Charles Durning Received The Screen Actors Guild's Award

No Country for Old Men" won top honors at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday night, taking home a statuette for best ensemble in a motion picture.Earlier in the evening, Javier Bardem won best supporting actor for his role in the gritty western as the cold-blooded paid killer.Josh Brolin, who also stars in the film, accepted the award on behalf of the 47 actors who make up the film's cast. "It's a risky movie," he said, "and it's nice to have risky movies," adding that the studio emphasis on blockbusters is "backfiring awfully, and it's fun for us actors."
He said that Joel and Ethan Coen, who directed the film noir, "are freaky little people. And we did a freaky little movie, whether you liked the ending or not."

The double win for "No Country" comes on the heels of the Coen brothers receiving the Directors Guild of America Award on Saturday evening, and that makes them and their film front-runners for Oscars next month.The best actor award went to Daniel Day-Lewis for his transcendent performance as a greedy oilman in "There Will Be Blood." Day-Lewis is also considered the front-runner for a best actor Oscar, having already won the Golden Globe and numerous other critics awards. "I'm very proud of this," said Day-Lewis, who then talked poignantly about Heath Ledger, who died suddenly last week.

Day-Lewis described Ledger as an actor who inspired and renewed his own passion for the craft."In 'Brokeback Mountain' he was unique, he was perfect," Day-Lewis said, adding that the final scene in that ground-breaking movie was as perfect an acting moment as he had ever seen. "I'd like to dedicate this to Heath Ledger."In youth-conscious Hollywood, it was quite a night for veteran performers.

Julie Christie, 66, won best actress in a feature film for playing a woman losing her battle with Alzheimer's in "Away From Her," also boosting her chances of taking home an Academy Award for the same role. Ruby Dee, 83, won best actress in a supporting role for playing the mother of a mobster in "American Gangster." And 80-year-old Charles Durning received the Screen Actors Guild's 44th lifetime achievement award."This is my first time holding one of these boys," Dee said as she grasped her statuette. The diminutive Dee also accepted the award on behalf of her late husband, Ossie Davis, "because you know, he's working on things up there." Dee is also nominated for an Oscar for "American Gangster."

Durning was one of World War II's most decorated soldiers, a boxer and ballroom dancer -- all before becoming a performer. He was praised by Denis Leary, who plays his son on "Rescue Me," as "one of our industry's finest character actors. I'd say he's the best." Leary also pointed out Durning's passion for his craft, joking that it was humiliating to come to work every morning with an "80-year-old man who knows his lines and your lines when you don't."A noticeably frail Durning was helped on stage to accept the award to a standing ovation and cheers."That's it?" he joked when he got there. "There's nothing more gratifying than receiving an award from one's peers," he said. Acting, he added, is a dream come true for him, and he still has much to learn. "I'm just getting the hang of it," he said to laughter.