Billy Crystal will be honored at the Critics Choice Awards show on Sunday.
Photo Steve Schofield
By BERNICE FOX
Special to Circling the News
Among his awards, Billy Crystal already has six Emmys and a Tony. And of course, along with his wife Janice, he was a recent honorary mayor of Pacific Palisades.
Now there’s another honor coming his way.
This Sunday at the televised Critics Choice Awards, Crystal will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for his long and varied career. He’s being honored by the Critics Choice Association (CCA) – – the largest entertainment critics group in the U.S. and Canada.
Though this is the 27th year for the CCA’s awards show, this is just the sixth time the Lifetime Achievement Award has been given. Previous honorees were Lauren Bacall, Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Eddie Murphy, director Robert Wise, and now, the Palisades’ own Billy Crystal.
Another highlight of the show will be Malibu’s Halle Berry, who will be recognized with the sixth annual SeeHer Award. SeeHer is a movement for accurate portrayals of women and girls in media.
(Three years ago, another Palisadian was celebrated by the CCA with a special honor. Chuck Lorre received the Creative Achievement Award for his decades of thoughtful and successful sitcoms.)
Along with the new honors for Crystal and Berry, Sunday’s show from the Fairmont Century Plaza will be packed with other stars as the CCA announces winners in its annual movie and TV categories.
At least two films with strong Palisades connections are up for Best Picture. They are “Nightmare Alley,” with Bradley Cooper as star and executive producer, and “West Side Story,” directed by Steven Spielberg, with former Palisades honorary mayor, Rita Moreno, in a featured role.
Other films vying for Best Picture are “Belfast,” “CODA,” “Don’t Look Up,” “Dune,” “King Richard,” “Licorice Pizza,” “The Power of the Dog” and “tick, tick…Boom!”
At least two Palisadians are nominated for Critics Choice Awards for TV as both stars and executive producers: Martin Short for the comedy series, “Only Murders in the Building,” and Michael Keaton for the limited series, “Dopesick.” And both of these hulu shows are up for Best in their categories.
The musical dramedy, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas,” is nominated for Best Movie Made for TV. The original series, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” ran for two seasons on NBC. The movie was on the Roku Channel. Palisadian Mary Steenburgen is featured in both. Brentwood resident Austin Winsberg was inspired to create the series and movie by the story of his late father, who had ties to the Palisades.
Billy Crystal is not expected to linger in the Palisades after returning home from the awards show. His first musical comedy, “Mr. Saturday Night,” is about to open on Broadway. It’s based on his 1992 movie of the same name about an outspoken comedian from years earlier trying for the spotlight again. Preview performances start March 29.
Sunday’s 27th annual Critics Choice Awards will be shown on both The CW Network (in Los Angeles, it’s KTLA, Channel 5) and on TBS. The show airs live 4 to 7 p.m. Check listings on Sunday for the 7 to 10 p.m. replay.