Oscar "Honorary" ies

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences have announced how will be the 2012 recipients of honorary Academy Awards.  Two years ago, they made the decision to host a special ceremony for this tribute with the thinking that it ate up too much of the telecast, a silly conclusion for a ceremony that's always determined to be over-long and still found enough time this year to include a song for co-host Anne Hathaway and an opportunity for co-host James Franco to come out in a dress.  Sigh!  This years honorees:

James Earl Jones- A noble choice to reward a dignified, classically trained actor who will eternally be nerdishly lusted over for the deep breathing vocal chops he contributed to Dark Vader.  Yet it's striking that something so famous for his "This is CNN" voice is rarely mentioned as the powerhouse actor he is.  Nominated by Oscar just once, for 1970's The Great White Hope, this consummate thespian has a staggering body work-- Dr. Strangelove, Roots, Field of Dreams, The Lion King, endless stage credits, Guiding Light and Scary Movie 4.

Dick Smith- Make-up artist who won an Oscar for his work on the film Amadeus (1984.)  This is one of the things that always kind of gets to me in the terms of who the select for honorary statuettes-- sometimes there's a totally right on choice for a body of work that the Academy for whatever neglected before, sometimes it's the preservation of a legend, and that's enough, but I always find it a bit odd, and possibly a bit wrong-headed when a previous competitive winner gets an honorary Oscar.  Especially in light of the long list of overlooked actors, writers, directors, and technical maestros that have been ignored over the long history of the Academy Awards.  This isn't at all meant to be a stab at Smith, a true innovator and legend of his own right, but the odd nature of the selection process.  His body of work includes The Godfather, Midnight Cowboy, The Exorcist, Taxi Driver, Marathon Man, The Deer Hunter and Death Becomes Her.

Oprah Winfrey- It's a bit misleading here, Oprah isn't winning an honorary Oscar, but instead the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, which honors a person in the industry for their philanthropic, humanitarian efforts, and not their contribution to cinema.  That being said it's totally deserving as Oprah, all powerful, is a force, perhaps the only force that contributes to book sales and presidential campaigns these days.  That being said, would it be all that surprising if she were receiving an actual honorary Oscar, for the powers that be in the Academy would likely worship her celebrity dust all over place.  Not to knock her cinematic cred-- she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Color Purple, and starred in Beloved, but movies are not and will never be her calling.