From almost the second George C. Wolfe’s stage adaptation Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom arrived on Netflix back in December, Chadwick Boseman was instantly positioned as the frontrunner in every Best Actor race for this year’s awards season. The late Black Panther star easily delivers the best performance of a career that was cut far too short, and he’s deservedly been sweeping the board.
Last night’s Golden Globes saw Boseman win Best Actor – Drama, making him the first posthumous recipient of the prize since Network‘s Peter Finch in 1976, and you can’t deny it’s fully deserved. His Levee is a force of nature, an ambitious musician that’s a whirlwind of charisma and tragedy, with three monologues in particular all phenomenal in their own right despite being wildly different in terms of their emotional content.
The other nominees were Sound of Metal‘s Riz Ahmed, The Father‘s Anthony Hopkins, Mank‘s Gary Oldman and The Mauritanian‘s Tahar Rahim, and while each actor was fantastic in their respective films, none of them stood a chance against Boseman’s powerhouse turn. Sadly, he’s no longer with us to celebrate, but his wife Taylor Simone Ledward accepted the honor on his behalf during the remote ceremony, and she delivered a heartfelt and touching tribute to her husband, as you can read below.
“He would thank god, he would thank his parents, he would thank his ancestors for their guidance and their sacrifices. He would say something beautiful, something inspiring, something that would amplify that little voice inside of all of us that tells us you can, that tells you to keep going, that calls you back to what you’re meant to be doing at this moment in history.”
“He would thank Mr. George C. Wolf, Mr. Denzel Washington, lots of people at Netflix. He would thank Ms. Viola Davis, Mr. Glen Turman, Mr. Michael Potts, Mr. Colman Domingo, Ms. Taylour Paige, Mr. Dusan Brown. And I don’t have his words, but we have to take all the moments to celebrate those we love. So thank you HFPA for this opportunity to do exactly that. And hun, you keep ’em coming. Thank you.”
At this stage, Chadwick Boseman is virtually a lock to land Best Actor at the Academy Awards, which is regarded as the highest achievement in the business by many stars. It’s the least he deserves, too, and while Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom hasn’t been performing very well in the other categories that it’s been nominated in, the leading man has rightfully been taking home the majority of both the plaudits and trophies.