Oscars: Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks and Carol Littleton Tapped for Honorary Awards, Michelle Satter for Hersholt

Actress Angela Bassett, writer-director-actor-songwriter Mel Brooks and film editor Carol Littleton have been tapped to receive honorary Oscars, while former Sundance Institute chief Michelle Satter will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2023 Governors Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday.

The 14th annual honors will be presented at a ceremony at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles on Nov. 18.

“The Academy’s Board of Governors is thrilled to honor four trailblazers who have transformed the film industry and inspired generations of filmmakers and movie fans,” Academy president Janet Yang said in a statement. “Across her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting. Mel Brooks lights up our hearts with his humor, and his legacy has made a lasting impact on every facet of entertainment. Carol Littleton’s career in film editing serves as a model for those who come after her. A pillar of the independent film community, Michelle Satter has played a vital role in the careers of countless filmmakers around the world.”

Honorary Oscars are presented each year to recognize “extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences or for outstanding service to the Academy.” They tend to go to people who practice a variety of film-related disciplines, some household names and others not, and some of whom have previously been recognized with competitive Oscars and others of whom have not.

Bassett was twice nominated for but lost competitive Oscars, most recently earlier this year when she was up for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Her prior nom came 30 years earlier, for her star-making turn as Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do With It. Other major credits include Boyz N the Hood, Malcolm X, Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Black Panther.

Brooks has won a competitive Oscar — 54 years ago, for the screenplay of The Producers. He also received Oscar noms for a song from Blazing Saddles and the screenplay for Young Frankenstein, which, like The Producers, he also directed and cameoed in. Other major credits include Silent Movie, High Anxiety, History of the World — Part I and Spaceballs. And he is still working at 96 years old.

Littleton, for her part, has followed in the large footsteps of other great female film editors by cutting some of the finest motion pictures of the last 40-plus years. Most notable among them: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, for which she received her sole Oscar nom, plus Body Heat, The Big Chill and Places in the Heart. She also served for many years on the Academy’s board of governors as a representative of the film editors branch, some alongside her husband, cinematographer and former board president John Bailey.

Satter, meanwhile, becomes just the 43rd recipient of the Hersholt Award, which is awarded on occasion “to an individual in the motion picture arts and sciences whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.” Previous recipients include Gregory Peck, Frank Sinatra, Oprah Winfrey, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Angelina Jolie and, last year, Michael J. Fox.

As the founding senior director of the Sundance Institute’s Artist Programs, which is focused on supporting independent storytellers (she has served in that role for more than 40 years), Satter has discovered and/or fostered the careers of hundreds of filmmakers who have gone on to do great work, many from underrepresented communities.

She has also led the Sundance Institute’s international initiatives in Asia, Europe, India, Latin America and the Middle East. She founded and oversees the vision and content of Sundance Collab, a global digital storytelling community and learning platform.