Morgan Freeman to Receive Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement at Golden Globes

Chris Pizzello/AP Photo

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced Wednesday that actor Morgan Freeman will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, January 15. Actress Amy Adams (The Muppets) and writer/director Pedro Almodovar (The Skin I Live In) revelaed the news during a press conference.

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The 74-year-old, whose booming voice has been likened to God's, made his film debut in 1964. In the years since, he has given memorable performances in dozens of critically and/or commercially successful films. Among the best known: Jerry Schatzberg's Street Smart (1987), Bruce Beresford's Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Edward Zwick's Glory (1989), Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992), Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption (1994), David Fincher's Se7en (1995), Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997), Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby (2004), Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone (2007), Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008), and Eastwood's Invictus (2009).

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Freeman has received five Academy Award nominations and five Golden Globe nominations, winning the best supporting actor Oscar for Million Dollar Baby and the best actor (musical or comedy) Globe for Driving Miss Daisy.

Previous recipients of the honor, which is determined by the HFPA's board of directors, include Alfred Hitchcock, Lucille Ball, Sidney Poitier, Sophia Loren, Sean Connery, Barbra Streisand, Martin Scorsese, and, at last year's ceremony, Robert De Niro.