Hollywood Veteran Lauren Bacall awarded lifetime Oscar

Lauren Bacall has starred in more than 30 films yet never received an Oscar, but Saturday changed that.

Bacall, 85, was awarded an honorary Oscar at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Inaugural Governors Award, and fellow Hollywood veterans turned out in hordes to see the actress of film noir fame receive it.

"I can't believe it -- a man at last," Bacall, who was married to Humphrey Bogart from 1945 until his death from cancer in 1957, joked. "The thought that when I get home I'm going to have a two-legged man in my room is so exciting."

Bacall gained fame from films like "The Mirror Has Two Faces," which was nominated for an Oscar, "Dark Passage" and her 1944 debut opposite Bogart "To Have and Have Not."

Some insiders of the movie industry questioned the academy's choice to hold the ceremony on a Saturday, away from cameras, but the actors said it was a relief to speak freely without catering to the eyes and ears of millions of viewers worldwide.