Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated actor Alan Alda, best known for his role as Capt. Hawkeye Pierce on “M*A*S*H,” received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award Sunday evening at the 25th annual SAG Awards ceremony.
“He is an artist whose body of work is a testament to the craft and the magic of our business,” SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris said last year when the honor was announced. “His ability to make us laugh, to think and to feel is extraordinary. From theater to television, movies and new media, Alan’s dedication and talent are exceeded only by his contributions to a just and caring society.”
The Life Achievement Award is given to an actor who “fosters the finest ideals of the acting profession.” Alda was presented with the award by Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks.
“It’s really hard to describe to you what it feels like to look out and se my fellow actors, my colleagues, my heroes, to welcome me up here like this,” Alda said as the star-studded crowd at the Shrine Auditorium welcomed him with a standing ovation. “It’s an extraordinary feeling.
“… This comes at a time when I’ve had a chance to look back on my life and to think what its meant to be an actor. I see more than ever how proud I am to be a member our brotherhood and sisterhood of actors. When we get a chance to act, it’s our job at least in part to get inside a character’s head and … see another person’s vision of the world and then to let an audience experience that. It may never have been more urgent to see the world through another person’s eyes when a culture is divided so sharply.
“When a culture is divided so sharply, actors can help at least a little just by doing what we do. And the nice part is, it’s fun to do it. So my wish for all of us is, let’s stay playful, let’s have fun. And let’s keep searching. It’s can’t solve everything, but it wouldn’t hurt.”
Alda, who will turn 83 on Monday, won Emmy awards for acting, directing and writing on “M*A*S*H,” which ran from 1972 to 1983 and was one of television’s most successful comedy series. He also scored a supporting-actor Emmy in 2006 for his work on “The West Wing,” and was most recently nominated for an Emmy for a 2015 guest appearance on “The Blacklist.”
He was nominated for a supporting-actor Oscar in 2005 for “The Aviator,” but lost to Morgan Freeman.
The New York native’s other film credits include “The Four Seasons,” “Bridge of Spies,” “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” “California Suite,” “Same Time, Next Year,” “Sweet Liberty,” “Manhattan Murder Mystery” and “Tower Heist.”
He began his acting career on stage, and earned Tony nominations for his work in “The Apple Tree,” “Jake’s Women” and “Glengarry Glen Ross.”
Alda founded the nonprofit Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University in New York, providing communications training for more than 12,000 scientists and medical professionals, and he also hosts the Clear and Vivid podcast series.