The Academy that hands out the Oscars has announced four film-makers to receive honorary statuettes at the fifth annual Governor’s Awards ceremony in Hollywood in November; three actors and a costume designer.

Honorary Oscars are being awarded to the comic, actor and writer Steve Martin, who has hosted the Oscar ceremony itself three times, the veteran actress Angela Lansbury, most famous for the TV show Murder She Wrote, but also a three-time Oscar nominee and the Italian costume designer Piero Tosi, whose work includes Death in Venice, from 1971.

Responding to the announcement on Twitter, 68 year old Martin described the honour as “a salute to comedy and all the great people I’ve worked with.”

The Academy’s Board of Governors hands out Honorary Oscars “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”

The other honour to be bestowed at the Hollywood ceremony will be the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, which is going to the actress and director Angelina Jolie. The Academy said she had been an “impassioned advocate for humanitarian causes, traveling widely to promote organisations and social justice efforts.” The actress, an Oscar winner for Girl, Interrupted, has worked for advocacy groups including the Council on Foreign Relations and is a special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, with which she has recently been campaigning against sexual crimes during war, with the Foreign Secretary William Hague.

Her spokesman said she felt very honoured to be recognised by the Academy for her humanitarian work. The award has previously been handed to stars including Oprah Winfrey, Arthur Miller, Quincy Jones and Elizabeth Taylor.

All four awards are honoured with the same Oscar statuette handed to Academy Award winners on Oscars night.