LOS ANGELES — The first Academy Awards of the season were presented Saturday night, capping a tumultuous week that saw the abrupt departure and rapid replacement of the Oscar show producer and host.
James Earl Jones and makeup artist Dick Smith received honorary Oscars for their long film careers, and Oprah Winfrey, right, accepted the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ third annual Governors Awards.
Presentation of the honorary Oscars at a black-tie dinner at the Kodak Theatre complex, where the Academy Awards will be held Feb. 26, followed this week’s replacement of Oscar show producer Brett Ratner and host Eddie Murphy with Hollywood veterans Brian Grazer and Billy Crystal.
Winfrey’s Hersholt award honors her philanthropic contributions, including her namesake foundations and Academy for Girls in South Africa. The 57-year-old media mogul was nominated for a supporting actress Oscar for 1985’s “The Color Purple.”
Jones, 80, has worked in more than 50 films, including the voice of Darth Vader, and was nominated for an Oscar in 1971 for “The Great White Hope.”
Smith, known as the “godfather of makeup,” won an Oscar in 1984 for his work on “Amadeus” and was nominated again in 1989 for “Dad.” The Associated Press
