The 2004 award Meryl Streep called “embarrassing” to win: “How did this happen?”
Few actors have collected as many awards throughout their career as Meryl Streep, but as the decorated veteran herself explained, not all prizes are created or dished out equally.
Obviously, nobody wants to win a Razzie, but that’s not something that Streep has had to worry about so far. In fact, despite appearing in a few terrible movies, some of which have been recognised in their own right, she’s never so much as been nominated for an accolade that rewards the worst of the worst.
She’s the most-nominated actor in Academy Awards history, with three wins from 21 nominations; she’s claimed a pair of Actor Awards from 20 nods, back when they were known as the Screen Actors Guild Awards, to go along with two Baftas from 15 nominations, and that’s barely scratching the surface.
Streep, who’s also gone four-from-seven at the Primetime Emmys, nine-from-34 at the Golden Globes, and zero-for-seven at the Grammys, has become the ultimate awards season fixture, and while her percentages aren’t great, all things considered, look at the sheer fucking volume of those nominations.
However, there was one honour that she wasn’t especially pleased with, although her concerns had everything to do with the industry at large, not the fact that she’d been given it. As shocking as this may sound, there’s always been a certain gender imbalance in Hollywood, and when those categories aren’t split directly between male and female performers, it becomes even more apparent.
For Streep, who became the 32nd recipient of the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in the summer of 2004, she couldn’t help but notice the disparity. “I don’t want to spit in the eye of good fortune, but it was weird,” she admitted. “I felt like I’d butted in line in front of Lucille Ball, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn.”
Before her, Bette Davis, Lillian Gish, Barbara Stanwyck, Elizabeth Taylor, and Barbra Streisand were the only women to receive lifetime honours from the American Film Institute. “Hello? How did this happen?” Streep questioned. “I was only the sixth woman to receive it, but they found 26 men to give it to. I thought that was embarrassing.”
It’s been more than 20 years since she was honoured, and how many women have followed in her footsteps in the decades since? Not many, to be honest. An additional 19 actors or filmmakers have collected lifetime achievement gongs from the AFI, but only five of them were female.
On the plus side, that’s more than 25%, compared to the 18.75% ratio at the time Streep was celebrated, but still not great. Shirley MacLaine, Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Julie Andrews, and Nicole Kidman have been honoured since, but there still hasn’t been a seat at the table for Ball or either of the iconic Hepburns.
