Golden Moments 2022

1975 was the year when Sylvester Stallone, then 29, got his big breakthrough with Rocky for which he also wrote the screenplay. Not surprisingly, his best Golden Globe memory is from that career-making date: his first big award show.

It is January 22nd, 1954 at the Club del Mar in Santa Monica and Marilyn Monroe, radiant in a tight gown with plunging neckline, is all smiles as she holds her cumbersome Henrietta Award statuette (named after the then-president Henry Gris). She has been voted the World Film Favorite at the 11th Golden Globes.

The Studio System has its last hurrah; social and cultural turmoil shakes the US and Europe, and a massive generation - the post-war Baby Boomers - demand new everything: cinema, music, fashion, customs. The Golden Globes shuttle between the Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel and the Beverly Hilton, both hot spots of LA nightlife; the brand new Century Plaza is added to the circuit in the 1970s.

1943… 1944… In a classic Hollywood film, maybe one of those juicy melodramas starring Joan Crawford, for example, a calendar would appear on the screen, its pages slowly turning from one year to the other…Let’s stop for a moment and rewind, back to the days of World War II. After having been fiercely isolationist, just like Rick Blaine in Casablanca, the United States saw most of its movie stars play “real roles” in helping the war effort.

Launched in February of 1944 with an informal luncheon at 20th Century Fox Studios ( the winners received a scroll), the Golden Globes began finding their true style in the 1950s, hopping from Hollywood to Beverly Hills, then on to the Cocoanut Grove of the famous Ambassador Hotel, Casa del Mar in Santa Monica and Ciro's on the Sunset Strip. War was over, Hollywood was spreading its wings around the world and the Globes quickly began the best party of the year in a city that absolutely loves parties - Los Angeles.

Sophia Loren, recipient of her fourth World Film Favorite special award, with Liza Minnelli, at the 34th Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, on Saturday, January 29, 1977. The popular Italian movie star was voted World Film Favorite four times, in 1964 with Paul Newman, in 1965 with Marcello Mastroianni, in 1969 with Sidney Poitier, in 1977 with Robert Redford.