Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen received the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.
By BERNICE FOX
Hope and Love took the stage at Sunday’s Emmy Awards when Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen were honored.
The Rustic Canyon couple received the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for what the Television Academy describes as “a lifetime of extraordinary philanthropy, activism and unwavering commitment to global good.”
When receiving the award, Danson spoke about the Hope part.
“It’s named after a man whose very name was hope, and that is what Bob Hope brought to people for 50 years as he traveled the world, entertaining our troops.”
“There’s no honor that would mean more to Mary and me than this one, and the fact that it’s been given to both of us means the world.”
Steenburgen spoke about the Love part, saying “if it’s true that life is made up of two emotions, love and fear, the world’s a little out of balance right now.
“We don’t want to live in fear, so we make ourselves useful by working for organizations that move the scale away from fear and put us smack dab in the middle of love.”
That love shows itself in their work with environmental, educational and other causes. A video shown before they came to the stage highlighted many of these causes and groups, including Oceana, the organization Danson’s been with for years that focuses on keeping the oceans clean.
Steenburgen’s focus is arts in the schools. She’s also involved with Oceana. The video showed that together they’re also active in a long list of other causes.
In her speech, Steenburgen also acknowledged their family.
“Thank you to our sisters, our children and grandchildren, who, of course, are the best teachers we’ve ever had.”
And with these words she especially spoke to the audience of actors, producers, writers and others involved with television and added “most of all, thank you to you, our beloved community. Together, we have a sacred assignment to remind the world of its dreams, its failures, its laughter, its courage and most especially, its hope.”
EMMY AWARDS
As for the awards part of the Emmy show, most Palisadians who were nominated for Emmy Awards are repeating that well-known mantra “it’s an honor just to be nominated.”
The one Palisadian who has a new Emmy is Conan O’Brien, winning with his writing team for his travel show, Conan O’Brien Must Go. It was awarded at the Creative Arts Emmys the previous weekend.