Matinee Classics - Classic Movies

Golden Globe (1944-2012)

Golden Globe

The Golden Globe Awards

(1944-2012)

The Golden Globe Award is an American award for professionals in the motion picture and television industries, presented by the non-profit organization Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) each year. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States joined World War II, a group of foreign journalists created a press association that would cover the U.S. entertainment industry in media around the world. The group that would become HFPA started as the Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Association (HFCP) in 1943 by Britain’s Daily Mail. They met at first in private homes, and then grew large enough to hold their meetings at the Roosevelt Hotel.

In 1944 the group inaugurated an awards ceremony to celebrate the films from the year before that they found to have the most merit. The first Golden Globe Awards was held at the 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles, and recipients received scrolls for their honors. There, Jennifer Jones was given her award for Best Actress in “The Song of Bernadette ” and Paul Lukas was bestowed the honor of Best Actor for his role in “Watch on the Rhine”. “The Song of Bernadette ” won Best Picture.

The next year, a contest was held by the members of the association to design an award that would represent the organization. President from 1945-1946 Maria Cisternas developed the idea of a globe surrounded by a strip of film and mounted on a pedestal. The idea was implemented, and remains the same today. Also in 1945, The HFCP held their first gala social event, in conjunction with the Golden Globe Awards, at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Ingrid Bergman was presented with the award for Best Actress in “The Bells of St. Mary's”, Alexander Knox earned the Golden Globe for Best Actor in “President Wilson”, and “Going My Way ” won Best Picture.

In 1951, the association divided the Best Film, Actor, and Actress nominations into two different categories: drama, and musical or comedy. In 1952 the HFCA established a special award that recognizes special achievement in the entertainment industry, which they called the Cecil B. DeMille Award after its first recipient. Walt Disney was given the award the following year.

In 1950 the organization split into two separate entities: the Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Association and the Foreign Press Association of Hollywood. For the next few years the organizations held competing award presentations – one handed out Golden Globes while the other doled out Henriettas, named after their president, Henry Gris – until they united in 1955 under their present name, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. They established firm guidelines and requirements for membership. These changes turned the Golden Globe Awards ceremony into a formal and prestigious event that millions have come to look forward to each year.

1955 also marked the first year that television actors began earning awards. The first Best Television Show honorees were “The American Comedy”, “Davy Crockett”, “Dinah Shore”, and “Lucy & Desi”. In 2007 the Golden Globes began another category of Best Animated Feature Film, in which “Cars”, “Happy Feet”, and “Monster House” were the first nominees. Today, the award show covers achievements in twenty five categories: fourteen in film and eleven in television.

Prior to 1958, awards had been handed out by the journalists who were members of the association. This changed, however, when the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin) went on stage and overtook the presentation, whiskey and cigarettes in hand. The audience enjoyed the action, and consequently the association asked them to present the awards the following year. Ever since, actors and actresses have presented the Golden Globes.

In 1962 the award ceremony was televised for the first time, by KTTV in Los Angeles. Nearly twenty years later the Golden Globes were broadcast nationally by CBS in 1981 and 1982. They were then shown on TBS, and in 1995 NBC took over broadcasting. Now, distribution is spread to over one hundred countries, allowing much of the world to see the prominent award ceremony.

In 1968 the Miss Golden Globe concept was introduced, with Eva Six winning for the film category and Donna Douglas winning for television. The honoree each year is traditionally the daughter (or son, who is then named Mr. Golden Globe) of a celebrity, and assists in the Golden Globe Awards.

Starting in 1983, Dick Clark Productions took over production of the ceremony. Because of this, in the last fifteen years, over $10 million has been donated to a number of charities related to the entertainment industry.

Meryl Streep has the most Golden Globes, at seven, with Jack Nicholson following behind with six awards. Francis Ford Coppola, Shirley MacLaine, Rosalind Russell, and Oliver Stone have all earned five. Ricky Shroeder is the youngest to have won a Golden Globe. He was nine when he won New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture for his role in “Champ” (1979). Jessica Tandy remains the oldest Golden Globe winner, with her win of Best Actress in “Driving Miss Daisy ” (1989) at age eighty one.

In 2008, the 65th Golden Globes were boycotted because of the Writers Guild Strike. Instead of the award ceremony, NBC ran a two hour Dateline. The winners were simply announced in a two hour long press conference. The awards show was resumed the following year. In 2010, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association celebrated their 66th anniversary, with members in at least fifty five countries.

The 1st Annual Golden Globe Awards (1944)

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Katina Paxinou in For Whom The Bell Tolls

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Akim Tamiroff in For Whom The Bell Tolls

Best Director - Motion Picture

Henry King for The Song of Bernadette

Actor In A Leading Role

Paul Lukas in Watch on The Rhine

Actress In A Leading Role

Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette

Best Picture

The Song of Bernadette

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The 2nd Annual Golden Globe Awards (1945)