• Actor Tom Hanks will present Alan Alda with a lifetime achievement award at the upcoming Screen Actors Guild Award ceremony. The 82-year-old Alda, a Golden Globe- and Emmy-winner, will become the 55th recipient of the annual award given to an actor who fosters the "finest ideals of the acting profession." Hanks will hand it to him in the Jan. 27 ceremony. "I'm so thrilled that Tom agreed to that. I had no idea they were even asking him. And it's so generous of him," Alda said. Alda and Hanks worked together on the film Bridge of Spies, and Alda said they "have run into each other casually over the years at awards ceremonies and on airplanes and things like that. So, I remember him when he was just a kid." Throughout a career that has spanned seven decades, Alda, perhaps best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the television series MAS*H, has appeared in The West Wing, The Aviator and Manhattan Murder Mystery. He was also nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor in 2004 for his role in The Aviator. Alda has also been involved in numerous charities and organizations that have supported children's causes, women's issues and the sciences. That, combined with his affable personality, has earned Alda his "nice guy" reputation over the years. He jokes that the "niceness" compensates for a "rowdy" profession that is not always viewed kindly.
• Olympic champion Michael Phelps is picking up more hardware -- this time for what he's been doing outside the pool. The Boston-based Ruderman Family Foundation, a group that works for more opportunities for the disabled, said Tuesday that Phelps will receive its fifth annual Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion. The foundation said it picked the world's most decorated swimmer to recognize his advocacy for people with disabilities and "his own journey with mental health." Phelps has gone public about his struggles with depression and thoughts of suicide. Since retiring from competition after the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the 33-year-old swimmer has been promoting the importance of not just physical fitness but mental health. Phelps said helping people overcome the dark chapters in their lives is "way bigger than ever winning gold medals." He thanked the foundation for its "continued efforts to help eliminate the shame and stigma that surrounds mental illness. Together, we can normalize the mental health conversation and recognize the potential in every person -- with or without mental illness -- to contribute to our world in their own unique way," he said. Previous recipients of the award include Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin and former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, a driving force behind the Americans with Disabilities Act.
A Section on 01/09/2019