Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress Helen Mirren received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award Sunday evening, the highest honor bestowed by the performers’ union.
Mirren is the 57th recipient of the SAG Life Achievement Award. The Life Achievement Award is presented annually to the actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession.”
“Lifetime achievement — sounds so grand,” Mirren told the star-studded crowed at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. “I suppose I’m still alive so by that measure I’m eligible. But honestly any achievement that I’ve succeeded in is the result of my mantra, which is be on time and don’t be an ass.”
She added, “Thank you S-A-G so much for this. I hate to say the word sag at my age. It’s always S-A-G for me.”
Mirren won an Academy Award in 2006 for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in “The Queen.” She was nominated for another best-actress Oscar for 2009’s “The Last Station” and supporting-actress honors for “Gosford Park” and “The Madness of King George.” She is also a five-time SAG Award winner, including for her work in “The Queen” and “Gosford Park.”
“Dame Helen Mirren is quite simply a brilliant and luminous talent. Her work runs the gamut of characters from a not-so-retired CIA super-killer and a ruthless Russian spy handler to a Hungarian cleaning lady and the most exquisite Elizabeth II,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said when the honor was announced. “She has set the bar very high for all actors and, in role after role, she exceeds even her own extraordinary performances.”
Mirren also won Emmy Awards for her roles in “Prime Suspect” and the HBO miniseries “Elizabeth I,” as well as “The Passion of Any Rand.”
She won a Tony Award for her role on Broadway in “The Audience.”
She was presented with the life achievement award by Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett.
Winslet said Mirren “commits her heart and soul” to her performances, saying her “commitment and integrity inspire us all.”
Blanchett introduced a montage of Mirren’s performances, saying, “Words alone never suffice. Her work speaks for itself.”
Mirren insisted that she is “driven by the understanding that I absolutely do not deserve this.”
But she paid tribute to her fellow actors.
“I joined our tribe of rogues and vagabonds a long time ago and it is you, you actors, that I want to thank for your wit and your humor,” she said. “… All the laughter. I’ve laughed my whole life honestly. Your perception. Your emotional generosity. Your great intelligence. And your incredible energy and your helpless dedication to our chosen profession.”