Glenn Close, Ridley Scott, Floyd Norman, and Killer Films Producers to Receive 2026 Honorary Oscars

The recipients, who will accept the honorary Oscars at the 17th Governors Awards event on Sunday, November 15, 2026 in Los Angeles, were voted on by the Academy’s Board of Governors.

“The Academy’s Board of Governors is thrilled to present this year’s Governors Awards to five remarkable individuals whose groundbreaking work has forever shaped the art of filmmaking,†said Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor via statement. “Throughout her extraordinary body of work, Glenn Close’s unparalleled emotional range has brought to life some of the most complex characters in cinema. Floyd Norman is the legendary animator who has broken barriers and inspired generations of artists over his remarkable career. Sir Ridley Scott is a true visionary whose decades-long legacy has left an immeasurable impact on global cinema and culture. Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler play a central role in American independent cinema, championing bold, ambitious and distinctive storytelling.â€

With over 100 film credits to her name, Close’s history with the Academy more specifically is holding the record as the most-nominated living actor never to win an Academy Award. Her eight Oscar nominations include her feature film debut in “The World According to Garp,†“The Big Chill,†“The Natural,†“Fatal Attraction,†“Dangerous Liaisons,†“Albert Nobbs,†“The Wife,†and “Hillbilly Elegy.â€

Norman is widely known as the first Black animator to have been hired at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Having started at the company in 1956, the animator and storyboard artist’s 65-year career started with working on “Sleeping Beauty.†He would go on to contribute to films like “Mary Poppins,†“The Jungle Book†and “Robin Hood,†all the way to “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,†“Mulan,†“Toy Story 2,†and “Monsters, Inc.â€

Scott has been nominated for four Oscars, including three Best Director nominations, for “Thelma & Louise,†“Gladiator†and “Black Hawk Down,†and one Best Picture nomination for “The Martian.†Over nearly 60 years, he has also directed groundbreaking films like “Alien,†“Blade Runner,†“American Gangster,†“Prometheus,†“All the Money in the World,†“House of Gucci,†and “Napoleon†— all of which also received at least one Academy Award nomination. The next film from the prolific director, who was also recently made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, is “The Dog Stars,†out August 2026.

Vachon and Koffler have been a pillar of the New York filmmaking community with their trailblazing independent production company Killer Films, founded in 1995. Their credits include “Boys Don’t Cry,†which earned Hilary Swank her first Best Actress Oscar; “Still Alice,†which earned Julianne Moore a Best Actress Oscar; and the Academy Award nominated films “Far from Heaven,†“I’m Not There,†“Carol,†“First Reformed,†“A Different Man,†and “Past Lives,†the film that earned the pair their first Best Picture nomination.

The Honorary Award is given “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences in any discipline, or for outstanding service to the Academy,†while the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is presented to a creative producer whose body of work reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production.

There will not be a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award this year, as it is not an annual award (though it has been given out every year since 2020).