The
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is awarded periodically by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the
Governors Awards ceremonies to "Creative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production." The award is named for
Irving Thalberg, legendary head of the Production Division of
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who developed the company's reputation for sophisticated films. The trophy itself is a bust of Thalberg rather than the familiar "Oscar" statuette. However, it is still counted as an "honorary Oscar". There have been 39 statuettes awarded to date.