Golden Globe Award

The Golden Globe Award is an American accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. The annual formal ceremony and dinner at which the awards are presented is a major part of the film industry's awards season, which culminates each year with the Academy Awards.

The 72nd Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 2014, were presented on January 11, 2015, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, where they have been held annually since 1961.

History

In 1943 a group of writers banded together to form the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and, by creating a generously distributed award called the Golden Globe Award, they now play a significant role in film marketing. The 1st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best achievements in 1943 filmmaking, were held late in January 1944, at the 20th Century-Fox studios. Subsequent ceremonies were held at various venues throughout the next decade, including the Beverly Hills Hotel, and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

In 1950, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association made the decision to establish a special honorary award to recognize outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry. Recognizing its subject as an international figure within the entertainment industry, the first award was presented to director and producer, Cecil B. DeMille. The official name of the award thus became the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

In 1963, the Miss Golden Globe concept was introduced. In its inaugural year, two Miss Golden Globes were named, one for film and one for television. The two Miss Golden Globes named that year were Eva Six (of the films Operation Bikini and Beach Party) and Donna Douglas (of television's The Beverly Hillbillies), respectively.

In 2009, the Golden Globe statuette was redesigned (but not for the first time in its history). The New York firm Society Awards collaborated for a year with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to produce a statuette that included a unique marble and enhanced the statuetteâ€™s quality and gold content. It was unveiled at a press conference at the Beverly Hilton prior to the show.

Revenues generated from the annual ceremony have enabled the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to donate millions of dollars to entertainment-related charities, as well as funding scholarships and other programs for future film and television professionals. The most prominent beneficiary being the Young Artist Awards, presented annually by the Young Artist Foundation, established in 1978 by late Hollywood Foreign Press member, Maureen Dragone to recognize and award excellence of young Hollywood performers under the age of 21, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.

Ceremony

The broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, telecast to 167 countries worldwide, generally ranks as the third most-watched awards show each year, behind only the Oscars and the Grammy Awards. Until Ricky Gervais hosted the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards Ceremony in 2010, the award ceremony was one of two major Hollywood award ceremonies (the other being the Screen Actors Guild Awards) that did not have a regular host; every year a different presenter introduced the ceremony at the beginning of the broadcast. Gervais returned to host the 68th annual Golden Globe Awards in 2011, and the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards in 2012. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the 70th annual Golden Globe Awards in 2013, the 71st annual Golden Globe Awards in 2014, and the 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards in 2015. The Golden Globe Awards' theme song, which debuted in 2012, was written by Japanese musician and songwriter Yoshiki Hayashi.

2008 disruption

On January 7, 2008, it was announced that due to the 2007â€"2008 Writers Guild of America strike, the 65th Golden Globe Awards would not be telecast live. The ceremony was faced with a threat by striking writers to picket the event and by actors threatening to boycott the ceremony rather than cross picket lines. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association was forced to adopt another approach for the broadcast.

NBC originally had exclusive broadcast rights to the ceremonies, but on January 11, HFPA President Jorge Camara announced there would be no restrictions placed on media outlets covering the January 13 press conference, announcing the winners at 6:00pm PST. As a result, E!, CNN, the TV Guide Network and KNBC-TV, the network's Los Angeles owned-and-operated affiliate, aired the 31-minute event, emanating from the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel live, leaving NBC to fill the hour from 9:00â€"10:00pm ET with announcements, made after-the-fact by Access Hollywood hosts Billy Bush and Nancy O'Dell. The remaining hours of programming, set aside for the ceremonies by the network, were filled with a special two-hour edition of Dateline, hosted by Matt Lauer, that included film clips, interviews with some of the nominees and commentary from comedian Kathy Griffin and the panelists from Football Night in America.

Superlatives

In acting categories, Meryl Streep holds the record for the most competitive Golden Globe wins with eight. However, including honorary awards, such as the Henrietta Award, World Film Favorite Actor/Actress Award, or Cecil B. DeMille Award, Barbra Streisand leads with nine. Additionally, Streisand won for composing the song Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born), producing the Best Picture (Comedy/Musical) (A Star Is Born in the ceremony held in 1977), and directing Yentl in 1984. Jack Nicholson, Angela Lansbury, Alan Alda and Shirley MacLaine have six awards each. Behind them are Rosalind Russell, Sophia Loren, Julie Andrews and Jessica Lange with five wins. Meryl Streep also holds the record for most nominations with twenty-nine (as of the 2015 nominations) and John Williams is second with twenty-five.

In the category Best Director, Elia Kazan leads with four wins, followed by Clint Eastwood, Oliver Stone, MiloÅ¡ Forman, David Lean and Martin Scorsese with three wins each. Steven Spielberg holds the record for most nominations with eleven (as of the 2015 nominations). Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood and Steven Soderbergh are the only directors to receive two nominations in the same year.

Only four people have won two acting awards in the same year:

Sigourney Weaver (1989)
- Best Actress in a Motion Picture â€" Drama, Gorillas in the Mist
- Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, Working Girl
Joan Plowright (1993)
- Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, Enchanted April
- Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or TV Film, Stalin
Helen Mirren (2007)
- Best Actress in a Motion Picture â€" Drama, The Queen
- Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film, Elizabeth I
Kate Winslet (2009)
- Best Actress in a Motion Picture â€" Drama, Revolutionary Road
- Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, The Reader

Other superlatives:

Most awards won by a single film
- Five films have won five Golden Globe Awards.
  - Doctor Zhivago
  - Love Story
  - The Godfather
  - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  - A Star is Born
Most nominations received by a single film
- Nashville, with nine nominations
Highest Sweep (Winning every nominated category)
- Three films won all five Golden Globes that they were nominated for.
  - Doctor Zhivago
  - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  - A Star is Born
Most nominations without winning an award
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Godfather Part III, both with seven nominations.
Youngest person to win an award
- Ricky Schroeder winning New Star of the Year â€" Actor in 1980 (9 years old).
Oldest person to win an award
- Christopher Plummer winning Best Supporting Actor â€" Motion Picture for Beginners (82 years old).

Criticism

1968â€"1974 NBC broadcast ban

The HFPA has had a lucrative contract with NBC for decades, which began broadcasting the award ceremony locally in Los Angeles in 1958, then nationally in 1964. However, in 1968, the Federal Communications Commission claimed the show â€œmisled the public as to how the winners were determinedâ€ (allegations included that winners were determined by lobby; to motivate winners to show up to the awards ceremony winners were informed if they did not attend another winner would be named). The FCC admonished NBC for participating in the scandal. Subsequently, NBC refused to broadcast the ceremony from 1968 until after 1974.

Pia Zadora awarded 1982 "New-Star-of-the-Year in a Motion Picture"

In 1982, Pia Zadora won a Golden Globe in the category "New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture - Female" for her performance in Butterfly, over such competition as Elizabeth McGovern (Ragtime) and Kathleen Turner (Body Heat). Accusations were made that the Foreign Press Association members had been bought off. Zadora's husband, multimillionaire Meshulam Riklis, flew voting members to his casino, the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, which gave the appearance that they voted for Zadora to repay this. Riklis also invited voting members to his house for a lavish lunch and a showing of the film. He also spent a great deal on advertising. Furthermore, Zadora had made her film debut some 17 years earlier as a child performer in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

2011 The Tourist Best Musical/Comedy nominations

The nominations for the 2011 Globes drew initial skepticism, as the Foreign Press Association nominated The Tourist in its Best Musical/Comedy category, despite the critical failures of the film and that it was originally advertised as a spy thriller. Rumors then surfaced that Sony, the distributor of The Tourist, had bribed Globes voters with an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas, culminating in a concert by Cher.

References

External links

Official Golden Globes website
Awards listing at Official Golden Globes website
Awards listing at the Internet Movie Database

Golden Globe Award

Wednesday, April 15, 2015