On Sunday night, the late Chadwick Boseman won a posthumous Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom from director George C. Wolfe.
Boseman’s wife Taylor Simone Ledward accepted the award on his behalf, giving the most emotional speech of the night. The moment lit up Twitter as many continue to remember the actor, who was taken from us too soon.
In tears, she said that Boseman would thank God, his parents, his ancestors for their guidance as well as Wolfe and his castmates Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, Michael Potts, Taylour Paige and Dusan Brown.
The award marked Boseman’s first Golden Globe nomination and first win. In the Best Actor category, Boseman beat out Riz Ahmed for “Sound of Metal,” Anthony Hopkins for “The Father,” Gary Oldman for “Mank,” and Tahar Rahim for “The Mauritanian.”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” is also up for a Golden Globe for Viola Davis, Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama.
Elsewhere in the ongoing awards season, Boseman is also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Critics Choice Award, and is the favorite to beat for the Academy Award for Best Actor, though nominations won’t be announced until later this month. Boseman has also won numerous critics’ prizes throughout the year.
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” marked Boseman’s final onscreen role, though he is also an awards season player this year for his supporting turn in Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods,” another Netflix film. That film earned Boseman the prestigious New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor in December.
He also lent his voice to the upcoming Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe spinoff series “What If…?,” reprising his role as “T’Challa” from “Black Panther.” Marvel confirmed that Boseman’s role will not be recast in the upcoming live-action sequel to “Black Panther.”
Boseman died on August 28, 2020 at the age of 43 at the end of a private battle with colon cancer.