Angela Bassett finally received her well-deserved flowers when she was presented with an honorary Oscar at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 14th Annual Governors Awards. The event took place at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles on Jan. 9.
The 65-year-old actress was first nominated for an Academy Award back in 1993 for her legendary performance as Tina Turner in “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”
After losing the Best Actress Oscar to Holly Hunter for “The Piano,” many thought she was snubbed by the Academy. Bassett was also up for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in 2022, but Jamie Lee Curtis took home the statuette for “Everything Everywhere All At Once.”
She savored the moment upon receiving the award and stretched into a more than 15-minute speech after she thanked fellow actress Regina King, who introduced the honorary Oscar recipient and handed her the statuette.
“Thank you. I love you,” Bassett said to the crowd. “Regina, my dear, dear Regina, my sister, thank you for being here tonight as a source of support and encouragement and joy. Working alongside you has been one of the highlights of my career. You are for me and for so many a bright, bright light. Thank you.”
“It is because of the love and support of my friends and my family that I stand here this evening,” she continued. “I offer a lifetime and beyond of gratitude to my sister D’nette, my husband Courtney, and our beautiful children Bronwyn and Slater, whom I’m blessed to have with me this evening.”
The “Waiting to Exhale” actress went on to thank her family for supporting her as she pursued her career and mentioned her late mother, Betty, and her late Aunt Golden. She also thanked her team and everyone she’s ever “had the pleasure” to work with.
“I have considered acting my calling and not just my career. I do this work because I find it meaningful, and I hope in some way that it makes a difference and has an impact, she continued. “To be recognized in this way for what I love doing is truly wonderful, and I am beyond grateful. You know Lena Horne once said, ‘It’s so nice to get flowers while you can yet still smell the fragrance,’ and indeed it is.”
Bassett also honored the great Cicely Tyson in her acceptance speech. Tyson was the first Black actress to receive an honorary Oscar in 2018.
“You know, I have had to let it sink in that I am the second Black actress to receive an honorary Oscar. The first being my dear friend and mentor, the late Cicely Tyson, in 2018,” she said. “Having a chance to work with and learn from Ms. Tyson is one of the most memorable and treasured experiences of my career and life, and I hope that she is smiling from the heavens that I’m able to join her in this circle of recognition knowing that she was so impactful to me as an actress and as a woman.”
Even for honorary Oscars.
— Aliya Langley (@aliyalangley) January 11, 2024
Only two Black actresses have received an honorary Oscar.
Cicely Tyson.
Angela Bassett.
End of list.
Bassett also remembered Hattie McDaniel, the first Black person to ever win an Academy Award, having won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Gone with the Wind” in 1940. She also credited Whoopi Goldberg, Halle Berry, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Mo’Nique, Jennifer Husdon, Regina King, Ariana DeBose and Lupita Nyong’o for their Oscar wins.
Berry was the first Black woman to win the Oscar for Best Actress, while Goldberg, Davis, Spencer, Mo’Nique, Husdon, King, DeBose and Nyong’o won Best Supporting Actress Oscars for their performances, and Bassett named them all during her speech.
The 65-year-old also shared a snapshot of herself holding her new Oscar on Jan. 10 on Instagram. She captioned the post, “Tonight was a very good night! #thankyouAcademyGovernors #thebestisyettocome #imnotdoneyet.”
Fans reacted to Bassett’s honorary Oscar on social media, and many were thrilled for the actress, including Hudson, who honored Bassett with a post on X.
“Such a powerful speech from the LEGENDARY Angela Bassett as she received her long overdue Oscar last night. Congratulations @ImAngelaBassett, and THANK YOU for your unwavering commitment to the craft, and knocking down doors for the rest of us. We wouldn’t be here without you paving the way !!!”
Another fan wrote, “I think this woman deserves her own national holiday. Like it’s insane there isn’t a day we just watch her filmography and just celebrate her genius, strength, pose, generosity, and magnitude towards this craft and the people around her. Angela Bassett, the one and only.”
Others were still disappointed that Bassett was previously snubbed. One fan wrote, “Them giving Angela Bassett an honorary Oscar instead of the one she deserved last year will never sit well with me. She’s a class act to show up, and her acceptance speech was ON POINT.”
Another replied, “Incredibly happy for Angela Bassett, but also disgusted. To snub her and then give her an honorary Oscar the very next year is nasty work.”
Bassett once noted that the Academy “slept” during all the roles she played between her Oscar nominations in 1993 and 2023.
“You never know what’s going to grab the energy, what role is going to catch the energy of the academy,” she said. “But you don’t accept the roles, the work, the creativity based on that, but based on what stories you want to tell the world.”
Bassett was also honored by Time as the Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023.
