Firebrand actor Jane Fonda to receive Cecil B DeMille Award
Jane Fonda will be presented with the Cecil B DeMille Award, a special accolade of respect handed over to distinguished Hollywood actors, at this year's Golden Globes. The veteran actress will receive the award on February 28 in a celebration that will be starkly different than previous years, due to safety concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. Greyhound actor Tom Hanks received it last year.
Fonda will be the 67th recipient of this award, with past awardees being Robert De Niro, Sophia Loren, and Sean Connery among others. It is named after Cecil B DeMille, regarded as the most successful producer-director ever. He made both silent and sound films and is the founder of the Hollywood motion-picture industry. The director himself was the first recipient of the award in 1952.
Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) gives out this highest honor as part of the Golden Globes every year. HFPA President Ali Sar said they are "honored to celebrate her achievements." "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," the statement read.
Fonda, who bagged Oscars for the crime thriller Klute and the war drama Coming Home, had a headstart in comedy, a genre she aced with her role as the vicious mother-in-law of Jennifer Lopez in Monster-in-Law. In a survey by The Numbers and Stacker about the biggest box office stars since 1980, Fonda took the second position after Clint Eastwood for the year 1980.
Recently, the 83-year-old veteran actor posted a touching tribute dedicated to the late TV broadcasting legend, Larry King. She wrote a long post detailing how she "spent many fun hours with" him. Fonda recalled King's last meal that comprised "crisp calves liver, bacon and sautéed onions with mashed potatoes," and ended the post with, "I will miss Larry King. RIP dear friend."
