Stars Galore At The 2010 Governors Awards

Honorary Award recipient Eli Wallach, Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award recipient Francis Ford Coppola (center) and Honorary Award recipient Kevin Brownlow at the 2010 Governors Awards in the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Hollywood®, CA, Saturday, November 13.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented the 2nd annual Governors Awards in the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Hollywood®, CA, on Saturday, November 13th, 2010.

Pictured here at the event (left to right): Oscar®-winning producer Albert S. Ruddy, Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvall, Honorary Award recipient Eli Wallach, Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award recipient Francis Ford Coppola, Previous Oscar-nominee Talia Shire, Previous Oscar-nominee James Caan, Oscar-winning director Sofia Coppola and Two time Oscar®-winning actor Robert DeNiro.

In 2009, the Academy established this new annual event at which it presents one or more of its testimonial awards – the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Honorary Award. These awards used to be presented during the televised show. For those of us who couldn’t be there, the Academy gave us a play-by-play account of the night’s festivities over on Twitter (@The Academy).

The evening began with many A-listers walking the Academy’s gold carpet. On hand were Sharon Stone, Marisa Tomei, Tony Bennett, Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Hilary Swank, Natalie Portman, Patricia Clarkson, Justin Long, Sam Rockwell, Clint Eastwood, director Tom Hooper (THE KING’S SPEECH) and Ryan Gosling.

Vincent Cassel, Aaron Eckhart, director Sofia Coppola, Diane Lane, Josh Brolin, Robert Duvall & James Caan.

Director Darren Aronofsky (BLACK SWAN), Olivia Williams & Melissa Leo.

Producers Don Mischer and Sid Ganis.

(Note: Click on the names below to see the videos)

Academy President Tom Sherak opened the night with a toast to the late Dino De Laurentiis and said to the new honorees, “…I hope this is a wonderfully memorable evening for each of you.”

The first to be honored was Jean Luc Godard. He was toasted by Mark Johnson (Gov. producer’s Branch), Lynne Littman, Charles Fox, Mark Goldblatt, Phil Robinson and Vincent Cassel who said “his influence…is incalculable.”

The next honoree, Eli Wallach, was toasted by Josh Brolin, Wallach’s wife Anne Jackson, a musical number by Tony Bennett, Robert De Niro and Clint Eastwood. Upon accepting his award, Wallach said, “I don’t act to live. I live to act”

The next honorary award went to film historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow. On hand were James Karen to make the toast, Lindsay Doran who remarked, “without his extraordinary & tireless work, a magnificent part of our past could have vanished,” and Kevin Spacey who eloquently said, “I bow down to u sir.”

The final award of the evening went to director Francis Ford Coppola. Showering praise on this year’s Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award recipient were Kathryn Bigelow and Roman Coppola, Robert De Niro – “When you experience a Coppola production, you’re not only entertained, you’re changed” and George Lucas who said, “An innovator, an artist, an icon, a rebel, a force, my friend.” Click HERE to watch Coppola’s acceptance speech.

One final shot of the 2010 Governors Awards’ recipients.

Source: AMPAS

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world’s preeminent movie-related organization, with a membership of more than 6,000 of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema. In addition to the annual Academy Awards – in which the members vote to select the nominees and winners – the Academy presents a diverse year-round slate of public programs, exhibitions and events; provides financial support to a wide range of other movie-related organizations and endeavors; acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology; and, through its Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collects, preserves, restores and provides access to movies and items related to their history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies.

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