Lauren Bacall receives honorary Oscar

Hollywood icon Lauren Bacall, whose screen appearances stretch back over six decades and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1997, finally received an honorary Oscar at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' inaugural Governors Awards ceremony on 14 November 2009. 'I can't believe it – a man at last,' she quipped Photograph: Chris Pizzello/AP

Bacall, who attended the ceremony at the Grand Ballroom at the Hollywood & Highland Centre with her children Leslie Bogart, Sam Robards and Stephen Bogart, was honoured by the academy in recognition of 'her central place in the golden age of motion pictures' Photograph: Jim Smeal/BEI/Rex Features

Alec Baldwin, recently named as co-host with Steve Martin for 82nd Academy Awards on 7 March, arrives for the Governors Awards ceremony. This marks the first time the honorary awards have been presented outside of the main ceremony Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Among those who stepped up to pay tribute to her was fellow Hollywood stalwart Kirk Douglas, who called her 'a pussycat' with 'a heart of gold' Photograph: Reuters

The award was presented by Anjelica Huston, whose father John Huston directed Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in the 1948 classic Key Largo. In her speech, she described Bacall as 'a woman of great charisma and beauty but one not to be trifled with' Photograph: Reuters

Bacall wasn't the only person to be honoured at the inaugural Governors Awards event. Cinematographer Gordon Willis (left), who shot the Godfather films, and B-movie doyen Roger Corman (right) also received honorary Oscars. Producer John Calley, who was conferred the Irving G Thalberg Oscar, was too ill to attend Photograph: Fred Prouser/Reuters

Presenting the honorary Oscar to Corman, Quentin Tarantino called him 'the original maverick' Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Bacall with fashion designer Tom Ford, whose directorial debut A Single Man has been making waves ahead of the awards season Photograph: Michael Yada/AMPAS

Bacall also caught up with producer Dino De Laurentiis and director Norman Jewison. De Laurentiis and Jewison were there to introduce and present the Irving Thalberg award to producer John Calley, who was to ill to attend Photograph: Fred Prouser/Reuters

Calley's award was picked up by Steven Spielberg, seen here with Warren Beatty Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Other Hollywood luminaries in attendance included Jack Nicholson … Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

… and Morgan Freeman … Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

… and Abbie Cornish, whose breakthrough performance in Jane Campion's Bright Star is poised to catapult her into the Hollywood A-list Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images