Eddie Murphy Wins Lifetime Achievement Award From Golden Globes

Eddie Murphy has been announced as the recipient of next year’s Golden Globes’ lifetime achievement honor, the Cecil B. DeMille Award. The legendary comedian and actor will accept at what the revamped Hollywood Foreign Press Association is hoping will mark a comeback ceremony, following a year in which the group skipped naming a Cecil B. DeMille winner entirely while announcing its competitive category winners on Twitter.

“We’re honored to present this year’s Cecil B. DeMille Award to the iconic and highly esteemed Mr. Eddie Murphy,”  HFPA president Helen Hoehne said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to be celebrating the lasting impact on film and television that his career—in front of and behind the camera—has had through the decades.”

Following a relatively quiet nominations morning for the Globes earlier this week, the news puts another point in the broadcast’s column as it and NBC hope to lure stars back to the Beverly Hilton for the star-studded event this ceremony used to be known for; questions remain about just how many stars will attend, with at least one high-profile nominee, Brendan Fraser, confirming he will not. The announcement of the 61-year-old Murphy’s honor follows the news that Emmy-winning comic Jerrod Carmichael will host the show.

Murphy won the Golden Globe and was nominated for the Academy Award for best supporting actor back in 2007, for Dreamgirls; he abruptly left the latter ceremony after losing his category to Little Miss Sunshine’s Alan Arkin, and that upset has since been widely credited to his derided comedy film, Norbit, hitting theaters close to the period of Oscar voting. Murphy has been nominated for five additional Globes, from his 1982 breakout 48 Hrs. to his 2019 comeback vehicle, Dolemite Is My Name, and won his first Emmy two years ago for guest-hosting Saturday Night Live. 

Murphy follows recent honorees Jane Fonda, Tom Hanks, and Jeff Bridges. With the exception of 2018 honoree Oprah Winfrey (who’d won an honorary Oscar), Murphy is the first Cecil B. DeMille Award recipient in 20 years to have not won an Academy Award, going back to 2002’s Harrison Ford. He’s also the rare comedian to receive this lifetime-achievement prize. The HFPA recently introduced the Carol Burnett Award to recognize TV icons, having honored comedy greats like its namesake and Ellen DeGeneres so far. As to whether we’ll have two legendary funny people on the stage next month? We’ll have to wait and see. 

The 2023 Golden Globes will air live from the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on January 10.