Jolie in early Oscar honour

Angelina Jolie paid tribute to her partner Brad Pitt as she was honoured at an early Oscars ceremony.

The Salt actress — who underwent a double mastectomy in February — was presented with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles and praised her fiancé for his “support” and “guidance”.

“My love. Your support and your guidance make everything I do possible.”

She also promised not to cry and embarrass her son Maddox, 12, who was at the ceremony with his father.

Angelina Jolie gets honorary Oscar for humanitarian work at Hollywood's Governors Awards http://t.co/L0rREsBwn8 pic.twitter.com/Dxom8W8CDB

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) November 17, 2013

“I’m not going to cry, I promise. I’m not going to embarrass you. You and your brothers and sisters are my happiness and there is no greater honour in this world than being your mom.”

Steve Martin and Angela Lansbury were moved to tears at the ceremony as they accepted honorary Oscars at the dinner at the Hollywood & Highland Center. Tom Hanks and Martin Short helped present Martin with his honorary Oscar, which Short described as “the highest honour an actor can receive in mid-November”.

Accepting recognition for his distinguished career, Martin said: “I can’t possibly express how I excited I am tonight, because the Botox is fresh.”

“I knew I wasn’t going to make it through this speech,” he said.

“I read it to my dog this morning and wept.”

Lansbury, 88, said sharing the Governors Awards ceremony with her family was better than “shivering with hope” during her three Oscar nominations, none of which resulted in statuettes.

“You can’t imagine how happy and proud I feel, really undeserving of this gorgeous golden chap,” the 88-year-old, who starred alongside greats such as Bette Davis and Clark Gable, said.