De Niro to Receive Golden Globe's DeMille Award

The first Golden Globe winner of 2011 has been announced, and it's none other than film legend Robert De Niro, according to E!Online. The 67 year old actor won a Best Actor Golden Globe for Raging Bull and has been nominated seven times in the same category since then.  But this time, De Niro will be honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field."

Past recipients of the awrd include: Martin Scorsese  Harrison Ford, Warren Beatty, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Williams, Michael Douglas, Gene Hackman, Al Pacino,  Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg.

Nominations for the 2011 Golden Globes will be announced on Dec. 14. The 68th annual ceremony will take place January 16 on NBC.

Robert De Niro began his career in theatre as a student of the Stella Adler Conservatory as well as Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio. He starred on Broadway in 1986 in Cuba & His Teddy Bear, and received a Theatre World Award for his performance.

De Niro received his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather Part II, followed by an Academy Award for Best Actor win for Raging Bull (1980). Widely considered one of the greatest actors of his generation, his film roles include John 'Johnny Boy' Civello in Mean Streets, the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, cabbie Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, soldier Michael Vronsky in The Deer Hunter, boxer Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull, mobster David "Noodles" Aaronson in Once Upon a Time in America, plumber/terrorist Harry Tuttle in Brazil, bounty hunter Jack Walsh in Midnight Run, mobster Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas, mobster Al Capone in The Untouchables, Louis Cyphre in Angel Heart, Louis Gara in Jackie Brown, retired CIA Officer Jack Byrnes in Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers, ex-con Max Cady in Cape Fear, NYPD Lieutenant Moe Tilden in Cop Land, master thief Neil McCauley in Heat and casino manager Sam 'Ace' Rothstein in Casino.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos