Tom Cruise finally gets honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tom Cruise, who at 63 is still the biggest movie star in a room full of them, finally got to host his own Oscars on a Hollywood stage Sunday night.

“Making films is not what I do, it’s who I am,” Cruise said. He was as calm as ever, but at times appeared close to tears as he spoke, clutching the gold honorary statuette that commemorated his more than 40 years at the top of the film industry at the Academy's annual Governor's Awards ceremony.

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“In this theater we laugh together, we feel together, we hope together,” he said after a two-minute ovation.

Production designer Wynn Thomas and choreographer and actress Debbie Allen were also selected by the academy's board of governors to honor their legendary careers, while the absent Dolly Parton was honored for her lifetime of philanthropy at a ceremony at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles.

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A competitive Oscar eluded Cruise, who has been nominated four times: as an actor in 1989's Born on the Fourth of July, 1996's Jerry Maguire and 1999's Magnolia, and as a producer on 2022's Top Gun: Maverick.

Before he took the stage, audiences were treated to a lengthy montage of clips from this and his other films, full of death-defying stunts he often performed himself, from 1981's “Taps” to this year's “Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning.”

It is fitting that the Governor's Awards Ceremony is not televised. Tom Cruise doesn't work in television, and he has been one of the biggest advocates of going to the theater over streaming.

“I will always do whatever I can to help this art form,” Cruz said. “Supporting and championing new voices, championing what makes cinema powerful. Hopefully without too many broken bones.”

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Oscar-winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu presented the award to Cruz. The two spent several months filming the film in London, which will be released in 2026. This collaboration suggests that Cruise, who has stuck to the blockbuster franchise in recent years, may not stop trying to win an Academy Award the old-fashioned way.

“This may be his first Oscar,” Iñárritu said, “but from what I’ve seen and experienced, this won’t be his last.”

The list of stars attending the event suggests that campaigning for the next competitive Oscar is underway. Banquet tables were filled with potential nominees, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael B. Jordan, Sydney Sweeney, Dwayne Johnson, Ariana Grande and Jacob Elordi.

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Here's a look at Sunday night's other honorees:

Debbie Allen

Allen, 75, has never been nominated for an Oscar. But the multi-talented entertainer has played a major role in the Oscars show, choreographing seven ceremonies over the years, four of which were Emmy-nominated.

As an actress, she appeared in Ragtime and the film and television series Fame. She also produced the film Amistad, whose director Steven Spielberg hugged her when she walked on stage.

A tearful Allen thanked the room for “this magnificent golden moment in the sun.”

Cynthia Erivo presented the award to Allen, whom she considers an “auntie,” and praised her for uplifting her fellow black artists.

“Debbie, you not only showed us the great heights that dedication to the arts can take us, you fought to bring us all with you,” Erivo said.

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Allen thanked her sister, actor Phylicia Rashad, and her husband of 40 years, former NBA All-Star and Los Angeles Lakers player Norm Nixon, who both sat at her table.

Looking at her statuette, she said it felt like she and Oscar “got married. Sorry, Norman!”

Wynn Thomas

Thomas was honored for the decades of visual imagination he brought to cinema as one of the first black production designers and art directors on Hollywood films.

His films include A Beautiful Mind, directed by Ron Howard, which won Best Picture, and the sci-fi farce, directed by Tim Burton, Mars Attacks.

But he is best known for his decades of collaborations with director Spike Lee in films such as Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X and Da 5 Bloods.

“My journey to storytelling began when I was a poor black kid in one of the worst slums in Philadelphia,” Thomas said upon accepting the statuette from Octavia Spencer. “The local gangs looked down on me and called me a sissy. But this sissy grew up working with some great directors.”

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Dolly Parton

Parton was the recipient of the Gene Gersholt Humanitarian Award for her years of philanthropic work in the areas of literacy and education.

The country music giant had to skip the concert because of a long-standing scheduling conflict, not the health concerns that prompted her to cancel several recent concerts, her representatives said.

Parton was twice nominated for an Oscar for best original song, including for “9 to 5,” the title song of her first film as an actor, which also included “Steel Magnolias.”

The award was presented by her 9 to 5 co-star Lily Tomlin, who turned her attempts to read a teleprompter into a comedic improvisation. She fondly remembered the doll pajamas Parton wore to the impromptu pajama parties she hosted with Jane Fonda.

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Tomlin said the song “9 to 5” has become “an anthem for our times” and is itself an example of Parton's philanthropy with its emphasis on workers' struggles.

She said it's ironic that Parton's appearance is so artificial because “she's the most genuine person I've ever known.”

Cruz praises his fellow winners

Cruise, in typical over-prepared fashion, not only shouted out his fellow nominees from the stage, but also paid his own detailed tribute to each. He told Thomas the exact date and place where he first saw one of his films, Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It. He praised Parton for showing that “compassion and creativity go hand in hand.” And for Allen, he cited the works of her mother, poet and playwright Vivian Ayers Allen.

Allen paid tribute to Cruise, recalling a signature early-career moment when he danced and lip-synced in his underwear in “Risky Business.”

“Honey, we loved it when you slipped out in those tight white pants,” she said.

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