In today’s most shocking bit of news out of Hollywood, Tom Hanks has been announced as the next recipient of the Cecil B. deMille Award, which means that Tom Hanks has not already won the Cecil B. DeMille Award. Forrest Gump doesn’t have this award? Did the people at the Golden Globes miss every major movie, live action and animated, of the past 35 years? Thankfully, this wrong is finally being righted.It was announced on Tuesday that Hanks will receive the prestigious honour at the 2020 Golden Globes. “The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is proud to bestow the 2020 Cecil B. DeMille Award to Tom Hanks,” said HFPA President Lorenzo Soria in a press release issued on Tuesday. “For more than three decades, he’s captivated audiences with rich and playful characters that we’ve grown to love and admire. As compelling as he is on the silver screen, he’s equally so behind the camera as a writer, producer and director.”Hanks first began acting in the early 1980s, but it was his roles later in the decade in films like
The Money Pit, Big, and
Turner and Hooch that turned the loveable actor into a household name. Boasting an incredible film history that spans romance, comedy, animation, historical, and drama, Hanks is one of the most versatile and respected actors of all time, thanks to his work in movies like
A League of Their Own, Philadelphia, Sleepless in Seattle, Apollo 13, Toy Story, Saving Private Ryan, You’ve Got Mail, Forrest Gump, The Green Mile, Castaway, Captain Phillips, The Post, Saving Mr. Banks and more. Most recently, Hanks has taken on a role he seemed born to play, slipping on Fred Rogers’ cardigan to play the beloved children’s TV host in A
Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood.Hanks took home back-to-back Academy Awards in 1993 for
Philadelphia and 1994 for
Forrest Gump, making him only the second actor in history to ever do so. He’s won seven Primetime Emmys, four Golden Globes, two Screen Actor Guild Awards, and in 2014 he received the Kennedy Center Honor.In addition to acting, Hanks has also enjoyed a successful career as a writer, including
a book and the feel-good nostalgia musical
That Thing You Do!. He’s produced several TV shows and films, including
Larry Crowne, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Mamma Mia! and
Band of Brothers, which he also took home an Emmy for in directing. Plus, there was his short-lived but very
Canadian foray into music videos.Chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press, the recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille award is someone who has made “
outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.” So, Tom Hanks. The award was first presented to its namesake in 1952, the same year DeMille released his film
The Greatest Show on Earth. In 1953, Walt Disney was given the award, with the prestigious list of honourees also including Alfred Hitchcock, Lucille Ball, Sidney Poitier, Sophia Loren, Sean Connery, Barbra Streisand and most recently, Jeff Bridges.The tone of the speeches for the Cecil B. DeMille award have shown a wide range in the past. In 2019, Bridges kept his speech personal, even thanking his horse. Seriously. In 2018 and 2017,
Oprah Winfrey and
Meryl Streep respectively used their time on stage to issue rallying cries to put an end to inequality for women in the workplace and stop the mistreatment of immigrants in the US. We have a feeling Hanks is going to land somewhere in the middle.The 77
th Annual Golden Globes will air Sunday, January 5 at 8 p.m. ET on CTV.
