Denzel Washington was presented with the 47th American Film Institute Life Achievement Award on June 6, 2019, at a gala tribute at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

A television special covering the event aired on TNT, TCM's sister channel, on June 20. TCM now presents two encore showings of this special, along with three of Washington's movies.

Among the star-studded audience attending the award ceremonies were Morgan Freeman, Cicely Tyson, Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, Jodie Foster and Michael B. Jordan, who said in his remarks, "We need superheroes like Denzel. You unite us. You inspire us." Jennifer Hudson performed, and Beyoncé made a surprise appearance at the ceremonies.

The award's presenter was director Spike Lee, who remarked that "Denzel, for me, represents our manhood. What you did in Malcolm X has never been done before. I may be biased [but...] that's the greatest performance ever on celluloid."

Washington has sustained an acting career of 40-plus years in which he has emerged as one of Hollywood's most commanding and dependable leading men. His awards include two Oscars and six more nominations for acting, three Golden Globe Awards (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award) and a Tony Award.

Washington's Oscar wins include Best Supporting Actor for Glory (1989) and Best Actor for Training Day (2001). He was also nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Cry Freedom (1987), and as Best Actor for Malcolm X (1992), The Hurricane (1999), Flight (2012), Fences (2016) and Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017).

In addition to garnering awards and critical praise, Washington is in that rare group of stars whose movies almost always garners big box-office success. Since 2002, he has emerged as a successful producer and film director, and his 2016 film Fences was Oscar-nominated as Best Picture.

Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. was born December 28, 1954, in Mount Vernon, NY, the son of Denzel Sr., a Pentecostal minister, and his wife, Lennis. Denzel Jr. earned a B.A. in Drama and Journalism from Fordham University in 1977 and later studied acting at the university's Lincoln Center campus and the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

After summer stock experience, Washington made his screen debut in the television movie Wilma (1977) and his theatrical-film debut in Carbon Copy (1981). He achieved TV stardom in NBC's St. Elsewhere from 1982-88.

Here are the three films showing in connection with Washington's AFI Award:

Glory (1989) is a Civil War drama directed by Edward Zwick and starring Morgan Freeman, Matthew Broderick and Cary Elwes. Washington's Oscar-winning role is that of Private Silas Trip, a member of one of the first military units of the Union Army to be composed entirely of African-American men. Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times that Washington was "clearly on his way to a major screen career."

The Mighty Quinn (1989) is a thriller directed by Carl Schenkel, with Washington cast as a police chief on a Caribbean island who tries to help a friend (Robert Townsend) who is accused of murder. Roger Ebert described Washington's role as one of those "that creates a movie star overnight," and he praised his "reserves of charm, sexiness and offbeat humor."

Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) is a film noir directed by Carl Franklin and set in 1948 Los Angeles. Washington stars as "Easy" Rawlins, a WWII veteran who becomes a private eye and finds himself involved in a tangled web of crooked cops and politicians, brutal hoodlums and murder. Critic Hal Hinson described Washington's work here as "like a jazz musician's improvisations...rounded and melodic."

by Roger Fristoe