Thank you. Thank you. I love that this man is holding the masks of comedy and tragedy. They’re both so hard to do and actually they’re almost mirror images of each other. Both of them will make you loose sleep, question your motives, wonder why you’re there, wonder why you’re doing this in the first place.
But if you’re crazy enough to want to do that in a medium that never lets you forget you were there in the first place. That lives forever. You can get one of these: A Screen Actors Guild Card. I got mine for the pilot of Bosom Buddies. My wife got hers for playing a cheerleader on the Brady Bunch. We’ve all got our wonderful stories and our wonderful memories that are connected with this.
If you’re lucky enough you get to work in an ensemble with Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, and Sally Field. And get to work under the guidance of Steve Starkey, Wendy Finerman, Bob Zemeckis, Eric Roth. If you’re really lucky you get to be singled out with: Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins, John Travolta, with um and uh Paul Newman.
I say I’m the luckiest man in the world because I’ve got the most gorgeous wife, who I would say is Miss SAG of 1982.
I’m not sure but you get to have a moment like this in front of all you, my peers, thank you, thank you. [Applause]
Outstanding Performance by a
Male Actor in a Leading Role
Cast of Paul Newman
Nobody's Fool
Transcript of Paul Newman
Nobody's Fool
Outstanding Performance by a
Male Actor in a Leading Role
Cast of Tim Robbins
The Shawshank Redemption
Transcript of Tim Robbins
The Shawshank Redemption
This has been an amazing year for me. You know I have to thank Tim Burton for seeing me in this part when I didn’t see myself in the part. He said there was no other actor he wanted for this part…and its great to get a part where audiences can laugh a little, cry a little and maybe think a little. And it was a great honor to play this actor who is really gifted. It was sort of homage to actors.
I joined SAG in 1952. It wasn’t my first union. My first was Equity and then AFTRA because it was live television. So I started in theatre and went to live television…and then I became a film actor by default. In that I was doing Sigma Core films and stuff like that in New York. And uh its’ been a long trip.
There are 78,000 actor members of SAG. This is a very meaningful thing to me because it’s my peers and I love actors, I care about actors, they are my life.
Ten years ago, there were casting directors who wouldn’t see me, agents that wouldn’t represent me and I know how tough it is to get a job and then when you get a job to do the job well. It’s a tough, tough life: Peeks and valleys, life and career.
This is a peek and I gotta say, I hope I live long enough to work with every one of those 78,000 people.
Gretchen, Gretchen this is for us and for Bella LaGouste. [Applause]
Outstanding Performance by a
Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Cast of Chazz Palminteri
Bullets Over Broadway
Transcript of Chazz Palminteri
Bullets Over Broadway
