Lily Tomlin accepts the Career Achievement Award for her work in film and television at the Movies for Grownups Awards with AARP the Magazine. Lily Tomlin has led a storied career within the entertainment industry – earning eight Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Grammy Award.
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TRANSCRIPT
Getting this award is so exciting, there's not an emoji on the face of the earth that expresses how I feel right now. I just wish I could deliver a speech so heartfelt, so warm, so beautifully truthful and loving that you all will have the urge to give me another award.
It seems ironic for me to be getting an award for grownups when I've spent more than 50 of years on and off playing Edith Ann, the little girl in the rocking chair who is perpetually five and a half.
But I'm proud to be called a grownup.
The world needs a lot more of us right now. Of course, being a grownup I've noticed my skin has begun to sag a bit.
My eyes are, my eyes are dim, kind of watery. I mean, my arms look like they're wearing leg warmers. My gate is unsteady.
My fingers are bent almost gnarly. I, I better stop, I can see I'm turning some of you on here in the studio.
Of course this award is a great motivator to keep growing younger, doing better, and this award will be a constant reminder of the many wonderful and talented people who have helped me along the way, and those who will help me in the future.
And of course my fans, my fans always ask me for advice. After 50 years, I have finally distilled it down to one essential word, sunscreen.
They say this, that time is a continuum. This would make more sense if I knew what a continuum meant.
I suspect senior moments play a big part, but one about senior moments, you tend to forget them as soon as they happen.
Speaking of age, ARRP will be interested in this I'm sure, last week I read an important new study that said scientists were shocked, shocked to find that humankind is 30,000 years older than they thought.
It's overwhelming when you think of all those extra senior moments, 30,000 years worth.
No wonder our species is so cranky.
But recently, I saw a clip of the wonderful Ruth Gordon receiving her Oscar for Rosemary's Baby.
I wish I could convey how surreal it is to realize that I am older now than she was then.
She was 72 and right now I'm 10 years older, but what Ruth Gordon said resonated with me. She accepted her Oscar the same way I accept this award, incentivized to do incentivized to do more and not to rest on my laurels.
She took her award as I take mine here tonight and said, 'I can't tell you how encouraging and a thing like this.'
And she sashayed off.
