ScottFeinberg.com

If the Academy’s image was a bit dusted up by the Brett Ratner and Eddie Murphy controversies of the past week, it was polished off like a shiny new Oscar by Saturday night’s third annual Governors Awards, at which honorary Oscars were presented to actor James Earl Jones (in absentia) and makeup artist Dick Smith and actress/producer/philanthropist Oprah Winfreyreceived the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: Oprah Winfrey, James Earl Jones and Dick Smith on Governors Awards

I felt truly privileged to be in the room for the ceremony, which several awards show veterans in attendance described to me as one of the most powerful and moving that they can remember.

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On Saturday night, many of the film industry’s biggest names will gather at the Hollywood & Highland Center for the third annual Academy Governors Awards ceremony, during which actor James Earl Jones and makeup artist Dick Smith will be presented with honorary Oscars for lifetime achievement and actress/producer Oprah Winfrey will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for extraordinary philanthropic work (which has only been awarded to 33 others, three posthumously). The three were selected for these honors by the Academy’s Board of Governors in August, and in the time since have each granted an interview to THR’s awards blogger Scott Feinberg.

Following are audio recordings of/text excerpts from those conversations.

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Last night, the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to present honorary Academy Awards to actor James Earl Jones and makeup artist Dick Smith, and its Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award — which has only been awarded to 33 other people (three posthumously) — to philanthropist/talk show host/actress/producer Oprah Winfrey. All three awards will be presented at the Academy’s third annual Governors Awards dinner on Saturday, November 12, at the Grand Ballroom at the Hollywood & Highland Center, an event that has come to mean nearly as much to true cinephiles as Oscar night itself. In addition to receiving tributes from family, friends, and colleagues on that evening, the three honorees will also be acknowledged during the actual 84th Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, February 26, 2012.

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