8:00 a.m. ET, January 20, 2020
Robert De Niro honored with the Life Achievement Award
From CNN's Lisa Respers France
Michael Buckner/Variety/Shutterstock
When Leonardo DiCaprio was 13 years old, his father took him to see "Midnight Run," starring Robert De Niro.
"As the lights went down he looked at me and said, 'If you really want to be an actor and get into this profession, if you want to understand what great acting, is watch that man on screen,'" DiCaprio recalled before presenting De Niro with the 2020 SAG Life Achievement Award.
The room erupted into cheers and a standing ovation as DeNiro took the stage.
"We as actors don't do it all alone," De Niro said. "We can't do it all alone. We depend on each other for collaboration in our work and support and fellowship both on screen and off. And for that I am so grateful."
De Niro got a bit political.
"There's right and there's wrong and there's common sense and there's abuse of power," DeNiro said, quoting himself from a recent interview. "And as a citizen I have as much right as anybody - an actor, an athlete a musician or anybody else -- to voice my opinion. And if I have a bigger voice I'm going to use it whenever I see a blatant abuse of power."
He also said he would treasure the award because it comes from his fellow actors.