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DeGeneres, 61, was the second person to be
given the Carol Burnett Award, which was established by the
Hollywood Foreign Press Association a year ago to recognize the
new Golden Age of television in the United States.
"All I've ever wanted to do is make people feel good and laugh,"
DeGeneres said on stage as she accepted the award. "There is no
greater feeling than when someone tells me I made their day
better with my show."
DeGeneres said she was especially gratified by viewers who
watched her current talk show and were then inspired to
encourage and support people in their own lives.
"That is the power of television," she said. "I'm so grateful to
be a part of it."
DeGeneres, one of the most prominent gay women celebrities in
America, started her career in stand-up in her New Orleans
hometown before moving to television, where she starred in
comedy "Ellen" in the mid-1990s.
In 1997, both she and her TV character came out as a lesbian
long before gay people were accepted in mainstream America.
"Ellen" was canceled a year later, but DeGeneres returned to
television in 2003 with her daytime show, "The Ellen DeGeneres
Show," which has won more than 60 Emmy awards.
"Saturday Night Live" actress Kate McKinnon, in an introduction
at the Globes, thanked DeGeneres for paving the way for gay
people such as herself to be seen on television.
"Attitudes change only because brave people like Ellen jump into
the fire to make them change," McKinnon said. "Thank you, Ellen,
for giving me a shot at a good life."
In addition to her television work, DeGeneres has found fame as
the voice of the forgetful Pacific blue tang fish in the
animated movies "Finding Nemo" and "Finding Dory," and she twice
hosted the annual Oscars ceremony.
In 2008, DeGeneres married her partner, actress Portia de Rossi.
On the humanitarian front, DeGeneres is a supporter of animal
rights and conservation, a gay rights activist and an
anti-bullying campaigner.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant and Lisa Richwine; editing by
Jonathan Oatis)
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