American director Mel Brooks and actress Angela Bassett receive an honorary Oscar for their entire body of work

The 97-year-old filmmaker accepted this distinction on Tuesday, January 9, more than half a century after winning his only Oscar for the film “The Producers” in which he ridiculed Adolf Hitler. Angela Bassett, famous in particular for her incarnation of Tina Turner in the eponymous biopic, is the second black actress to win an honorary Oscar, after Cicely Tyson.

During a gala evening, Mel Brooks, who has also denounced racial bigotry in other films like The sheriff is in jail, joked that he felt remorse over the fate of his previous Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. He won this trophy in 1969 for his film The producers. “I really miss him. I should never have sold it.” he said. “I won’t sell this one, I swear to God,” he said. A master of Hollywood comedy cinema, notably cultivating bad taste, Mel Brooks is one of the few to have won the greatest awards in American entertainment.

He received his honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards, hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which each year honor four beloved industry veterans, many of whom did not receive awards at the Regular Oscars. Initially scheduled for November 18, the ceremony was postponed due to the strike of Hollywood screenwriters and actors.

Actress Angela Bassett also receives an honorary Oscar

Twice nominated for the Oscars, Angela Bassett, 64, known in particular for her incarnation of Tina Turner in the eponymous biopic released in 1993 and of Queen Ramonda in Black Panther (2018) and its sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, also received an honorary Oscar. Eclectic, the actress has also played in action films like The White House fall And Mission Impossible: Falloutthe horror series American Horror Story and even lent her voice to Michelle Obama in The simpsons.

Noting that she was only the second black actress to win an honorary Oscar, after Cicely Tyson, Angela Bassett paid tribute to other black Hollywood pioneers like Hattie McDaniel, who won an Oscar for Gone with the wind in 1940. It took another half century before McDaniel was followed by actress Whoopi Goldberg. “My wish is that we leave this industry more enriched, forward-thinking and inclusive than we found it,” said Angela Bassett.

The two other recipients of the evening are editor Carol Littleton, 81, and filmmaker Michelle Satter who received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The regular Oscars ceremony will be held on March 10.