Golden Globes week officially got underway in Los Angeles with Golden Eve, a pre-ceremony celebration on Thursday, January 8.
Per Variety, the evening honored Dame Helen Mirren with the Cecil B. DeMille Award. She was introduced to the stage by Harrison Ford, her longtime collaborator, who first worked with her on The Mosquito Coast in the 1980s before reuniting years later on the television show, 1923.
Ford didn’t bother with formalities, telling the room that the word that best describes Mirren isn’t “Dame,” but “bada**.” He went on to praise her fearlessness, authenticity, and commanding presence.
Once on stage, Mirren reflected on her history with the Golden Globes, and she pointed out that the organization was the first in the U.S. to recognize her work.
“They noticed a small piece called Losing Chase that was way under the radar, and gave me a beautiful golden ball,” Mirren said. “Then they followed it with another, and I was the proud owner of two large balls, which, as you can imagine, really helped me in my career.”
She framed the DeMille Award not as a career capstone, but as something much more alive. Rather than calling it a lifetime achievement, she described it as “a life lived, a life survived, a life enjoyed,” adding that she preferred to see it as an ongoing reflection—not a farewell.
Joking about the crowd, she added that if this were her memorial, she was “absolutely thrilled” by who showed up and was already “making a list of the no-shows.”
Throughout her remarks, Mirren paid tribute to collaborators she’s admired over the years, name-checking the wit of Ryan Reynolds, the intensity of Anthony Hopkins, the kindness of Bruce Willis, and the might of Ford himself.
She even tossed in a practical acting lesson she once learned from Victor Mature—before quipping that modern shortcuts like Spanx and Ozempic may have rendered it obsolete.
The night also honored Sarah Jessica Parker, who received the Carol Burnett Award for her work on Sex and the City and beyond.