• Golden Globe Awards

1970 – Drama: Anne of the Thousand Days

After the victory of The Lion in Winter in 1968, once again a British historical drama about the king and his kingdom, Anne of the Thousand Days, was a big winner, taking four Golden Globes out of seven nominations. This time around the focus is on Henry VIII of England (Richard Burton) at odds with his wife, Catherine of Aragon (Irene Papas), who has failed to produce a male heir; he discards her in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn (French actress Geneviève Bujold). Tragedy ensues. The film was based on the play by Maxwell Anderson which debuted on Broadway in 1948, but had to wait more than 20 years before it could be filmed: the existing censorship rules nixed the open discussions of adultery, illegitimacy, and incest of the story.The 27th Golden Globe Awards ceremony was held on February 2, 1970, at the Cocoanut Grove (Ambassador Hotel) in Los Angeles. It was a fabulous competition: Anne contended (in the drama section) with acclaimed and soon to be classics Midnight Cowboy and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, among others. Geneviève Bujold won for Best Actress – Drama, while Burton, nominated for Best Actor, lost to John Wayne for True Grit. For Bujold, it was the only nomination and win at the Golden Globes.Director Charles Jarrott won his Globe for Best Director and writer Bridget Boland, for Best Screenplay. Anne‘s score composer George Delerue was nominated for Best Original Score, but lost to none less than Burt Bacharach with his famous song for Butch Cassidy, “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head”. The screenplay was based on Maxwell Anderson’s stage play. It was the first feature film for TV director Jarrot, and Variety praised how he “frames his Renaissance pageant handsomely and handles the skilled cast to achieve an effective uniform period style”.Burton was nominated six times at the Globes, but won only once, in 1978 for Equus, without counting the Most Promising Newcomer award he received back in 1953 for My Cousin Rachel.