Dame Helen Mirren received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes kickoff event 'Golden Eve' on Thursday evening. The honour was presented by Harrison Ford, who praised Mirren as a 'badass' and highlighted their long-standing professional relationship, which began with 1986's 'The Mosquito Coast' and continued with Taylor Sheridan's '1923'.
In his introduction, Ford said: 'Helen Mirren can play a badass because she is one. A badass is raw, authentic, formidable, tough and fearless. That pretty much describes Helen the woman, and Helen the artist.' After a montage of her work, Ford bowed down, adding: 'She's been the Queen of England on screen, but she is truly majestic in everything that she does.'
Mirren, a three-time Golden Globe winner, joked in her acceptance speech about her first two awards: 'I was the proud owner of two large balls, which, as you can imagine, really helped me in my career.' She described the DeMille Award as 'a life lived, a life survived, a life enjoyed' and insisted it was not a eulogy, adding: 'If this were my memorial, I'm absolutely thrilled who showed up for me, and I am making a list of the no-shows.'
She thanked colleagues including Ryan Reynolds, Will Smith, Anthony Hopkins, Vin Diesel, Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis and Al Pacino, and quipped about advice from Victor Mature on speaking while holding in one's stomach, noting that 'Spanx and Ozempic' have made that advice redundant.
