Morgan Freeman received his “place in history” at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards on Sunday (21.01.18).

The 80-year-old actor was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the ceremony, and received a standing ovation from the audience at the Shrine Auditorium as he gave a short speech, in which he admitted he’d never remember all the names of the people he needed to thank.

He said: “These moments in your life, usually will call for a entire litany of thank yous. I can’t do that because I don’t know all of your names so I won’t try.

“I want to say thanks to SAGs for this enormous honour.

“Shout out to my brood who came from South Carolina, Georgia, my kids and their cohorts. ‘And a few other people, my business partner, my life partner, and all of you.

“This is beyond honour, this is a place in history.”

The ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ actor also touched on the gender inequality debate as he objected to the “gender specific” statuette he received in recognition of his honour.

He said: “I wasn’t going to do this; I’m going to tell you what’s wrong with this statue.

“It works from the back, but from the front, it’s gender specific. Maybe I started something.”

Before beginning his speech, the ‘Million Dollar Baby’ star chided an audience member for talking.

He said: “Hey… I’m talking to you.”

As the unknown person looked up at the stage, he added: “Yeah, hey… okay, well you just stand out to me. That’s all.”

Morgan was presented with the award by Rita Moreno, who he first met when they worked together on 1971 children’s series ‘The Electric Company’ and she hailed him a “national treasure”.

She said: “Morgan is way more than just an actor, narrator, producer, humanitarian. This man is a national treasure.

“Morgan likes to say that if you become a star, people are going to go see you. And if you remain an actor, they’re going to go and see the story you’re in.”