Jane Fonda will receive the Cecil B. deMille Award at this year’s Golden Globes, adding yet another statuette to her packed mantle. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced on Tuesday that she would be the 2021 recipient of the honorary award, praising her category-defying career as both a powerhouse movie star and an activist.
“The Hollywood Foreign Press Association takes great pride in bestowing the 2021 Cecil B. deMille Award to Jane Fonda,” said HFPA President Ali Sar. “For more than five decades, Jane’s breadth of work has been anchored in her unrelenting activism, using her platform to address some of the most important social issues of our time. Her undeniable talent has gained her the highest level of recognition, and while her professional life has taken many turns, her unwavering commitment to evoking change has remained. We are honored to celebrate her achievements at the 2021 Golden Globe Awards.”
Fonda has won seven Golden Globes over the last seven decades, picking up her first statuette in 1962 for most promising newcomer (a now defunct category) for the film Tall Story. Her most recent nod was for best supporting actress in 2015’s Youth. Fonda, who currently stars on the Netflix series Grace and Frankie, is also a two-time Oscar winner.
The 2020 Cecil B. deMille recipient was Tom Hanks, who delivered a warm speech about his family and his love of acting, getting choked up at numerous points. Prior to Hanks, the award in recent has been something of a political lightning rod, inspiring galvanizing speeches from 2017 recipient Meryl Streep and 2018 recipient Oprah Winfrey. (2019 recipient Jeff Bridges delivered a decidedly groovier speech.) Streep lambasted former president Donald Trump without ever uttering his name, while Winfrey delivered rousing support for the #MeToo movement. Her speech was so impactful that many viewed it as a de facto announcement of a potential presidential campaign (which, of course, it was not). Fonda, a decades-long activist who, most recently, got arrested numerous times at a series of climate crisis protests, likely won’t miss an opportunity to use the platform in a similar fashion.
This year’s Golden Globes will air on NBC on Feb. 28. The ceremony will be hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, marking their fourth time emceeing the awards show.
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