Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks among stars honored at Governors Awards ahead of Oscars

HOLLYWOOD -- It was a big night in Hollywood for the show biz world. The Motion Picture Academy handed out its annual honorary Oscars on Tuesday.

Honoree Mel Brooks skipped the red carpet fanfare. At 97, he's walked plenty of those over the years!

The three other honorees and plenty of stars were all smiles, though, as they made their way to the Governors Awards.

"I'm very grateful and very humble," said honoree Angela Bassett. She was nominated for an Oscar last year for "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" and 30 years ago for "What's Love Got To Do It." She was there to receive an honorary Oscar for her body of work.

"Thank you. And you know who you are," Bassett said. "You who prayed, you who fussed, you who wrote, you who said everything, you who just supported me all along the way."

Also going home with gold was Carol Littleton, the editor of "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial" and many other films.

"I have worked in darkness most of my life, in a dark cutting room so coming out into the bright light, I don't know if I feel like I should go back under my rock or not," she joked.

The Governors Awards always brings out the stars of some of the year's most celebrated films.

The casts of "Oppenheimer," "Barbie" and "Killers of the Flower Moon" were among the many dozens of stars who posed on the red carpet before heading inside to enjoy the evening.

Michelle Satter, who's celebrated independent films for years, through Sundance, was also honored. She received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Satter credited Sundance founder Robert Redford.

"I was able to work closely with him and bring that vision and what he cared most deeply about forward," she said.

During this awards season in Hollywood, several famous faces also got to talk about the projects and performances other people are already talking about!

"It's more than I thought it was going to be," said Paul Giamatti, star of "The Holdovers," who just won a Golden Globe for his work. "I know it was a good movie, but it's been a really, really great outpouring, a love for it. It's nice," he said.

"Poor Things" co-star Mark Ruffalo has enjoyed all the love for his film, too, and the making of it.

"We just had a lot of trust with each other, a lot of freedom with each other and it just let us be daring and have fun," Ruffalo said.

Danielle Brooks has been enjoying this moment in the sun after years in the business.

"You gotta know who you are when you step into places like this. If you don't know who you are, it will swallow you up. And I know who I am: I am Danielle Brooks, okay?" she said with a big laugh.

Those involved with music that's already on the "short list" for Oscars' "Best Song" faced the music when asked about performing on the big show if they make the final list.

"I think I would be so nervous," Olivia Rodrigo said. "I'm trying to work through my stage fright but it definitely comes every now and then."

She did a song for "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes."

Show biz veteran Joseph Gordon-Levitt lent his voice to a song in "Flora and Son." If that's on the list, and he's asked to sing at the Oscars, "I would be terrified but it's the good kind of terror," he said. "It's the terror I seek in my life!"

We'll see highlights from the Governors Awards on the Oscars, March 10, on ABC.