LOS ANGELES — Oprah Winfrey snagged an Oscar here on Saturday night, but the evening’s hero — not present, though never out of mind — was Billy Crystal.

At the third (annual) Governors Awards, a banquet and schmooze fest that has quickly become an important tribal (gathering) for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Ms. Winfrey was recognized with a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, complete with (statuette), for her charitable work. Both Dick Smith, the makeup artist behind " The exorcist" and James Earl Jones, whose acting credits are even more imperial than the voice (his) of Darth Vader, received honorary Oscars for their career contributions to the movies. The honorary awards were moved from the annual Oscar show to speed up the telecast and give more personal (attention) to their winners.

But as they were handed out, the buzz, along with a quip or two from the stage, was about Mr. Crystal, who last week (swooped) in to save the Academy Awards. He did that by agreeing to host the main event, on Feb. 26, a ceremony that had momentarily disintegrated when its co-producer Brett Ratner regisned on Tuesday in a furor over an anti-gay slur and some (nasty) public sex talk, and Mr. Ratner’s proposed host, Eddie Murphy, followed him out the door.