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Year: 1975 (48th) Academy Awards
Category: Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
Winner: Mervyn LeRoy
Presenter: William Friedkin
Date & Venue: March 29, 1976; Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
MERVYN LeROY:
Thank you very, very much. Well, it certainly is thrilling for me and it's nice to get the Irving Thalberg Award handed to me from another director, and a good one, too. I was a very dear, dear friend of Irving Thalberg's and it was a shame that a man like Irving Thalberg had to pass away at thirty-seven years old. He was a genius. He had great heart, great feeling, great imagination. After a preview that you'd go to, Irving would sit up with you upstairs at Metro and he'd say, "I know what's good about the picture, tell me what's wrong about the picture." And Irving never made a criticism about a movie unless he could improve it. That's the kind of a man he was. And this means so much to me that I can't tell you. He was quite a guy. I loved him. He was very close to me. I wish we had more Irving Thalbergs around today, but they're around and they'll come out, believe me.
I want to thank the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for giving me this beautiful award, voting it for me, believing in me, because they've done so much for the world. And tonight I think they've done more for the world than ever by showing what Hollywood does and running all of these beautiful acts and beautiful scenes on Telstar, of which I am a stockholder. We were going to run some films tonight but they're a little late and I'm a little late and I'm a little nervous. And I want to thank you all and I love you all. And this means so much to me. Thank you.
© Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
[Note: All winners are present except where noted; NOT all winners may have spoken.]
