Source: Allen Berezovsky / Getty
At the 78th Golden Globe Awards, Chadwick Boseman‘s wife, Taylor Simone Ledward, fought through tears to accept her husband’s posthumous Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama. Her husband lost his battle with colon cancer on August 28, 2020, at the age of 43. This was Boseman’s first Golden Globe win, received for his soul-stirring portrayal of fictional trumpet player Levee Green in the Netflix adaption of August Wilson’s play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. He is only the second person to win the award after his passing. (The first person was Peter Finch for his role in the 1976 film Network.)
Boseman became known as Hollywood’s “It Guy” for playing historic African American icons on screen, like Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, and James Brown. However, his performance as T’Challa in 2018’s blockbuster movie Black Panther propelled him to global stardom. Afterward, he would appear in other films such as 21 Bridges and Da 5 Bloods. But fans of all ages and around the world will forever identify Boseman first and foremost as the King of Wakanda.
In what ended up being his last role before his death, Boseman beat out some other legendary thespians for the award, including Sir Anthony Hopkins and Gary Oldman.
You can read Taylor Simone Ledward’s emotional speech below, accepting the award on behalf of her late husband and sharing with us what he would have said were he still with us today:
“He would thank God. He would thank his parents. He would thank his ancestors for their guidance and their sacrifice.
He would thank his incredible team Michael Greene, Azeem Chiba, Nicki Fioravante, Evelyn O’Neill, Chris Huvane, Logan Coles.
He would say something beautiful, something inspiring, something that would amplify that little voice inside of all of us that tells you you can, that tells you to keep going, that calls you back to what you’re meant to be doing at this moment in history.
He would thank Mr. George C. Wolfe, Mr. Denzel Washington, lots of people at Netflix. He would thank Ms. Viola Davis, Mr. Glynn Turman, Mr. Michael Potts, Mr. Colman Domingo, Ms. Taylour Paige, Mr. Dusan Brown.
And I don’t have his words, but we have to take a moment to celebrate those we love. So thank you HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Press Association), for this opportunity to do exactly that.
And, hun, you keep ’em coming. Thank you.”
