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Year: 2004 (77th) Academy Awards
Category: Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Winner: Roger Mayer
Presenter: Martin Scorsese
Date & Venue: February 27, 2005; Kodak Theatre
ROGER MAYER:
Thank you so much. Marty, thank you for your kind introduction, and to Jon Bloom for that wonderful film by the way. As many of you know, Marty's Film Foundation has been a leader in the film preservation movement, just as Jean Hersholt was a leader in the Motion Picture & Television Fund. And interestingly enough, he contributed the land on which our hospital, retirement community and Alzheimer's unit were built. So, there's a real connection there.
As for film preservation, I must give credit to the six board chairmen [and] seven production heads during my twenty-five years at MGM who either backed our endeavors or weren't quite sure what we were doing so let it happen anyway. And then came Ted Turner and his cohorts in Atlanta, who understood the importance of all this and kept it going when funds were pretty short. Preservation and restoration are now led by the studios and organizations nationwide such as The Museum of Modern Art and Eastman House in New York, UCLA and our own Academy Archives here in Los Angeles, and most particularly, the Library of Congress. And as I thank the Academy's Board of Governors for this great honor, I want to remind all of you that the Academy itself, namely you, support film preservation and health care through both the Motion Picture & Television Fund and the National Film Preservation Foundation. So, we sincerely thank you.
And of course, most importantly, thanks to my family, all of whom are here tonight. My children Patty and Larry, daughter-in-law Jennifer, sister Florence, granddaughters Natasha and Anna. And most especially, my wife of fifty-two-and-a-half years, Pauline. Fifty-two-and-a-half years; and they say nothing lasts in Hollywood? Well, love really does, "Taking Care of Our Own" does, and the art of film does if we properly preserve it. So I'm going to keep at it and hope you will continue your support. Thank you very, very much.
© Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
[Note: All winners are present except where noted; NOT all winners may have spoken.]
