00:00Please welcome Hall of Famer, Viola Davis, to the stage.
00:20Jessica, you excavated me out of my home.
00:30You know what? The first thing I remember about the help, the first scene,
00:38was Miss Hilly and her junior lead crew see you coming to their regular get-together.
00:45Your big beautiful blonde hair, thin waist, soft voice, and pink thunderbird
00:51come screeching to a stop in front of Miss Hilly's house.
00:55Half of the car is on the asphalt, the other half is on the lawn.
01:00You get out nervously with this cake in one hand, purse in the other,
01:05sashaying with your tight skirt, bouffant blonde hair, and high heels.
01:11Knock on the door, and everyone inside hides.
01:17Behind tables, chairs, they turn off lights, suppressing their giggles,
01:24pretending not to be there.
01:27You knock fervently, calling Miss Hilly's name.
01:30You look through the window, knocking desperately before leaving.
01:36Wanting to believe that maybe you got the wrong day,
01:40but knowing that you did not, and just weren't wanted.
01:49Beautiful, rich, young, infertile, and lonely.
01:59In that moment, despite the outward differences, you were me.
02:08You were any woman who felt unworthy, wanting to belong.
02:15Jessica, you understand the task of being an artist.
02:26And I love how you do what you do.
02:29How you and your work can present women that we've always put in a box,
02:35and how you quietly invite us into their souls to experience their why.
02:42You shift us, confront us, wake us up.
02:47And we do because we must.
02:50How can you not when you see an artist dip the brush into their own soul?
02:57You know, some people are shut up so tight inside themselves like boxes,
03:06yet they would open up, unfolding quite wonderfully,
03:10if only you were interested in them.
03:16And I so remember a couple of years ago when I had felt alone.
03:22And something I was experiencing in the business,
03:26as much as we gather here today,
03:28I don't think people understand how separated we are.
03:32Women, men, black, white.
03:35And I said to you, and maybe you don't remember,
03:40about how alone I felt.
03:43And you said, Viola, never feel alone.
03:48This is my email.
03:50This is my address, phone number, you contact, I will always be there.
03:55You, as a human, and as an artist,
04:05you get the revolutionary act of making people feel less alone.
04:12And with this star today, this star that is cementing a legacy of hope, of guidance, of leaving something in people,
04:37the only words I could think when I think of you, Jessica,
04:44besides love and cuteness and beauty and all of those things and talent,
04:49is no more walls.
04:54none.
04:55You have busted them down through the luminescent art of your work.
05:08And that makes you immortal.
05:11And that makes you a beautiful friend.
05:14I'm honored to know you.
05:16I'm honored to experience your greatness.
05:20And I'm honored to be alive when you are.
05:24Thank you and congratulations.
05:43I'm honored to have been honored.
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