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Tom Hanks chokes back tears during emotional Golden Globes speech

Hanks was presented with the Cecil DeMille Award for his contributions to entertainment.
/ Source: TODAY

Tom Hanks accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2020 Golden Globes with an emotional speech that was equal parts humor and humility.

The 63-year-old actor was honored with the lifetime achievement award for his contributions to entertainment. But the moment he got onstage, he cracked a joke about the career-spanning montage of his work the audience had just watched.

Golden Globe Awards - Season 77
Hanks gushed about his wife, Rita Wilson, and their children during his speech, which also included shout-outs to his famous co-stars over the years.Paul Drinkwater / NBC

"Can I just see a show of hands? How many people in this room have a clip package that includes 'The Love Boat'?" he asked to laughter.

Hanks, who was battling a cold, also gushed about his wife, Rita Wilson, who was sitting in the audience with the couple's children.

Image: 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards - Arrivals
Samantha Bryant, Colin Hanks, Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Ann Hanks, Chet Hanks, and Truman Theodore Hanks attend the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards.Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

"A man is blessed with a family sitting down front like that," Hanks said while choking back tears.

"A wife who is fantastic in every way and who has taught me what love is. Five kids who are braver and stronger and wiser than their old man is. And a loving group of people who have put up with me being away for months and months and months at a time," he continued.

"I can't tell you how much your love means to me," he added.

Hanks is the winner of four previous Golden Globe awards — three for his acting work in the movies “Big,” “Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump," and one for directing HBO’s 2001 miniseries “Band of Brothers.”

He was nominated for a 10th award on Sunday for playing Fred Rogers in the biopic "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood."

Hanks graciously tipped his hat to the talented co-stars he's worked with over the years, joking that he developed his own craft by ripping them off.

"You're a dope if you haven't stolen from everybody you've worked with and I have stolen from the likes of the people who only need one name," he said. "Like Meryl (Streep). Like Denzel (Washington). Like Antonio (Banderas). Like Meg (Ryan). Like Julia (Roberts). Like Sally Field, even though that's two names."

He also thanked co-stars from the earliest days of his career, including Peter Scolari and Holland Taylor, who appeared with him on the early 1980s cross-dressing sitcom "Bosom Buddies."

"It's those moments as an actor where everybody I've ever worked with has helped me get to that place —sometimes it's 3 o' clock in the morning and sometimes it's 11 at night — when you have to somehow put it all together, have faith in what the process is and go there," he shared.