- - She's a Dame and an Oscar winner. Golden Eve reminded everyone Helen Mirren's also a 'badass' who 'looks damn good in a bikini.'

Taryn RyderJanuary 9, 2026 at 6:30 AM

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BFFs only: Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren give us a glimpse into their sweet friendship. (Chris Polk/PMC for Golden Globes)

On paper, it was an awards night warm-up. In reality, it was a masterclass in offscreen chemistry.

Golden Eve — the Golden Globes’ intimate pre-awards celebration honoring Dame Helen Mirren and Sarah Jessica Parker — took over the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Tuesday night. And while the speeches did their job, honoring two industry icons with sentimental anecdotes and well-timed laughs, one of the night’s most delightful scenes belonged to Mirren and Harrison Ford.

Seated front and center, Ford took his place beside Mirren’s family, but he might as well have been an honorary member — relaxed, familiar and fully at ease.

Watching them together felt less like a Hollywood event and more like a glimpse into the private fun of a long-running friendship. They were giggling and chatting, the kind of duo that would’ve been split up in elementary school for having too much fun. Thankfully, that was very much the spirit of the night.

Taylor Hackford gave wife Helen Mirren a sweet toast at the Golden Globes Golden Eve event, where she was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

That chemistry has deep roots. Ford and Mirren first worked together more than four decades ago on The Mosquito Coast, where Mirren played the wife of Ford’s intense, unraveling inventor. They reunited years later in 1923, the Yellowstone spinoff that paired two icons at a completely different stage of life — older, sharper and, if this night was any indication, having an absolute blast.

Ford leaned into that history when he took the stage to present Mirren with the Cecil B. DeMille Award, which honors Hollywood's greatest talents, recalling their first collaboration and then landing on the word he said best described her now — not “Dame,” but “badass.”

“A badass is raw, authentic, formidable, tough and fearless,” Ford said to cheers from the room. “That pretty much describes Helen — the woman and the artist. And when she goes full badass, it’s awesome to watch.”

The room agreed. Actress Tessa Thompson, who also helped honor Mirren, earned laughs and applause of her own when she praised not just Mirren’s fearlessness and craft, but — in a moment that felt delightfully improvised — how great she still looks in a bikini. It was a cheeky reminder that Mirren’s cultural power has never been limited to any one lane.

Mirren followed with an acceptance speech that balanced humor and perspective in equal measure. After joking about the Golden Globes being the first American organization to ever honor her — and quipping about being the “proud owner of two large balls,” courtesy of her early wins — she reframed the DeMille Award not as a capstone, but as a check-in.

“I prefer to think of it as a life lived,” Mirren said. “A life survived, a life enjoyed, a life sweated and a life carried on — hopefully. I prefer to think of this as an ongoing reflection of my career rather than a eulogy.”

When legends collide: Sarah Jessica Parker and Carol Burnett. (Michael Buckner/PMC for Golden Globes) (Michael Buckner)

It wasn’t just Mirren’s night. Sarah Jessica Parker received the Carol Burnett Award, with Burnett herself in attendance. The award is given to an honoree who has made outstanding contributions to television on or offscreen.

Parker arrived with husband Matthew Broderick and son James Wilkie, and was joined by Sex and the City (and And Just Like That…) costars Kristin Davis, Evan Handler and David Eigenberg. Cynthia Nixon was notably absent as she's starring in Marjorie Prime on Broadway.

Sarah Jessica Parker gets support from Sex and the City costars Evan Handler, Kristin Davis and David Eigenberg as she's honored with a Golden Globe award ahead of Sunday's show. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Before Parker accepted her honor, Davis talked to Yahoo about what it meant to be there for a longtime friend — a friendship that, as Davis later reflected, has been built on trust and shared history.

“It’s so rare to get to work with someone in the way that we have for 28 years,” Davis said. “And to have the friendship offscreen because of everything we’ve been through — because of the trust that we have, because of her just being such a genuine person.”

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Handler echoed that, telling Yahoo how “amazing” it’s been to have gone “through so many eras” with Parker, whom he credits for helping cast him as Harry Goldenblatt.

“We knew each other before [Sex and the City] ... so I got to watch her rise and become a television icon and a movie star, and years later, join the show myself,” he says. “I think that she and Cynthia Nixon were instrumental in my joining from whisperings that I heard. ... I think they are the reason why.”

Around the room, a constellation of Hollywood figures — including Viola Davis, Amanda Seyfried, Colman Domingo, Ted Danson, Mindy Kaling and others — raised Carrie Bradshaw’s signature Cosmopolitans in a collective toast before Parker spoke.

Colman Domingo and Tessa Thompson catch up at the Golden Eve. (Chris Polk/PMC for Golden Globes) (Christopher Polk)

The Sex and the City legacy loomed large throughout the night, even with Kim Cattrall absent, as she has been from many cast gatherings amid years of public tension. Still, Samantha Jones wasn’t erased. A montage of Carrie Bradshaw highlights included brief appearances from all four women, and Parker made a point of acknowledging the full ensemble during her speech.

In a wide-ranging, deeply personal acceptance, Parker reflected on curiosity as the driving force behind her five-decade career, thanked collaborators by name and spoke with particular affection about the women who helped define one of television’s most enduring friendships.

“I spent 25 years with the most glorious ensemble of women and actors,” Parker said. “As Kristin once said, ‘You are in my bones.’”

Helen Mirren and Sarah Jessica Parker show off their new hardware at Golden Eve. (Chris Polk/PMC for Golden Globes) (Christopher Polk)

By the end of the evening, it was clear what Golden Eve was really about. Not nostalgia, not victory laps, nut longevity — the kind built on relationships, humor and the ability to keep showing up with joy.

Whether it was Mirren and Ford laughing like old friends, or Parker smiling ear to ear, as she was all night, alongside the people who’ve known her longest, the night offered a rare glimpse behind the curtain — and a reminder that the most enduring chemistry in Hollywood often happens long after the cameras stop rolling.

Watch the Golden Globes live Sunday, Jan. 11, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS. It’s also streaming on Paramount+ and here on Yahoo.com.

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Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”