The actress Viola Davis and the actor Ted Danson received honorary Golden Globes for lifetime achievement. Davis accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award for achievement in film, while Danson received the Carol Burnett Award for his work in television.
Davis and Danson accepted their awards at a gala dinner on Friday, and their wins were featured only briefly during the ceremony.
In 2017, Davis won the Golden Globe and Academy Award for best supporting actress for her performance in the August Wilson adaptation “Fences.” In 2023, she won a Grammy for best audiobook for the recording of her memoir, which made her a member of a select club: artists who have achieved EGOT status with at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony to their names. (The honorary Globe is a nice bonus.)
Davis has also been nominated for Golden Globes for her performances in the films “Doubt,” “The Help,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “The Woman King,” in addition to two nominations for her lead role in the television series “How to Get Away With Murder.”
Davis is the second Black woman to win the Cecil B. DeMille Award, which was first awarded in 1952 to the producer-director DeMille himself. Awardees in recent years have included Oprah Winfrey, Eddie Murphy, Jane Fonda, Tom Hanks and Jeff Bridges.
Danson started his career in soap operas before finding stardom in 1982 on the NBC sitcom “Cheers.” He played the former baseball player turned bartender Sam Malone, leading a cast that over 11 seasons included the likes of Shelley Long, Kirstie Alley, Woody Harrelson and Kelsey Grammer. It became one of the most popular series of its time; the show’s finale in 1993 drew more than 90 million viewers, making it one of the most-watched episodes of television ever.
He won Golden Globes in 1990 and 1991 for “Cheers,” as well as one in 1985 for the television movie “Something About Amelia.” He has 12 nominations, including one this year for “A Man on the Inside.”
Though Danson has worked in movies, like the box office hit “Three Men and a Baby,” he is mainly known for TV, especially sitcoms. His credits include long-running series like “Becker” (CBS) and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (HBO), where he played a version of himself, as well as more recent shows like “The Good Place” (NBC).
The Carol Burnett Award is a recent addition to the Globes, and was first awarded to Burnett herself in 2019. Other honorees include the comedian Ellen DeGeneres, the screenwriter and producer Norman Lear and the showrunner Ryan Murphy.
