Winners of the Honorary Academy Award. The Honorary Award is given for exceptional distinction in the making of motion pictures or for outstanding service to the Academy.

The Honorary Award does not have a specific format. It depends on the situation and is chosen by the Board of Governors.

• 2007 (Directing)
  • Robert Boyle
• 2006 (Composing)
  • Ennio Morricone
• 2001 (Acting)
  • Sidney Poitier
• 2001 (Acting, Directing, Producing)
  • Robert Redford
• 1999 (Directing)
  • Andrzej Wajda
• 1998 (Directing)
  • Elia Kazan
• 1998 (Scientific And Technical)
  • David W. Gray
• 1997 (Directing)
  • Stanley Donen
• 1997 (Scientific And Technical)
  • Pete Clark
• 1996 (Choreography)
  • Michael Kidd
• 1996 (Scientific And Technical)
  • Volker W. Bahnemann
  • Burton Bud Stone
• 1996 (Special Effects)
  • Joe Lombardi
• 1995 (Acting)
  • Kirk Douglas
• 1995 (Animation)
  • Chuck Jones
• 1994 (Directing)
  • Michelangelo Antonioni
• 1994 (Scientific And Technical)
  • John A. Bonner
• 1993 (Acting)
  • Deborah Kerr
• 1992 (Directing)
  • Federico Fellini
• 1992 (Scientific And Technical)
  • Petro Vlahos
• 1991 (Directing)
  • Satyajit Ray
• 1991 (Scientific And Technical)
  • Pete Comandini
  • Richard T. Dayton
  • Donald Hagans
  • Richard T. Ryan
  • YCM Laboratories
  • Richard J. Stumpf
  • Joseph Westheimer
• 1990 (Acting)
  • Sophia Loren
  • Myrna Loy
• 1990 (Scientific And Technical)
  • Roderick T. Ryan
  • Don Trumbull
  • Geoffrey H. Williamson
• 1989 (Directing)
  • Akira Kurosawa
• 1989 (Scientific And Technical)
  • The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) Engineering Committees
• 1989 (Companies & Organizations)
  • National Film Board of Canada
• 1988 (Scientific And Technical)
  • Eastman Kodak Company
• 1986 (Acting)
  • Ralph Bellamy
• 1986 (Scientific And Technical)
  • E. M. (Al) Lewis
• 1985 (Acting)
  • Paul Newman
• 1985 (Music)
  • Alex North
• 1985 (Scientific And Technical)
  • John H. Whitney, Sr.
• 1984 (Acting)
  • James Stewart
• 1984 (Companies & Organizations)
  • National Endowment for the Arts
• 1983 (Personalities)
  • Hal Roach
• 1982 (Acting)
  • Mickey Rooney
• 1981 (Acting)
  • Barbara Stanwyck
• 1980 (Acting)
  • Henry Fonda
• 1980 (Scientific And Technical)
  • Fred Hynes
• 1979 (Acting)
  • Alec Guinness
• 1979 (Personalities)
  • Hal Elias
• 1979 (Scientific And Technical)
  • John O. Aalberg
  • Charles G. Clarke
  • John G. Frayne
• 1978 (Animation)
  • Walter Lantz
• 1978 (Companies & Organizations)
  • The Museum of Modern Art Department of Film
• 1978 (Directing)
  • King Vidor
• 1978 (Personalities)
  • Laurence Olivier
• 1978 (Scientific And Technical)
  • Linwood G. Dunn
• 1978 (Scientific And Technical)
  • Loren L. Ryder
• 1978 (Scientific And Technical)
  • Waldon O. Watson
• 1977 (Film Editing)
  • Margaret Booth
• 1977 (Scientific And Technical)
  • Gordon E. Sawyer
  • Sidney Paul Solow
• 1975 (Personalities)
  • Mary Pickford
• 1974 (Directing)
  • Howard Hawks
  • Jean Renoir
• 1973 (Acting)
  • Groucho Marx
• 1973 (Preservation)
  • Henri Langlois
• 1972 (Acting)
  • Edward G. Robinson (presented posthumously)
• 1972 (Personalities)
  • Charles S. Boren
• 1971 (Personalities)
  • Charles Chaplin
• 1970 (Acting)
  • Lillian Gish
• 1970 (Personalities)
  • Orson Welles
• 1969 (Acting)
  • Cary Grant
• 1968 (Choreography)
  • Onna White Film: Oliver!
• 1967 (Personalities)
  • Arthur Freed
• 1966 (Personalities)
  • Y. Frank Freeman
• 1966 (Stunts)
  • Yakima Canutt
• 1965 (Personalities)
  • Bob Hope
• 1964 (Makeup)
  • William Tuttle Film: 7 Faces of Dr. Lao
• 1961 (Choreography)
  • Jerome Robbins
• 1961 (Documentaries & Short Films)
  • William L. Hendricks Film: A Force in Readiness
• 1961 (Personalities)
  • Fred L. Metzler
• 1960 (Acting)
  • Gary Cooper
  • Stan Laurel
• 1960 (Acting - Juvenile)
  • Hayley Mills Film: Pollyanna
• 1959 (Acting)
  • Buster Keaton
• 1959 (Sound)
  • Lee De Forest
• 1958 (Acting)
  • Maurice Chevalier
• 1957 (Personalities)
  • Charles Brackett
  • B. B. Kahane
  • Gilbert M. Anderson
• 1957 (Scientific And Technical)
  • The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE)
• 1956 (Personalities)
  • Eddie Cantor
• 1954 (Acting)
  • Greta Garbo
• 1954 (Acting - Juvenile)
  • Jon Whiteley, Vincent Winter Film: The Little Kidnappers
• 1954 (Personalities)
  • Danny Kaye
• 1954 (Preservation)
  • Kemp R. Niver
• 1954 (Scientific And Technical)
  • Bausch & Lomb Optical Company
• 1953 (Documentaries & Short Films)
  • Pete Smith
• 1953 (Personalities)
  • Joseph I. Breen
• 1953 (Scientific And Technical)
  • 20th Century-Fox Film Corp.
  • Bell and Howell Company
• 1952 (Acting)
  • Harold Lloyd
• 1952 (Cinematography)
  • George Alfred Mitchell
• 1952 (Directing)
  • Merian C. Cooper
• 1952 (Personalities)
  • Joseph M. Schenck
  • Bob Hope
• 1951 (Choreography)
  • Gene Kelly
• 1950 (Personalities)
  • George Murphy (actor)
  • Louis B. Mayer
• 1949 (Special Award Acting - Juvenile)
  • Bobby Driscoll
• 1949 (Special Award Choreography)
  • Fred Astaire
• 1949 (Special Award Directing)
  • Cecil B. DeMille
• 1949 (Special Award Personalities)
  • Jean Hersholt
• 1948 (Special Award Acting - Juvenile)
  • Ivan Jandl Film: The Search
• 1948 (Special Award Exhibition)
  • Sid Grauman
• 1948 (Special Award Personalities)
  • Adolph Zukor
  • Jean Hersholt
• 1948 (Special Award Production)
  • Walter Wanger Film: Joan of Arc
• 1947 (Special Award Acting)
  • James Baskett Film: Song of the South
• 1947 (Special Award Personalities)
  • Colonel William N. Selig
  • Albert E. Smith
  • Thomas Armat
  • George K. Spoor
• 1947 (Special Award Production)
  • Bill and Coo Film: Bill and Coo
  • Shoe-Shine Film: Shoe-Shine
• 1946 (Special Award Acting)
  • Harold Russell Film: The Best Years of Our Lives
• 1946 (Special Award Acting - Juvenile)
  • Claude Jarman, Jr.
• 1946 (Special Award Directing)
  • Ernst Lubitsch
• 1946 (Special Award Production)
  • Laurence Olivier Film: Henry V (1946)
• 1945 (Special Award Acting - Juvenile)
  • Peggy Ann Garner
• 1945 (Special Award Documentaries & Short Films)
  • The House I Live In, Mervyn LeRoy, Frank Ross, Albert Maltz, Earl Robinson, Lewis Allen, Frank Sinatra, RKO Radio Film: The House I Live In
• 1945 (Special Award Personalities)
  • Walter Wanger
• 1945 (Special Award Sound)
  • Republic Studio
  • Daniel J. Bloomberg
  • Republic Studio Sound Department
• 1944 (Special Award Acting - Juvenile)
  • Margaret O'Brien
• 1944 (Special Award Personalities)
  • Bob Hope
• 1943 (Special Award Animation)
  • George Pal
• 1942 (Special Award Personalities)
  • Charles Boyer
• 1942 (Special Award Production)
  • Noel Coward Film: In Which We Serve
  • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• 1941 (Special Award Documentaries & Short Films)
  • Rey Scott Film: Kukan
  • British Ministry of Information Film: Target for Tonight
• 1941 (Special Award Music)
  • Leopold Stokowski, Walt Disney, William Garity, John N. A. Hawkins, RCA Manufacturing Co., Inc. Film: Fantasia
• 1940 (Special Award Documentaries & Short Films)
  • Nathan Levinson
• 1940 (Special Award Personalities)
  • Bob Hope
• 1939 (Special Award Acting - Juvenile)
  • Judy Garland
• 1939 (Special Award Art Direction)
  • William Cameron Menzies Film: Gone with the Wind
• 1939 (Special Award Companies & Organizations)
  • Motion Picture Relief Fund
  • Jean Hersholt
  • Ralph Morgan
  • Ralph Block
  • Conrad Nagel
• 1939 (Special Award Personalities)
  • Douglas Fairbanks
• 1939 (Special Award Scientific And Technical)
  • Technicolor Company
• 1938 (Special Award Acting - Juvenile)
  • Deanna Durbin
  • Mickey Rooney
• 1938 (Special Award Animation)
  • Walt Disney Film: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• 1938 (Special Award Cinematography)
  • Oliver Marsh, Allen Davey Film: Sweethearts
  • J. Arthur Ball
• 1938 (Special Award Documentaries & Short Films)
  • Harry M. Warner
• 1938 (Special Award Special Effects)
  • Gordon Jennings, Jan Domela, Dev Jennings, Irmin Roberts, Art Smith, Farciot Edouart, Loyal Griggs, Loren Ryder, Harry Mills, Louis H. Mesenkop, Walter Oberst Film: Spawn of the North
• 1937 (Special Award Acting)
  • Edgar Bergen
  • Charlie McCarthy
• 1937 (Special Award Cinematography)
  • W. Howard Greene Film: A Star Is Born (1937)
• 1937 (Special Award Companies & Organizations)
  • The Museum of Modern Art Film Library
• 1937 (Special Award Directing)
  • Mack Sennett
• 1936 (Special Award Cinematography)
  • W. Howard Greene, Harold Rosson Film: The Garden of Allah
• 1936 (Special Award Documentaries & Short Films)
  • The March of Time
• 1935 (Special Award Directing)
  • David Wark Griffith
• 1934 (Special Award Acting - Juvenile)
  • Shirley Temple
• 1931/1932 (Special Award Animation)
  • Walt Disney
• 1927/1928 (Special Award Production)
  • Charles Chaplin Film: The Circus
  • Warner Bros. Film: The Jazz Singer(1927/28)