“King’s Speech,” “The Fighter” win big at Screen Actors Guild Awards
Melissa Leo hoists her Actor trophy for best supporting actress in "The Fighter" at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles. (Associated Press photo)
The British monarchy drama “The King’s Speech” continued to gain momentum leading up to the Feb. 27 Academy Awards and former Tulsan Melissa Leo earned another honor for her turn as a domineering matriarch in the boxing biopic “The Fighter” Sunday night during the 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles.
“The King’s Speech” received the SAG’s equivalent of best picture, outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture, along with another best actor win for Colin Firth, who plays King George VI in the inspirational tale of his efforts to overcome his stutter.
While she was born in and studied acting in New York, Leo actually took the first steps toward her acting career in Tulsa. She kicked around there for about a year before starting college, drawn to the town by a whim and a family friend who lived there.
“I’ve always wanted to be an actor and eventually I just couldn’t bear it any more. I worked at a Skelly gas station, I worked at a bakery. I picked up the yellow pages and I looked theater, theater, theater, and there were a bunch of movie theaters and the Gaslight Dinner Theatre. And I drove out there and I used to do their stage management for them,” Leo told me in a 2008 interview with The Oklahoman.
Leo, 50, went on to study drama at the Mount View Theatre School in London and State University of New York at Purchase. She got her start on the TV soap “All My Children,” beating out Julia Roberts for the part.
Also honored with Actor statuettes were Leo’s “The Fighter” co-star Christian Bale for best supporting actor and Natalie Portman for best actress for her leading turn in the ballet drama “Black Swan.”
In the television categories, Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Claire Danes, Julianna Margulies, Al Pacino, and Betty White earned honors for their performances. The Actor for television drama and comedy ensemble performances went to “Boardwalk Empire” and “Modern Family.”
SAG’s honors for outstanding performances by a stunt ensemble in film and television were awarded to “Inception” and “True Blood.”
Morgan Freeman presented Ernest Borgnine with Screen Actors Guild’s highest honor, the 47th Annual Life Achievement Award, following a filmed tribute introduced by Tim Conway.
Dennis Haysbert introduced a lively film montage that saluted actors who perform in commercials. Hillary Swank introduced a filmed “In Memoriam” tribute to the actors who have passed away in the past year.
Voting procedures to choose the recipients were sent to the nearly 100,000 active members of Screen Actors Guild nationwide.
See the complete list of recipients of the 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards after the break.
Colin Firth holds his Actor statuettes for best actor and as part of the best motion picture ensemble for "The King's Speech" at Sunday's SAG Awards. (AP photo)
17th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS RECIPIENTS
THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
COLIN FIRTH / King George VI – “THE KING’S SPEECH” (The Weinstein Company)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
NATALIE PORTMAN / Nina Sayers – “BLACK SWAN” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
CHRISTIAN BALE / Dicky Eklund – “THE FIGHTER” (Paramount Pictures and Relativity Media)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
MELISSA LEO / Alice Ward – “THE FIGHTER” (Paramount Pictures and Relativity Media)
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
THE KING’S SPEECH (The Weinstein Company)
ANTHONY ANDREWS / Stanley Baldwin
HELENA BONHAM CARTER / Queen Elizabeth
JENNIFER EHLE / Myrtle Logue
COLIN FIRTH / King George VI
MICHAEL GAMBON / King George V
DEREK JACOBI / Archbishop Cosmo Lang
GUY PEARCE / King Edward VIII
GEOFFREY RUSH / Lionel Logue
TIMOTHY SPALL / Winston Churchill
PRIMETIME TELEVISION
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
AL PACINO / Jack Kevorkian – “YOU DON’T KNOW JACK” (HBO)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
CLAIRE DANES / Temple Grandin – “TEMPLE GRANDIN” (HBO)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
STEVE BUSCEMI / Nucky Thompson – “BOARDWALK EMPIRE” (HBO)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
JULIANNA MARGULIES / Alicia Florrick – “THE GOOD WIFE” (CBS)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy – “30 ROCK” (NBC)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
BETTY WHITE / Elka Ostrovsky – “HOT IN CLEVELAND” (TV Land)
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
BOARDWALK EMPIRE (HBO)
GREG ANTONACCI / Johnny Torrio
STEVE BUSCEMI / Nucky Thompson
DABNEY COLEMAN / Commodore Louis Kaestner
PAZ DE LA HUERTA / Lucy Danzinger
STEPHEN GRAHAM / Al Capone
ANTHONY LACIURA / Eddie Kessler
KELLY MACDONALD / Margaret Schroeder
GRETCHEN MOL / Gillian Darmody
ALEKSA PALLADINO / Angela Darmody
VINCENT PIAZZA / Lucky Luciano
MICHAEL PITT / Jimmy Darmody
MICHAEL SHANNON / Agent Nelson Van Alden
PAUL SPARKS / Mickey Doyle
MICHAEL STUHLBARG / Arnold Rothstein ERIK WEINER / Agent Sebso
SHEA WHIGHAM / Sheriff Elias Thompson
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
JULIE BOWEN / Claire Dunphy
TY BURRELL / Phil Dunphy
JESSE TYLER FERGUSON / Mitchell Pritchett
NOLAN GOULD / Luke Dunphy
SARAH HYLAND / Haley Dunphy
ED O’NEILL / Jay Pritchett
RICO RODRIGUEZ / Manny Delgado
ERIC STONESTREET / Cameron Tucker
SOFIA VERGARA / Gloria Delgado-Pritchett
ARIEL WINTER / Alex Dunphy
SAG HONORS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
INCEPTION (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
TRUE BLOOD (HBO)
LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Screen Actors Guild Awards 47th Annual Life Achievement Award
Ernest Borgnine
-BAM
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