The Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award is presented by the
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to mer ...
's National Honors and Tributes Committee for "outstanding achievement in fostering the finest ideals of the acting profession." It predates the
1st Screen Actors Guild Awards
The Inaugural Screen Actors Guild Awards aired on NBC from Stage 12, Universal Studios, on February 25, 1995. Unveiled during this evening for the first time was the Guild's new award statuette, The Actor, as well as the first awards for ensembles ...
by over thirty years. The award's first recipient was performer and comedian
Eddie Cantor, in 1962.
Since then, it has been presented every year except 1963, 1981 and 2021. On two occasions, two people received the award the same year: in 1985, when it was presented to actor
Paul Newman and actress
Joanne Woodward,
and in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
, when it was presented to
civil rights activists
Ossie Davis
Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP I ...
and
Ruby Dee.
The award was not given in 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. As of 2021, 59 people have received the award, of whom 39 are men and 20 women.
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren (born Helen Lydia Mironoff; born 26 July 1945) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the only performer to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdom. ...
was announced as the recipient for the 2021 award.
Award recipients
References
{{Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award
Lifetime achievement awards