Before his death earlier this month, late producer Quincy Jones penned an acceptance speech for his honorary Oscar. On Sunday night, his daughter, actress Rashida Jones, emotionally delivered that speech at the Governors Awards in Hollywood while accepting the award on his behalf.
Surrounded by three of her siblings, Rashida Jones took a moment to remember how her father “knew how to stay present, stay curious, and stay loving” before reading the speech they had been working on together.
“As a teenager growing up in Seattle, I would sit for hours in the theater and dream about composing for films,” the speech began. “I was always keenly aware of the power that we possessed as filmmakers — that the art we created, the stories we told, if we were lucky, had a chance to move people in ways that they could never imagine, to make society and the world a more understanding and embracing place for us all to exist.”
It continued, “We’ve come a long way in our industry. When I was a young film composer, you didn’t even see faces of color working in the studio commissaries. I am so, so proud of the fact that my name and contributions can be included in that evolution. Today, I am beyond thankful to have composed more than 35 film scores and that this journey allowed me to collaborate with some of the most acclaimed filmmakers on the planet — from Sidney Lumet and Sydney Pollock to Richard Brooks and Norm Jewison among many others, and of course, my friend Steven Spielberg, who I produced The Color Purple with.”
Watch the full speech below.
Jones passed away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 91 years old on November 3rd. During his lifetime, he received seven Academy Award nominations without winning an Oscar. However, he was celebrated with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1995.
