Roger Corman Getting His Oscar

As the force behind nearly 400 films, 56 of which he served as director, including ‘Attack of the Crab Monsters,’ ‘The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent,’ and ‘Gas! -Or- It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It,’ it’s hard to imagine Roger Corman hasn’t been honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.   Well, thanks to those grand and glorious honorary awards they give out each year, 2009 will be the year Roger Corman goes home with Oscar.

Along with producer/executive John Calley, star Lauren Bacall, and cinematographer Gordon Willis, Corman will be receiving an honorary Academy Award at the Academy’s inaugural Governors Awards event on Saturday, November 14.

Academy President Tom Sherak had this to say about the recipients:

These four individuals have each, in their own unique way, made lasting impressions on the motion picture industry and audiences worldwide.   I’m thrilled that the Academy’s Board selected them to be honored at our new Governors Awards event, which will be full of memorable moments celebrating their accomplishments.

The announcement came on the AMPAS website today.   Corman’s productions have given such directors as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Jonathan Demme, and Ron Howard their starts in the industry.   Likewise, Corman gave actors like Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper, Talia Shire, and Robert De Niro some of their earliest performances.