With laughs and tears, Hanks accepts Globes' DeMille honor

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Just like in his four-decade career, Tom Hanks took the Golden Globes stage providing some laughs before shedding tears as he accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

In a joking manner, Hanks apologized for having a cold that was the “size of Merv Griffin’s ‘Jeopardy’ royalties.” He then looked at a table in the ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, immediately turned around, leaving some in the attendance confused; he then turned back with tears in his eyes.

“A man is blessed with a family sitting down front like that,” Hanks said to his wife Rita Wilson and his kids at the table with her. “I can’t tell you how much your love means to me.”

He shifted from laughs to tears throughout the rest of the speech.

“It’s the cold,” he said after once again becoming emotional.

A video package of clips from his decades-long career began with Hanks’ guest-starring role in the 1980s television series “The Love Boat.” Though the show was known for cheesy appearances by celebrities with dim star wattage, Hanks ended up becoming one of Hollywood’s biggest beloved actors through an array brilliant performances, from “Big” to “Forrest Gump.”

“It's those moments as an actor where everybody I have ever worked with has helped me get to that place,” the double Oscar-winner said. “Sometimes it's 3 o'clock in the morning and sometimes it's 11 at night in which you just have to somehow put it all together, have faith in what the process is and go there.”

Charlize Theron, who presented the award to Hanks, praised him for his career achievements. She also thanked Hanks for her first audition for “That Thing You Do!,” a 1996 film he directed.

“While Tom does give us the chance to see ourselves on the screen, he...