Spielberg honored at NBR Awards
The prize for best film of the year at the National Board of Review Awards went to “Top Gun: Maverick.” Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin” took home the most trophies. But the night belonged to its best director honoree, Steven Spielberg, and the parade of tributes paid to the filmmaker.
So effusive was the praise for Spielberg that Colin Farrell, accepting the award for best actor for “The Banshees of Inisherin,” said the experience of first watching “E.T.” was the most euphoric of his life, ranking it even above the births of his two children.
“I’m glad this isn’t televised,” Farrell added.
Despite the lack of a broadcast, the National Board of Review Awards ceremony has long been a regular stop in Hollywood’s awards season. With the Golden Globes set for Tuesday night, the Screen Actor Guild nominations slated for Wednesday and voting for the Oscars scheduled to begin Thursday, the NBR Awards ceremony Sunday was a chance to stoke buzz and polish acceptance speeches.
When Spielberg took the stage to accept his award for “The Fabelmans,” the crowd rose in a standing ovation.
“My whole career in all the films I’ve directed, my job — as I have seen it — is as the accompanist and the conductor to whoever or whatever should be the center of your attention,” he said. “But when it came time for me to sit down with Tony Kushner to explore the possibilities of a story that became ‘The Fabelmans,’ I realized for the first time that I couldn’t take cover behind a mothership or a T-Rex or
a big mechanical shark that never worked.”
Gabriel LaBelle, who plays a fictionalized version of young Spielberg in “The Fabelmans,” was honored for breakthrough performance along with Danielle Deadwyler of “Till.” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” star Michelle Yeoh won for best actress. Best supporting actress went to Janelle Monae for “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.”
“The Banshees of Inisherin” also earned awards for best supporting actor for Brendan Gleeson and best original screenplay for McDonagh.
Actor Rich dies: Adam Rich, the child actor with a pageboy mop top who charmed TV audiences as “America’s little brother” on “Eight is Enough,” has died at age 54. Rich died Saturday at his Los Angeles home, said Lt. Aimee Earl of the Los Angeles County MedicalExaminer Coroner’s office. The cause of death
was under investigation but was not considered suspicious.
Rich had a limited acting career after starring at age 8 as Nicholas Bradford, the youngest of eight children, on the ABC hit dramedy that ran from 1977 to 1981. Rich, who suffered from depression, discussed his mental health on Twitter and noted in October that he had been sober for seven years. He said he wasn’t perfect — referring to arrests, many stints in rehab, several overdoses and “countless detoxes (and) relapses” — and urged his followers to never give up.
Actor William Sanderson is 79. Singer Rod Stewart is 78. Musician Donald Fagen is 75. Singer Pat Benatar is 70. Guitarist Michael Schenker is 68. Singer Shawn Colvin is 67. Actor Evan Handler is 62. Singer Brad Roberts is 59. Actor Trini Alvarado is 56. Singer Brent Smith is 45. Rapper Chris Smith is 44.