LOS ANGELES—Spike Lee, fiercely independent in both his films and public remarks, will receive an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as he joins the actresses Gena Rowlands and Debbie Reynolds among those to be honored at the group’s Governors Awards on Nov. 14.
Like Ms. Rowlands, who will also receive an honorary Oscar, Mr. Lee has been twice nominated for competitive Academy Awards without winning. Ms. Reynolds, nominated once, for her appearance in “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” will receive the Academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her philanthropic work.
Mr. Lee, who studied film at New York University, first grabbed public attention with “She’s Gotta Have It,” a sassy, sexy romance released by Island Pictures in 1986. In films like “Do the Right Thing” and “Malcolm X” he often probed sore spots in race relations — something that again appears likely with “Chiraq,” a coming movie, for release by Amazon Studios, about violence in contemporary Chicago.
One of Mr. Lee’s Oscar nominations was for his screenplay for “Do the Right Thing.” The other, shared with Samuel D. Pollard, was for making the documentary feature “4 Little Girls,” about the bombing of an African-American church.
Both Ms. Rowlands and Ms. Reynolds are grandes dames of Hollywood, known for their films as well as for family ties in the movie world. Ms. Rowlands was married to John Cassavetes, with whom she worked on “Gloria” and “A Woman Under the Influence,” receiving Oscar nominations for both. She is also the mother of the filmmaker Nick Cassavetes, and has worked with him in films like “The Notebook” and “Unhook the Stars.”
Ms. Reynolds, whose philanthropic work has often focused on mental health issues, is the mother of the actress and writer Carrie Fisher, whose script for the 1990 film “Postcards From the Edge” fictionalized the highs and lows of a mother-daughter show business relationship.
