Glenn Close is your choice to receive the 2026 American Film Institute Life Achievement Award (poll results)

Eight-time Oscar nominee Glenn Close is your choice to receive the American Film Institute 51st Life Achievement Award. Last week, Gold Derby hosted an AFI poll asking users to choose from among 20 film legends to receive the 2026 tribute next spring. Close finished with 23.2 percent of support, followed by two-time Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins with 14.5 percent and two-time Academy Award winner Brad Pitt with 13 percent.

Here are the full poll results below:

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1. Glenn Close (23.2 percent)
2. Anthony Hopkins (14.5 percent)
3. Brad Pitt (13 percent)
4. Jodie Foster (6.8 percent)
4. Sigourney Weaver (6.8 percent)
6. Robert Duvall (5.3 percent)
7. Sally Field (4.8 percent)
7. Jessica Lange (4.8 percent)
9. Leonardo DiCaprio (3.9 percent)
10. Jeff Bridges (3.4 percent)
11. Spike Lee (2.4 percent)
11. Julia Roberts (2.4 percent)
13. Quentin Tarantino (1.9 percent)
14. Joel and Ethan Coen (1.5 percent)
14. Bill Murray (1.5 percent)
14. Christopher Nolan (1.5 percent)
17. Samuel L. Jackson (1 percent)
17. Eddie Murphy (1 percent)
19. Ron Howard (0.5 percent)
20. Viola Davis (0 percent)

Considered one of the most prestigious honors in Hollywood, the award was established in 1973 to celebrate an individual whose screen career has greatly contributed to the enrichment of American culture. According to the AFI, the Life Achievement Award celebrates a “recipient whose talent has in a fundamental way advanced the film art; whose accomplishment has been acknowledged by scholars, critics, professional peers and the general public; and whose work has stood the test of time.”

Since its inception the AFI award has honored some of the most legendary talent of all time, beginning with John Ford (1973), James Cagney (1974), Orson Welles (1975), William Wyler (1976), Bette Davis (1977), Henry Fonda (1978), and Alfred Hitchcock (1979).

Past recipients still living (and therefore not eligible again) are: Jack Nicholson (1994), Steven Spielberg (1995), Clint Eastwood (1996), Martin Scorsese (1997), Dustin Hoffman (1999), Harrison Ford (2000), Barbra Streisand (2001), Tom Hanks (2002), Robert De Niro (2003), Meryl Streep (2004), George Lucas (2005), Al Pacino (2007), Warren Beatty (2008), Michael Douglas (2009), Morgan Freeman (2011), Shirley MacLaine (2012), Mel Brooks (2013), Jane Fonda (2014), Steve Martin (2015), John Williams (2016), Diane Keaton (2017), George Clooney (2018), Denzel Washington (2019), Julie Andrews (2022), Nicole Kidman (2024), and Francis Ford Coppola (2025)