Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks, Carol Littleton to Receive Honorary Oscars

Sundance Institute founder Michelle Satter will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks and Carol Littleton
Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks and Carol Littleton (Credit: Emma McIntyre/Chris Jackson/Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Actor Angela Bassett, writer-director-actor Mel Brooks and film editor Carol Littleton will receive honorary Oscars and the Sundance Institute’s Michelle Satter will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy’s 2023 Governors Awards, the Academy announced on Monday.

The recipients were chosen by the Academy’s Board of Governors, and the awards will be presented at the 14th annual Governors Awards ceremony, which will take place on Nov. 18 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

Bassett has been nominated for Oscars for “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Her other films include “Boyz N the Hood,” “Waiting to Exhale,” “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” and “Soul.”

Brooks won an Oscar for the screenplay to his first film, “The Producers,” and has also been nominated for his screenplay to “Young Frankenstein” and for the title song to “Blazing Saddles.” He also wrote for Sid Caesar’s television shows, created the television series “Get Smart” and turned “The Producers” into a long-running and Tony-winning Broadway musical. He will be 97 at the time of the Governors Awards.

Littleton is a veteran film editor whose work includes “Body Heat,” “The Big Chill,” “Places in the Heart” and “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” for which she was nominated for an Oscar. She also served as a governor in the Academy’s film editors branch.

Sattler founded the Sundance Institute’s artist programs and has spent more than 40 years at the institute helping launch and sustain the careers of independent filmmakers. She has led Sundance initiatives around the world and oversees the global learning platform Sundance Collab.

For most of their history, Honorary Oscars were voted on by the Board of Governors in August, after the first meeting of the incoming board. But in 2018, the vote was moved to the final meeting of the outgoing board, where it has remained.  

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