Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

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The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is awarded periodically by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Governors Awards ceremonies to "creative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production". The award is named for Irving Thalberg, head of the Production Division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who developed the company's reputation for sophisticated films. The trophy itself was originally a bust of Thalberg rather than the familiar Oscar statuette. However, it is still counted as an "Honorary Oscar". The bust of Thalberg was last used in 2018 when the award was presented to Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall.^[1] When the award was next presented at the 15th Governors Awards to Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson in 2024, the Oscar statuette was used instead.^[2]

The award was established in 1937 and was first presented at the 10th Academy Awards, in March 1938. Since 2009, it has been presented at the separate Governors Awards rather than at the main Academy Awards ceremony.

The Award has been awarded 39 times to date. Katharine Hepburn made her only appearance at an Oscar ceremony to present the award to her long-time friend Lawrence Weingarten at the 46th Academy Awards ceremony in 1974.