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Angela Bassett and Mel Brooks to receive Honorary Oscars

Angela Bassett and Mel Brooks to receive Honorary Oscars
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We’re more than six months away from next year’s Academy Awards. But we already know Angela Bassett will finally get the recognition her fans and many celebrity peers feel is overdue.

Later this year, Bassett will receive an Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. The actor’s movie career spans nearly 40 years, and she has played everything from a rock legend to a queen in a Marvel superhero world. Until now, though, she has never won an Oscar.

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Voted on by the Academy’s Board of Governors, the Honorary Award is given “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy,” according to the Academy’s announcement.

Bassett has been nominated twice for an Academy Award. She earned her first nomination for portraying Tina Turner in the 1993 film “What’s Love Got To Do With It.” Then, last year, Bassett earned another nomination for her role as Queen Ramonda in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

Both of these roles earned Bassett a Golden Globe Award: one for Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy (“What’s Love Got To Do With It”) and Best Supporting Actress — Motion Picture (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”).

“Across her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting,” Academy President Janet Yang said in the statement.

In addition to Bassett, director, writer and actor Mel Brooks and film editor Carol Littleton will receive an Honorary Award from the Academy.

Brooks is best known for writing and directing comedies such as “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Spaceballs” and “The Producers.” He won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for “The Producers.”

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According to the Academy, Littleton has worked in Hollywood for almost 50 years as a film editor. Her work includes “The Big Chill,” “Places in the Heart,” “Body Heat” and an Oscar nomination for her efforts on “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.”

All three honorees will be given their Oscar statues at a special ceremony scheduled for Nov. 18, 2023.

This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories.