First Academy Awards that held the honorary and career awards for the first time on Sunday and awards were given to legends like Lauren Bacall, John Calley, Roger Corman, and Gordon Willis.
The Governors Awards were held for the first time and will now be announced annually to bestow honor on the worthy of the Hollywood. The ceremony held at a huge banquet hall located near the venue of the actual Academy Awards, the Kodak Theater. The ceremony lasted for almost 3 hours and 18 minutes, the duration which is a bit longer than the Oscars broadcast. There was no television coverage and the press presence was quite less than the usual. The award ceremony looked almost like a semi-private dinner where even the guest spoke modest and more sober words at the time of award acceptance.
Among the award winners, Lauren Bacall and John Calley gave the most emotional award-acceptance speeches. John Calley spoke to the audience through a video screen as he couldn’t attend the ceremony because of his illness. He made poignant remarks in his address. John Calley received an Academy Award for his work as an executive and producer. Speaking of his life as an executive Calley remarked that the life of an executive is not joyful and that ‘At the end, you experience relief, if you’re lucky.’ His comments were surely the most poignant ones.
Lauren Bacall received her Oscar statuette with great joy and immense pleasure and remarked jokingly that it’s been 60 years since her debut performance at the screen and that she’s happy that she’s still alive. ‘Some of you are surprised, aren’t you?’ said Ms. Bacall in a light manner. Upon receiving the award she remarked that she was extremely happy to take a ‘two legged man’ to her home, ‘I can’t believe it!’
Lauren Bacall was one of the screen goddesses of 1940s and 1950s era. She debuted in ‘To Have or Have Not’. She made her debut against a film hero who then became his real-life hero and husband too. In her remarks she paid a tribute to her husband Humphrey Bogart and said, ‘He gave me a life and changed my life’.
Other nominees of the Oscars will receive their awards in the regular event of Academy Awards in March 2010.
Lauren Bacall
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