Denzel Washington picks up AFI Life Achievement Award, while Jamie Foxx and Julia Roberts pay tribute
- Oscar-winning veteran actor turns focus on his wife of the past 40 years, Paulette, at star-studded gala in Los Angeles as he receives AFI Life Achievement Award
American actor Denzel Washington was the man of the hour last Thursday night with numerous celebrities, from actress Julia Roberts to director Spike Lee turning out to celebrate him as this year’s recipient of the American Film Institute [AFI] Life Achievement Award.
[Denzel Washington is] someone who is just better than everybody else … when it comes to acting! Even [actor] Leonardo DiCaprio is like, ‘I am really frightened of Denzel’
Yet when Washington, the star of Training Day, The Equalizer films and The Magnificent Seven, finally took to the stage to thunderous applause to accept the honour, he did something unexpected: Washington turned the spotlight away from himself and gave his wife of 40 years, Pauletta Washington, her own standing ovation.
The crowd of multigenerational Hollywood A-listers, from actors Michael B. Jordan and Mahershala Ali to actress Cicely Tyson and veteran actor Morgan Freeman, readily obliged.
“I would not be alive without Pauletta Washington,” Washington said. “I wouldn’t survive.”
It’s a difficult task to have a moment stand out in an evening that included a surprise Beyoncé appearance – there briefly to present an honour to director Melina Matsoukas – and an earth-shattering performance of Sam Cooke’s song, A Change is Gonna Come by Jennifer Hudson that brought Washington to his feet, but he managed to do it.
As Roberts, Tyson and others attested throughout the evening, the two-time Academy Award-winner Washington is a family man first.
Seated alongside his wife, son Malcolm Washington, Lee, Tyson and directors Carl Franklin and Ed Zwick, the 64-year-old was taken on an emotional two-hour tour through his storied career in Hollywood – from eager newcomer to film star to acclaimed director – by those who were by his side.
