There is a spirited debate in the forums about possible honorees for the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the upcoming Oscars - CLICK HERE

While the possibilities range from the sublime - Liv Ullmann for her work at UNICEF - to the ridiculous - Sally Kirkland and her advocacy against breast implants - there is no guarantee that the Academy will bestow the honor this year. Since establishing the award back in 1956 in memory of actor Jean Hersholt, founder of the Motion Picture Relief Fund, the Board of Governors has only voted to bestow it 32 times. While they were able to find an "individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry" 24 times in the first three decades of the award, only 8 have been given out in the last twenty years.

From 1992 to 1994, four famous faces were honored for their work on behalf of the little people - Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Paul Newman, and Quincy Jones. Then the pool ran dry and it took till 2001 before another good soul, director Arthur Hiller, could be found. Last year, exec Sherry Lansing received the honor for, in the words of Academy president Sid Ganis, “not only her passionate work in support of fighting cancer but because the Board recognized and remembered the long list of charitable organizations and causes she has served, and her long history in serving them."

As per Rule 24, to make it to the podium to accept this honorary Oscar statuette, the do-gooder has to first get past other possible winners under discussion at an meeting of the Board and then get a 'yes' vote from two-thirds of the governors present. Can anyone in cold hard Hollywood warm the hearts of these industry vets this year? Stay tuned.