‘No eulogy’: Lifetime achievement gong for Helen Mirren

By Casey Cooper-Fiske and John Besley

Harrison Ford has hailed Dame Helen Mirren’s “undeniable screen presence” as the British actress’ storied career was honoured by the Golden Globes at a special ceremony in Beverly Hills.

The 80-year-old became the 71st recipient of the Cecil B Demille Award for lifetime achievement during the inaugural Golden Eve special on Thursday evening ahead of Sunday’s Golden Globes ceremony.

During her acceptance speech, Dame Helen said: “The DeMille Award was described to me as a career recognition.

“But I prefer to think of it as a life lived, a life survived, a life enjoyed, a life sweated, and a life carried on, hopefully.

“And given that hope, I prefer to think of this as an ongoing reflection of my career rather than a eulogy.”

Dame Helen was presented the award by her 1923 co-star Ford, who described her as a “bad ass” and called her “an undeniable screen presence who brings to every scene a powerful commitment to narrative and character”.

The actor, who played Han Solo in the Star Wars film franchise, bowed as he said: “I just want to sum up one of the greatest actresses of all time in a few seconds, I for one, bow to her talent.”

An Oscar winner for The Queen, her 2006 portrayal of Elizabeth II, Dame Helen has also won three Golden Globes for work in both film and TV.

She is also an Emmy, SAG, Bafta and Tony-winning actress. She was made a dame in 2003 in acknowledgement of her artistic achievements.

Dame Helen joins a storied group of DeMille Award recipients since 1952, including Sidney Poitier, Meryl Streep, Barbra Streisand, Viola Davis, Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks and Jeff Bridges.

She went on to say the awards “always held a little piece of my heart” as they were “the very first in organisation in America to give me an award”.

Dame Helen continued: “As eccentric as that group was, they noticed a small piece called Losing Chase that was way under the radar, and gave me a beautiful golden ball.

“Then they followed it with another, and I was the proud owner of two large balls, which, as you can imagine, really helped me in my career.”