Ted Danson Receives the Carol Burnett Award
Ted Danson was recognized with the Carol Burnett Award at the 2025 Golden Globes.
The actor, 77, collected the trophy before of the live program during the Golden Globes‘ Golden Gala on Friday, January 3, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. The honor was delivered by his wife, Mary Steenburgen.
“To him, all of you at the Golden Globes should know, receiving the Carol Burnett Award is like being allowed into creativity heaven,” the actress, 71, said of Danson when presenting him via The Hollywood Reporter. “Because whether it’s The Good Place, or Man on the Inside, Fargo, Damages, Board to Death, Becker, Cheers or the extraordinary podcast he does with Woody Harrelson, he, like Carol Burnett, has always known that it’s a precious honor to take people on a journey through television.”
In Danson’s address, he quipped that while he generally has a “confusing relationship” when it comes to winning honors but he felt the total opposite with this specific achievement.
“If I win, I feel a little embarrassed and lonely. If I don’t win, I feel a bit ashamed and lonely. But not tonight. Not tonight,” he explained. “I am so thrilled to get this award, Carol. I cannot tell you how much it means to me. You have brought so much joy and happiness into families all around the world. You emanate compassion. I love you so much.”
Burnett, for her part, screamed “I love you,” to Danson from the audience.
The Carol Burnett Award is awarded to an individual who has made remarkable achievements to television on or off the screen. The honoree is picked based on their body of work and the enduring influence of their television career achievements on the industry and consumers.
Since the award’s 2019 establishment, Danson is the fifth laureate, following in the footsteps of Burnett, 91, Ellen DeGeneres, Norman Lear and Ryan Murphy.
The Golden Globes chose Danson as this year’s recipient in December 2024.
“Ted Danson has entertained audiences for decades with his performances that will forever be ingrained in television history,” Helen Hoehne, president of the Golden Globes, said in a statement at the time. “His career is a testament to his remarkable talent and versatility as an actor and bears resemblance to the award’s namesake. It is an honor to award him with the 2025 Carol Burnett Award to recognize the amazing influence he has made and continues to make on television.”
Danson is a three-time Golden Globe winner, having previously secured trophies for Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television for Something About Amelia in 1985 and for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy for Cheers in 1990 and 1991. Throughout his career, he has notched up 13 nominations, notably for his work on Becker and Damages.
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This year, Danson garnered another mention for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy for his performance as Charles, a widower who goes undercover at a retirement community while aiding a private investigator on a case, on the Netflix series A Man on the Inside.
In November 2024, Danson talked out about addressing issues of aging on the program.
“For us people, my age and older, you still have something to contribute hugely,” he told folks at the time. “So get out there and keep going, and the way you engage life right up until the end is an inspiration to those younger people behind [you] that are coming up and your children. Because a lot of times people assume there’s a shelf life to creativity and adding to life. There isn’t. That’s self-imposed.”