. Jackson with an honorary Oscar on the Governors Awards on Friday, March 25, 2022, on the Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Jackson, whose proper foot was in a strolling solid boot and his left in a black velvet slipper, sat on the base of an outsized Oscar statuette as everybody from Quentin Tarantino to Magic Johnson came visiting to congratulate him.
But May, the 89-year-old author, filmmaker and comedy legend, walked into the Ray Dolby Ballroom arm in arm with Bill Murray lengthy after attendees had completed their hen pot pies, accepted her honorary Oscar with grace and wit, then departed quickly after — nonetheless linked to Murray.
Elaine May accepts an honorary award on the Governors Awards on Friday, March 25, 2022, on the Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Yes, it’s the form of transfer that would upend a reside broadcast. But on the Governors Awards, there are not any tv cameras. Everyone is just delighted to be celebrating residing legends who’re lengthy overdue for his or her Oscar second. With stunning clip montages and emotional tributes — from the likes of Denzel Washington for Jackson, John Lithgow for Ullmann, and Alfre Woodard for Glover — it’s the form of present that reminds you why you like films and the individuals who make them.
The Governors Awards is usually a cease for Oscar hopefuls on the marketing campaign path, however this yr’s ceremony was delayed due to the pandemic. Though much less star-studded than regular, there was additionally a silver lining to holding the occasion after Oscars voting had ended: The focus stayed squarely on the honorees and their legacies.
Bill Murray, left, presents Elaine May with an honorary award on the Governors Awards on Friday, March 25, 2022, on the Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Murray, after all, was there to fete May, a two-time Oscar nominee for writing “Heaven Can Wait” and “Primary Colors.” He ignored the teleprompter speech and praised, “The most attractive, intelligent woman I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with.”
A spotlight reel of her work was performed, together with her comedy act with Mike Nichols and the movies she directed, acted in, wrote and ghost wrote (like “Tootsie”).
Lily Tomlin, Kenneth Lonergan, Billy Crystal and Nathan Lane praised her confidence of tone and the way her movies, from A New Leaf to “Mikey and Nicky,” had been all so essential and so totally different from each other.
May — who Lonergan teased, saying she “Gives the best tribute speeches of all time” — stored her second on stage temporary.
“They told me Zelenskyy would introduce me tonight, but thank God they got Bill instead,” May stated, referring to Ukraine’s president. She additionally quipped in regards to the occasion being held in-person, saying, “I’m afraid of COVID but I think this is very nice.”
Honorary award recipients Samuel L. Jackson, left, and Liv Ullmann, heart, and Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Danny Glover pose on the Governors Awards on Friday, March 25, 2022, on the Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
It was Jackson’s flip subsequent, and Washington, the one present Oscar nominee within the room, was there to tout his pal’s 152 film titles, his $27 billion on the field workplace, his “11 times Nick Fury and one time the Django,” and his and his spouse’s charitable efforts.
“This thing is going to be cherished,” stated Jackson, 73, proudly holding his Oscar and marveling that just a little child with a stutter from Chattanooga, Tennessee, made it this far.
“I got out there to entertain audiences the way Hollywood entertained me,” he stated. “It’s truly been an honor and privilege to entertain you.”
Lithgow, in toasting the nice Norwegian actor Ullmann, stated individuals usually say she had Swedish director Ingmar Bergman to thank for her profession. But, he stated, “Bergman would have never been called one of our greatest filmmakers without Liv Ullmann.”
The two labored collectively on Broadway in a manufacturing of Eugene O’Neill’s “Anna Christie.”
“I’ve seen a lot of great acting in my day but I’ve never seen anything like that,” Lithgow stated.
On stage, Ullmann, who was nominated twice for finest actress, for Jan Troell’s “The Emigrants,” from 1971, and Bergman’s “Face to Face,” from 1976, recalled her disastrous first audition for a Norwegian theater college during which she was lower off in the midst of a scene from “Romeo and Juliet” — and the consolation she received afterwards from her grandmother, who nurtured her artistic spirit.
In Norway, she stated, individuals aren’t imagined to brag or exhibit.
“That’s why I brought 20 people here from Norway so they can say, ‘It is true she did get an Oscar,’” Ullmann stated.
Glover additionally stored household and heritage on the forefront whereas accepting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The 75-year-old identified for his roles in “Lethal Weapon” and “The Color Purple” has been a progressive activist for a few years, advocating for civil rights, working as a United Nations goodwill ambassador and a U.N. kids’s company ambassador.
His mom grew up in Jim Crow-era Georgia and his father served in World War II earlier than coming to San Francisco, the place they each labored for the postal service and instilled civic accountability of their younger son.
“I’m amazingly grateful for this moment,” Glover stated, talking at size about his grandparents’ determination to ship their youngsters to highschool as an alternative of labor.
“I haven’t referred to the teleprompter at all. Sometimes we as actors get a little lost without a script,” he stated. “But I’m proud to be part of this space and place.”