Who should receive the next honorary Oscar? Our forum posters have lots of winning suggestions. (Click Here) For starters, a no brainer: can we just hurry up and give poor Jerry Lewis that Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his charity work already?
As for the other honorary laurels, consider these mega-talents who never won an Oscar in a competitive race: Doris Day, Albert Finney, Catherine Deneuve, Tony Curtis, Jeanne Moreau, Liv Ullmann, Maureen O'Hara, Richard Widmark, Gena Rowlands, Jean Simmons, Harrison Ford, Jules Dassin, James Earl Jones, Donald Sutherland, Max Von Sydow, Peter Falk, Dennis Hopper, Eli Wallach, Charles Durning and Angela Lansbury . Tony Curtis seems like a logical choice given his ace work in so many classic pix like "The Sweet Smell of Success," "Spartacus" and "Some Like It Hot." He was only nominated for an Oscar once, back in 1958 for best actor in "The Defiant Ones.
" He lost to David Niven ("Separate Tables"). However, Curtis' chances could be hurt by the dismissive comments he made a few years ago about "Brokeback Mountain," which seemed anti-gay. Even though he's an academy member who has an obligation to watch all nominated films, he told Fox News Channel that he had no intention of viewing it and he claimed to know many other voters who felt the same way.
The star famous for dressing in drag in "Some Like It Hot" even claimed to speak for some deceased academy members, too, adding, "Howard Hughes and John Wayne wouldn't like it." Albert Finney has never bothered to attend the ceremony for any of his four nominations and he once famously declined British knighthood. But our forums moderator Chris "Boomer" Beachum found an old quote from 2001 that suggests me might accept an honorary Golden Boy: "If I know I'm going to win, I'll go.
But if I don't know, I'm not going to sit there." I think they should ask Doris Day, age 83. I know, I know the rumor that she's turned down the academy in the past, but, if true, that may have been during the period soon after her son's tragic death from skin cancer in 2004.
That same year she claimed she didn't accept the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in person was because she's afraid of flying.
The California-based star did show up at the Golden Globes in 1989 to accept the Cecil B DeMille Award. Who do you think the academy should hail with an honorary kudo? Click the "Comments" link below.
News RSS