# Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award

The Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award is presented by the Screen Actors Guild's National Honors and Tributes Committee for "outstanding achievement in fostering the finest ideals of the acting profession." It predates the 1st Screen Actors Guild Awards by over thirty years. The award's first recipient was performer and comedian Eddie Cantor, in 1962. Since then, it has been presented every year except 1963, 1981 and 2021. On two occasions, two people received the award the same year: in 1985, when it was presented to actor Paul Newman and actress Joanne Woodward, and in 2000, when it was presented to civil rights activists Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. The award was not given in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 2024, 62 people have received the award, of whom 39 are men and 23 women.

## Award recipients

| Year | Image | Recipient(s) | Presenter | Nationality | Ref. |
| 1962 | | Eddie Cantor | — | USA | |
| 1963 | Not awarded | Not awarded | Not awarded | Not awarded | Not awarded |
| 1964 | | Stan Laurel | — | UK | |
| 1965 | | Bob Hope | Charlton Heston | USA | |
| 1966 | | Barbara Stanwyck | Ronald Reagan | USA | |
| 1967 | | William Gargan | — | USA | |
| 1968 | | James Stewart | Henry Fonda | USA | |
| 1969 | | Edward G. Robinson | — | Romania | |
| 1970 | | Gregory Peck | Charlton Heston | USA | |
| 1971 | | Charlton Heston | — | USA | |
| 1972 | | Frank Sinatra | — | USA | |
| 1973 | | Martha Raye | — | USA | |
| 1974 | | Walter Pidgeon | — | Canada | |
| 1975 | | Rosalind Russell | — | USA | |
| 1976 | | Pearl Bailey | — | USA | |
| 1977 | | James Cagney | — | USA | |
| 1978 | | Edgar Bergen | — | USA | |
| 1979 | | Katharine Hepburn | — | USA | |
| 1980 | | Leon Ames | — | USA | |
| 1981 | Not awarded | Not awarded | Not awarded | Not awarded | Not awarded |
| 1982 | | Danny Kaye | — | USA | |
| 1983 | | Ralph Bellamy | — | USA | |
| 1984 | | Iggie Wolfington | — | USA | |
| 1985 | | Paul Newman | — | USA | |
| 1985 | | Joanne Woodward | — | USA | |
| 1986 | | Nanette Fabray | — | USA | |
| 1987 | | Red Skelton | — | USA | |
| 1988 | | Gene Kelly | — | USA | |
| 1989 | | Jack Lemmon | — | USA | |
| 1990 | | Brock Peters | — | USA | |
| 1991 | | Burt Lancaster | — | USA | |
| 1992 | | Audrey Hepburn | — | UK | |
| 1993 | | Ricardo Montalbán | Judson Scott | Mexico | |
| 1994 | | George Burns | Ann-Margret | USA | |
| 1995 | | Robert Redford | Tom Skerritt | USA | |
| 1996 | | Angela Lansbury | Glenn Close | UK USA Ireland | |
| 1997 | | Elizabeth Taylor | Gregory Peck accepted the award on Taylor's behalf as she was hospitalized and unable to attend the awards ceremony. | UK USA | |
| 1998 | | Kirk Douglas | Michael Douglas | USA | |
| 1999 | | Sidney Poitier | Denzel Washington | Bahamas USA | |
| 2000 | | Ossie Davis | Whoopi Goldberg | USA | |
| 2000 | | Ruby Dee | Whoopi Goldberg | USA | |
| 2001 | | Ed Asner | Tom Selleck | USA | |
| 2002 | | Clint Eastwood | Ray Romano and Morgan Freeman | USA | |
| 2003 | | Karl Malden | Michael Douglas | USA | |
| 2004 | | James Garner | Mel Gibson and Julie Andrews | USA | |
| 2005 | | Shirley Temple | Jamie Lee Curtis | USA | |
| 2006 | | Julie Andrews | Anne Hathaway | UK | |
| 2007 | | Charles Durning | Burt Reynolds | USA | |
| 2008 | | James Earl Jones | Forest Whitaker | USA | |
| 2009 | | Betty White | Sandra Bullock | USA | |
| 2010 | | Ernest Borgnine | Morgan Freeman | USA | |
| 2011 | | Mary Tyler Moore | Dick Van Dyke | USA | |
| 2012 | | Dick Van Dyke | Alec Baldwin | USA | |
| 2013 | | Rita Moreno | Morgan Freeman | Puerto Rico | |
| 2014 | | Debbie Reynolds | Carrie Fisher | USA | |
| 2015 | | Carol Burnett | Tina Fey and Amy Poehler | USA | |
| 2016 | | Lily Tomlin | Dolly Parton | USA | |
| 2017 | | Morgan Freeman | Rita Moreno | USA | |
| 2018 | | Alan Alda | Tom Hanks | USA | |
| 2019 | | Robert De Niro | Leonardo DiCaprio | USA | |
| 2020 | Not awarded (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) | Not awarded (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) | Not awarded (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) | Not awarded (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) | |
| 2021 | | Helen Mirren | Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett | UK | |
| 2022 | | Sally Field | Andrew Garfield | USA | |
| 2023 | | Barbra Streisand | Jennifer Aniston and Bradley Cooper | USA | |
| 2024 | | Jane Fonda | Julia Louis-Dreyfus | USA | |