Lily Tomlin is adding another honor to her esteemed career. The actress has been named the 53rd recipient of the SAG Life Achievement Award, which recognizes those who embody the “finest ideals of the acting profession.”
The “Grace and Frankie” actress will accept the prestigious trophy at the SAG Awards in LA. The event will air live nationwide on TNT and TBS on January 29, 2017.
Tomlin’s other high-profile accolades, as reported by Variety, include the 2014 Kennedy Center Award, the 2003 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, two Peabody Awards, five Emmys, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, a WGA Award, and both the Crystal Award and the Lucy Award from Women in Film. She received two Golden Globe nominations in 2016, one for the abortion dramedy “Grandma,”the other for her role on Netflix’s BFF comedy “Grace and Frankie.”
Her breakout role came in the early ’70s in the TV series “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.” Tomlin scored an Oscar and Golden Globe nod for her debut feature, 1975’s “Nashville.” Her other credits include “The Lily Tomlin Special” (1975), “The Late Show” (1977), “Nine to Five” (1980), “The Incredible Shrinking Woman” (1981),“Murphy Brown” (1996–1998), “The West Wing” (2002–2006), and “I Heart Huckabees” (2004).
SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris said, “Lily Tomlin is an extraordinary actress, as equally adept at narrative drama as in comedy roles. But it is through her many original characters that Lily’s creative genius fully shines. She has an ability to create diverse and distinct characters that are at once familiar, eccentric and oh so honest — in a way that illuminates life’s hidden corners… On behalf of nearly 160,000 SAG-AFTRA members, we are honored to bestow our SAG Life Achievement Award on the truly amazing Lily Tomlin.”
Last year’s SAG Life Achievement honoree was Carol Burnett. Since 2000, nine of the 17 recipients of the Life Achievement Award have been women: Ruby Dee (2000), Shirley Temple (2005), Julie Andrews (2006), Betty White (2009), Mary Tyler Moore (2011), Rita Moreno (2013), Debbie Reynolds (2014), Carol Burnett (2015) and now Tomlin (2016).
When Women and Hollywood asked Tomlin and her “Grace and Frankie” co-star Jane Fonda if they think the industry is improving when it comes to roles for older women, Tomlin said, “It’s way better than it was, say in 1949. Just the fact Jane and I exist — we’ve had such long careers and we’ve managed to thrive.”
