Wilson ’63 Receives Thalberg Memorial Award

The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts voted to present the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to producers Michael G. Wilson ’63 and Barbara Broccoli. Wilson, a Harvey Mudd engineering graduate, and Broccoli, his sister, received the honor at the Academy’s Governors Awards event on Sunday, Nov. 17, in Hollywood. The evening’s awardees also included the late Quincy Jones and Juliet Taylor (Academy Honorary Awards) and Richard Curtis (Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award).

The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, an Oscar® statuette, is presented to creative producers “whose body of work reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production.”

“The recipients of this year’s Governors Awards have set the bar incredibly high across their remarkable careers, and the Academy’s Board of Governors is thrilled to recognize them with Oscars,” said Academy President Janet Yang. “The selection of Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli is a testament to their success as producers of the fan-favorite Bond series and their contribution to the industry’s theatrical landscape.”

Wilson and Broccoli of EON Productions are producers of the James Bond film series. They have produced some of the most successful 007 films ever including “Casino Royale,” “Quantum of Solace,” “Skyfall,” “Spectre” and “No Time to Die.” Wilson and Broccoli have produced and executive produced independent film projects such as “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool,” “Nancy,” “The Rhythm Section,” “Till” and “The Accidental Getaway Driver.” They are directors of the Broccoli Foundation, founded by Dana and Albert R. (Cubby) Broccoli to support the arts, medicine and education. Cubby Broccoli received the Thalberg Award in 1981. Barbara Broccoli is the second woman to receive the Thalberg Award.

Wilson received a juris doctor from Stanford Law School and worked for the Department of Transportation before joining Surrey & Morse, where he became a partner specializing in international tax and business transactions before transferring to EON Productions in 1972. In addition to producing and co-writing Bond films, Wilson is a leading expert on 19th-century photography and directs the Wilson Centre for Photography, one of the world’s largest private photography collections. A fellow of the Science Museum London, he serves as a trustee for several organizations, including Harvey Mudd College and the Carnegie Institution for Science. With Broccoli, he was awarded an Order of the British Empire in Her Majesty the Queen’s New Year Honours List 2008 for services to the film industry. In 2014, they received the David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures. Wilson received the Harvey Mudd College Lifetime Recognition Award in 2020.