What special Academy Award did Spielberg receive at the 59th Academy Awards?

The special Academy Award Spielberg received at the 59th Academy Awards was the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.

Presented on March 30, 1987, the award honored Spielberg as a creative producer whose body of work reflected consistently high-quality motion-picture production. It recognized his influence as a producer and filmmaker, not a competitive win for directing a particular film.

The 59th ceremony honored movies released in 1986 and took place at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Spielberg’s award followed a run of major successes including Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Richard Dreyfuss presented the honor.

The Thalberg award is often described as an honorary Oscar, but it is a distinct Academy honor named for MGM production chief Irving Thalberg. Its trophy traditionally took the form of a bust rather than the standard Oscar statuette, another reason it can be confused with the Academy Honorary Award.