Morgan Freeman and Past Cecil B. DeMille Winners [PHOTOS]

Morgan Freeman is the 2012 Cecil B. DeMille award winner, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced on Wednesday.

Freeman, 74, will be honored at the 69th Golden Globe Awards in 2012.

"The award is given every year by the HFPA for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment. The calm and authoritative Morgan Freeman had already had a long and venerable career by the time he became famous," the HFPA wrote on its Web site.

The Oscar-nominated actor has been in such films like "The Shawshank Redemption," "Street Smart" and "Glory," "Seven" and "March of the Penguins" (narrator).

Freeman won his first (and to date, only) Golden Globe award in 1989, for his role as Hoke Colburn in "Driving Miss Daisy." In 2004, Freeman was awarded with a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing an elderly former boxer named Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris in "Million Dollar Baby," also starring Clint Eastwood and Hilary Swank.

Over the years, the versatile actor has also loaned his voice to Visa commercials and nature documentaries.

In 2005, Freeman publicly ridiculed "60 Minutes" host Mike Wallace, when asked about how he was going to "celebrate" Black History Month.

"Which month his white history month? I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history," Freeman told Wallace during the interview.  

Freeman, who is currently filming "The Dark Knight Rises," the actor will next appear in the big screen adaptation of "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle," directed by Danny DeVito and co-starring Pierce Brosnan and Saoirse Ronan.

The 69th Golden Globe Awards will telecast from Hollywood on Jan. 15, 2012.

Click through for past Cecil B. DeMille winners of the past decade.

Note: There was no 2008 award ceremony due to the 2007 Writers Guild strike.

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Morgan Freeman is the 2012 Cecil B. DeMille award winner. The 74-year-old will be honored at the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards, held in January 2012.

The 68-year-old New York native has appeared in some of the most beloved Hollywood films like “Raging Bull,” “Taxi Driver” and “Goodfellas.” De Niro has also given plenty back to the film community; the actor co-created the TriBeCa Film Festival following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The festival generates some $600 million per year, according to recent reports.

Four years after finally winning an Academy Award for best director, director Martin Scorsese was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille award in 2010, in a year that was dominated by “Avatar,” “Up in the Air” and “Inglourious Basterds.”

The creator of “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Jurassica Park” and other classics was actually announced as the Cecil B. DeMille winner in 2008, but due to the writer’s strike at the time, Steven Spielberg was not officially honored until the 2009 ceremony.

Beatty, now 74, is a four-time Golden Globe Award winner, appearing in films such as “Splendor in the Grass” and “Heaven Can Wait.” In 1981, Beatty won an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Director of “Reds,” which he also starred in.

For two decades, Anthony Hopkins brought Hannibal Lecter to life on the big screen, earning the actor an Academy Award in 1991 for “The Silence of the Lambs.” The 73-year-old Hopkins most recently appeared in the superhero action film “Thor,” playing Thor’s father Odin.

Winner of five Grammy Awards, two Emmys, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and four Golden Globes, funnyman Robin Williams was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille trophy during a quiet time of his film career. Williams’ next blockbuster wouldn’t come until 2006, appearing as Theodore Roosevelt in Ben Stiller’s “Night at the Museum.”

Michael Douglas won his first Golden Globe Award (he has three) for his portrayal of Gordon Gekko in the 1987 film “Wall Street.” In 2010, following a public battle with throat cancer, Douglas reprised his role as Gekko in the film’s sequel, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” opposite Shia LaBeouf. Douglas next appears in the Steven Soderbergh action film, “Haywire,” out in 2012.

In 1971, Gene Hackman played NYPD detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in “The French Connection,” a role that would give him an Academy Award, BAFTA, National Board of Review Award and Golden Globe Award – all for best actor. Hackman’s latest Golden Globe win was in 2001, when he played the Royal Tenenbaum in “The Royal Tenenbaums.” The 81-year-old has not been in a film since 2006’s “Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut.”

Besides the Cecil B. DeMille, Ford has never won a Golden Globe Award for acting, even though he has been nominated four times. The 69-year-old’s most recent nomination was in 1995, for his portrayal of Linus Larabee in “Sabrina.” In 2011, Ford appeared in the sci-fi blockbuster “Cowboys & Aliens” with Daniel Craig.

Al Pacino is one of the most highly decorated actors in Hollywood, when it comes to award season. The 71-year-old has eight Oscar nominations and 15 Golden Globe nominations to his name. He has won four Golden Globes, his most recent in 2010 for his role of Dr. Jack Kevorkian in the TV series “You Don’t Know Jack.” Over the years, Pacino has branched off to the small screen and stage, appearing in New York City’s “Shakespeare in the Park.”

Barbra Streisand is the only woman in the last decade to be honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award. The “Funny Girl” star and legendary singer is also one of the few celebrities that have won awards across all platforms, including an Oscar, Grammy, Tony and Emmy. In 1983, Streisand made award and movie history by becoming the first woman to win Best Director at the Golden Globe awards for her film “Yentl.”