All That Glitters Is Golden
For six decades, the Globes have been the fete to beat
Jan. 14, 2003
By Chris Koseluk
It started hunbly in 1943, when a group of foreign entertainment correspondents banded to form a nonprofit organization to honor film. Sixty years later, the organization’s premier event, the Golden Globes, is one of Hollywood’s biggest nights. The annual awards ceremony attracts the top stars of film and television and is watched by an estimated worldwide audience of more than 100 million. In a tribute to the Hollywood Foreign Press Ass., here’s a look at its winners through the years.
1998: If Christine Lahti looks a little flustered after winning the Golden Globe for best actress in a TV drama series, the reaction is justified — she was in the ladies’ room when learning that she was a 1998 winner for her work in “Chicago Hope.” Rushing to the stage after a long pause, Lahti announced, “I was just flushing the toilet when I heard I had won!”
1993: Celebrating its half-century mark in 1993, the Globes was established as Hollywood’s coolest event. With cigarette in hand and his darkest shades in place, Jack Nicholson was ready to party — and why not? He was nominated for two prizes that year. Although Nicholson left empty-handed, one must think he still had a great time that night.
1987: Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis were television’s hippest couple, thanks to “Moonlighting.” They also were dual Golden Globe winners as they took home statuettes for, respectively, best actress and actor in a comedy or musical TV series.
1991: Few were surprised when “Green Card” was announced as the winner for best comedy or musical motion picture during the 1991 Golden Globes ceremony — but there were a few shocked faces when star Andie MacDowell approached the podium to accept the statuette. Her Isaac Mizrahi gown hung so low in the back that the star-studded audience was stunned to see how little of MacDowell had been left to the imagination.
1955-56: Marlon Brando was a Golden Globe winner in 1955 and 1956, claiming, respectively, the prize for best actor in a motion picture, drama (for “On the Waterfront”), and world film favorite, male.
1954: The Golden Globes ceremony might have been less formal during the early years, but it was no less star-studded — as Frank Sinatra proved in 1954, when he picked up a statuette for best supporting actor in a motion picture for “From Here to Eternity.”
1983: Laurence Olivier was so thrilled to receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award during the 1983 Globes that he did not mind being on the receiving end of congratulatory kisses from that year’s male film acting winners, Ben Kingsley, below left, and Dustin Hoffman.
1980: Bette Midler’s performance in “The Rose” inspired the HFPA to honor her with two Golden Globes in 1980 as best actress in a motion picture, comedy or musical, and new star of the year in a motion picture, female. Never at a loss for words, Midler noted the double win by bounding up onstage, shaking her chest and proclaiming, “I’ll show ya a pair of Golden Globes!”
1966: David McCallum, left, and Robert Vaughn spar jokingly over who gets to hold the Golden Globe for best TV show, earned in 1966 by their hit series “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” Sharing was a necessity — both actors had been shut out in the best male TV star category by “The Fugitive’s” David Janssen.
1959: By 1959, the Golden Globes was firmly established as “The Hollywood Party of the Year,” where such Hollywood luminaries such as husband-and-wife Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh could party the night away with colleague Cary Grant. Curtis was vying that year for best actor in a motion picture, drama, for his performance in “The Defiant Ones.” He lost to David Niven in “Separate Tables,” but his film still took home the Globe as best motion picture, drama.
1977: No one can say that the HFPA can’t spot star power. The organization recognized Arnold Schwarzenegger’s potential in 1977, awarding his performance in “Stay Hungry” with a Golden Globe for best acting debut in a motion picture, male.
