Mel Brooks and Margot Robbie grace the red carpet at Governors Awards
Mel Brooks, Margot Robbie and Angela Bassett were celebrated for their achievements on the silver screen on Tuesday night as Hollywood’s film academy handed out honorary Oscars at the Governors Awards.
Natalie Portman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bradley Cooper and Saltburn star Carey Mulligan were all in attendance at the untelevised event in Los Angeles, which is closed to the public.
Robert Downey Jr, known for playing Iron Man, was even snapped pretending to renew his vows with his wife Susan on the red carpet before the event, one of Hollywood’s most glitzy occasions.
Mel Brooks, 97, was recognised for his 70-year career writing, directing and acting in Hollywood, on Broadway and on television.
He began in entertainment industry writing comedy routines for Sid Caesar’s TV shows in the 1950s before making films such as Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, winning an Oscar for writing the screenplay of the 1967 hit The Producers.
After a musical introduction by the film’s stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, Brooks joked that he appreciated his new Oscar statuette because he had sold his previous trophy.
“I won’t sell this one, I swear to God,” he said.
Bassett, 65, kissed fellow actor Regina King on the lips after being given her own golden statuette following 50 years as an actress, having most recently starred in Marvel’s Black Panther.
Accepting her trophy on stage, she paid tribute to the 10 Black women who have won Academy Awards by naming each one and said she hoped the film industry would provide more opportunities for people of colour.
“My prayer is that we leave this industry more enriched, forward-thinking and inclusive than we found it,” Bassett said. “At the end of the day, we all just want to have the opportunity to do great, meaningful work.”
Carol Littleton, the editor behind The Manchurian Candidate and ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, was also honoured at Tuesday’s event, which had been delayed by Hollywood’s writers’ and actors’ strike last year.
The non-competitive honorary Oscars are a forerunner for March’s Academy Awards, voting for which begins on Thursday. Nominations for this year’s 96th Oscars will be announced on January 23.
