The annual Golden Globe Awards are presented each year by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Normally they are among the first awards presented each year and are seen as somewhat of a pre-cursor of what is to come in the annual Academy Awards.
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Golden Globes have been postponed nearly two months with the 78th annual awards airing February 28 with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler serving as hosts for the event.
While the nominees for the 2021 Golden Globes will not be released until February 3; the HFPA has released the recipients of this year’s Cecil B. DeMille and Carol Burnett Award winners.
Actress and activist Jane Fonda will receive the 2021 Cecil B DeMille Award. The award is presented to an “individual who has made an incredible impact on the world of entertainment” and includes past winners Tom Hanks, Jeff Bridges, Oprah Winfrey, Morgan Freeman, Meryl Streep, Barbra Streisand, Sidney Poitier and Lucille Ball.
A member of the acting Fonda family, Jane is a two time Academy Award winner and the daughter of Academy Award winning actor Henry and the sister of Peter. Jane has also been presented with the American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award.
HFPA President Ali Sar spoke on Fonda via a statement saying, “her undeniable talent has gained her the highest level of recognition. While her professional life has taken many turns, her unwavering commitment to evoking change has remained.”
The Golden Globes are also honouring award winning television producer Norman Lear with the Carol Burnett Award for his lifetime of award winning hit television programs. Among Lear’s hit shows are “All in the Family”, “Good Times”, “The Jeffersons”, and “Sanford and Son”.
Speaking on Lear, HFPA President Ali Sar said via a statement, “most prolific creators of this generation.” Adding that Lear, “revolutionized the industry.”
The Carol Burnett Award is presented to people “who has made outstanding contributions to television on or off the screen”.
The HFPA describes the Carol Burnett Award as the small screen version of the Cecil B. DeMille Award. A new award; only Burnett herself and Ellen DeGeneres have received the award.
The 98 year old Lear has earned numerous awards for his work including six Emmy Awards, a Peabody Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Medal of Arts, is a Kennedy Center Honor, and has been inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. After flying 52 missions in Vietnam as a member of the United States Air Force, Lear was presented with the Air Medal.