Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson, 2025 recipients of the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, will be honored at the Emmys.
By BERNICE FOX
Over the years, Palisades residents Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen have been celebrated for their acting.
Now at the upcoming Emmy Awards, they’ll be applauded for their good deeds.
The Santa Monica Canyon couple will receive the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. The Television Academy says they’re being recognized with this high honor for “a lifetime of extraordinary philanthropy, activism and unwavering commitment to global good.”
Danson is a longtime environmentalist with a focus on the ocean. How this began is fairly simple. He has said that while living in Santa Monica during his Cheers years, he saw this sign at the beach: Water polluted. No swimming.
“Trying to explain that to my kid was hard.” And he’s said, “it got me questioning a lot of things.”
That led Danson to co-create the American Oceans Campaign, (AOC) in 1987 to spotlight oil spills in the ocean, offshore development, toxic waste, sewage pollution and more. In 2001, the AOC merged with another group, Oceana. Danson is on Oceana’s board of directors.
He’s testified before the House Committee on National Resources about the health of the ocean twice, in 2009 and 2019. A few days before his second appearance, Danson was arrested at a climate change protest, also in Washington, D.C. That was an arrest he planned in advance with other protesters.
Danson also is involved with other action organizations, including the ASPCA, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Malaria No More, Young Storytellers and several others.
Steenburgen is involved with some overlapping organizations and some that are separate from her husband. Her list includes Artists for a Free South Africa, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Heifer International, No Kid Hungry and of course, Oceana.
Steenburgen also advocates for increasing funding for the arts in schools nationwide. And she travels where her presence can help make change. Last year she was a keynote speaker at the Ohio School Board Association Capital Conference. She was there to educate administrators about the importance of the arts in public schools.
Together in 2007 Danson and Steenburgen co-founded the nonprofit group Angels at Risk. The risk they’re talking about is drug and alcohol abuse. Among other things, the organization is trying to convince schools to add early prevention education.
Danson and Steenburgen also are strong allies of the LGTBQ community. Last year they were honored at the National Pride Gala in Washington, D.C.
With their involvement in so many issues, it would seem Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen barely have time for their day jobs as actors. But they manage!
Danson currently stars in the Netflix comedy series, A Man on the Inside. Earlier in his career, he won two Emmy awards for playing bartender Sam Malone on Cheers. He’s well-known for The Good Place. He also starred in Becker, Mr. Mayor and had a long-running role in Curb Your Enthusiasm as a character named Ted Danson. For many, the movie Three Men and a Baby and its sequel come to mind. Those are just a few of Danson’s on-screen projects.
Steenburgen won an Oscar for her role in Melvin and Howard. She’s also been in Parenthood, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Philadelphia and Book Club. Her roles on TV include Last Man on Earth, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and Orange Is the New Black. In Curb Your Enthusiasm she played a character named Mary Steenburgen.
Coming up, Steenburgen joins her husband for season two of A Man on the Inside. She’ll also star in a film about pickleball called The Dink.
In addition, Steenburgen is a songwriter.
The chair of the Television Academy, Chris Abrego, sums up their choice for the humanitarian honor by saying “Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen have long used their voices — and their hearts — to champion causes that uplift the planet and its people.
“From environmental advocacy to humanitarian relief, they lead with grace, integrity and purpose. The Television Academy is proud to honor their extraordinary legacy of service with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.”
Danson and Steenburgen will receive their honor during the Primetime Emmy Awards, Sunday, September 14. The awards show begins at 5 p.m. Pacific and airs on CBS.