Viola Davis was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award by Meryl Streep at the inaugural Gala on Friday.
The event marked the first time the organization hosted a special ceremony for the recipients of its two historic honors, the Cecil B. DeMille Award and the Carol Burnett Award, which in the past have been presented during the live telecast.
“To him, receiving the Carol Burnett Award is like being allowed into creativity heaven,” Steenburgen stated. “Because whether it’s The Good Place, or Man on the Inside, Fargo, Damages, Board to Death, Becker, Cheers or the extraordinary podcast he does with Woody Harrelson, he, like Carol Burnett, has always known that it’s a precious honor to take people on a journey through television.”
Danson, in his acceptance speech, delivered the humorous quips he’s been known for throughout his nearly 50-year career. “I have to admit I’ve always had a confusing relationship with awards. If I win, I feel a little embarrassed and lonely. If I don’t win, I feel a little embarrassed and lonely,” he said. “But not tonight. Not tonight. I am so thrilled to get this award, Carol. I cannot tell you how much it means to me. You have brought so much joy and happiness into households all over the world. You radiate kindness. I love you so much.”
After thanking friends, family and professional colleagues, Danson concluded his speech with a nod to his most famous character from Cheers. “As Sam Malone said, I truly am the luckiest son of a bitch I’ve ever met, and Carol, you know what’s wonderful about this award is that every year we are gathered together to celebrate laughter and joy, we will celebrate you, Carol, and we will celebrate all the funny men and women that came before us.”
Meryl Streep presented Davis the DeMille Award, as she recalled her first time hearing of the actress before working together on Doubt.
“I was talking to my friend Tony Kushner, the great playwright who wrote Angels in America, and we had just finished the televised version of that, and I played four parts in that, and I won the Emmy for it — and the SAG — that’s neither here nor there,” she said feigning egotism. “So he asked me, ‘Who’s playing Mrs. Miller?’ And I said, ‘It’s an actress I don’t know. Viola Davis.’ And he said, ‘Viola Davis? Viola Davis is my favorite actor in the entire world.’ Entire world? Really? Yeah, that was hard,” Streep added, receiving a reply of rousing laughter before acknowledging Davis’ impact as an actress.
“When I started off my career, I took a lot of jobs because of the money, because sometimes for a dark-skinned Black woman with a wide nose and big lips, that’s all there is out there,” Davis began. “If I waited for a role that was written for me, well-crafted, I wouldn’t be standing up here.”
“More often than not, I got the dead characters — like the woman standing on the street corner with the cigarette and the bad skin. The characters that are dead. That nobody cares about, no one loves. And I believe that they came to me because they knew I would love them, and I knew that there was something really, really beautiful within there, where I could find that answer, that curiosity about why the hell am I here?” she continued. “There’s no one in this room that has not answered that question, that curiosity. Why am I here? And each of those characters gave me some level of an answer. And I would use everything that I could to bring them back to life. I was a defibrillator. I could fill in the blank and make them whole.”
Concluding her speech, Davis recalled Joseph Campbell’s musings in The Hero’s Journey, “When you answer that call to adventure, the final phase is always a phase where you feel like you’re going to lose your life, but when you go to the end-most table, you don’t see God, you don’t see demons, you just see yourself. And I got the elixir. That’s what acting gave me. The elixir was that it’s on me. My life is orchestrated by me. That who little Viola was, was enough.
