The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is presented periodically to creative producers whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production. The award is named for the “boy wonder” vice president and supervisor of production at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 1920s and ’30s who personally supervised the studio’s top productions until his death from pneumonia in 1936 at the age of 37. On this day in 1942, Walt Disney was the fourth recipient of the award. Shortly after receiving the award, Thalberg’s widow disapproved of the rendering of her husband’s head on the trophy, so she commissioned a new sculpture at her own expense and had the new version sent to Walt and all the previous winners.
