Movies for Grownups Career Achievement Hall of Fame

A highlight of AARP The Magazine’s annual Movies for Grownups Awards has long been the career achievement award, honoring veteran stars for their continuing pursuit of excellence in filmmaking for the 50-plus audience. And the winners are ...

Jenny Risher

2021: Lily Tomlin

The star of hits from Laugh-In to Grace and Frankie said, “I am honored to receive this award from AARP. There are so few grownups in the world. I am happy to be one.” Using a famous catchphrase from the youngest character in her repertoire, 5½-year-old Edith Ann, Tomlin added, “I feel I am not only a grownup, but I am mature for my age — and that’s the truthhhhh!”

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2020: George Clooney

A master actor and director whose wit and gravitas make him the Cary Grant of our day, Clooney was thrilled to earn the honor from AARP. “It’s just a great group. I’m very proud to be involved in all this. It’s fun.” His career is a slam-dunk argument against ageism, and he said getting older makes his work better. “Experience is the key. It gives you perspective. So experience is the whole game.”

Michael Kovac/Getty Images for AARP

2019: Annette Bening

“So much of what we hear in Hollywood is that it’s youth focused,” Bening told AARP. “But, hey, we’re out here, too, right? We’re looking for films that are stimulating, provocative, intelligent.” That’s an apt description of Bening’s work, from The Grifters to Film Stars Don’t Die in LIverpool. Accepting the award, she thanked AARP “for the work that you do and your mission,” and said, “We work in the dark, we do what we can; our doubt is our passion, our passion is our craft and our task, and the rest is the madness of art.”

MATT SAYLES/INVISION FOR AARP/AP IMAGES

2018: Shirley MacLaine

"By golly, because of the long lives people are living,“ MacLaine told AARP, “we’ve got to make more movies that address themselves to people over 60.” Few have done more for grownup filmmaking than MacLaine, who’s averaged one new film or show every six months since turning 80. Just 20 when she broke into the spotlight on Broadway as an understudy — the lead snapped her ankle — she earned three Oscar nominations by 30, and received more Golden Globe honors after 30 than before. Famous for roles from The Apartment to Terms of Endearment to Downton Abbey, she says, “I’m going for the record in old-age working.” Her hits — and best-selling books — just keep on coming.