On Thursday night, the American Film Institute held a gala in Los Angeles to honor actor, director and tequila entrepreneur George Clooney. And none other than his wife Amal Clooney ascended to the stage to speak proudly about her husband, who was receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the institution. The British barrister and mother of twins rarely speaks about her famous partner in public — so it was all the sweeter to hear her gush about Clooney’s best attributes in a moving speech that saw him tearing up even as she delivered it. “Although George modestly attributes most of the success we’re celebrating here to luck, I think it’s incredible talent and character that got him here,” Amal shared with the audience at the Dolby Theater. “And these attributes also make him an amazing husband and father. I met George when I was 35 and starting to become quite resigned to the idea of becoming a spinster. Then we met, started hiding out in my London flat, and very soon it felt like no matter what happened I would never want to be with anyone else.” She continued to explain how smitten she was with Clooney, and mentioned that he used to hide letters in her bag and sent her texts that made her smile. “Five years later, none of that has changed,” she continued. “He is the person who has my complete admiration, and also whose smile makes me melt every time. My love, what I have found with you is the great love that I always hoped existed.” Cheers to George and Amal, who continue to embody relationship perfection. Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Please enter a valid email address. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Please attempt to sign up again. Sign Up Now An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Please try again later. Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder. Write to Raisa Bruner at raisa.bruner@time.com.<doc-sep>Presenter of the 46th Annual American Film Institute Life Achievement Award Shirley MacLaine told recipient George Clooney on Thursday night at the Dolby Theatre gala that ,yes, maybe he was too young to get a “lifetime achievement award” but that she observed he was a very “old soul” so it was okay. As someone who has purported to have several lifetimes of achievement (including the 2012 AFI Honor) we should listen to her. . Clooney just turned 57 last month but he is more than deserving having already packed an impressive career on TV and in movies in this lifetime , but also becoming one of our great humanitarians engaging the philosophy that one of the evening’s on- stage participants Don Cheadle reiterated, “if they are going to put the cameras on me, I am going to put the cameras on them” referring to those far less fortunate suffering in Sudan and around the world. Bearing witness to that were pre-recorded remarks from President Barack Obama praising Clooney’s life. This expertly staged and warm tribute proved he was more than deserving even if the emphasis on his TV work , especially in E.R. (including a glowing endorsement Rexshutterstock from that series co-star Juliana Margulies) was probably more prevalent than in any AFI tribute I have been to,and I have been to a lot of them starting in 1982 when Frank Capra became the 10th recipient of this award. Since then I have noticed each of these very special evenings has taken on its own personality based on the recipient whether it was Sidney Poitier and Elizabeth Taylor or Mel Brooks and Jane Fonda. And just for the record , in terms of age Clooney is far from the youngest. Tom Hanks. Meryl Streep, Steven Spielberg and several others were actually younger, and in fact Hanks was a full decade younger. Age aside, what I took away from this Clooney love-in was the importance of family. His mother and father Nick Clooney (who opened the show introducing his son) were sitting to his right on the dais, while his wife Amal was right there on his left and later would speak lovingly – and publicly – about her husband and the father of their one year old twins ( as of Wednesday) for the first time ever. There was much emphasis on those familial connections throughout the evening including stories of how George came from his home in Kentucky and stayed at Aunt Rosemary Clooney’s Beverly Hills mansion , giving him a taste of Hollywood he could never imagine. Rexshutterstock In terms of sheer star power it was more on stage than in the crowd with the tribute getting going with 2017 recipient Diane Keaton, confessing she didn’t know Clooney well, reciting five facts she learned about him from wikipedia including that he is a distant relative of Abraham Lincoln , had a pet pig named Max, and appeared as one of Time’s 100 most important people three times. She was followed by Jimmy Kimmel who got his biggest laugh by informing that Clooney was the one who convinced Roseanne to open a twitter account. That was about the closest anyone got to a reference to either Trump or his supporters except to say perhaps George should consider running for office. Laura Dern was charming in reciting how the two show biz family offspring met while making an unreleased 40 minute movie called Grizzly II: The Predator in Budapest which lost its funding half way through , leaving the two novice actors to bond while waiting for it ever to resume (it didn’t). She recalled him saying at the time, “when we get success we are going to use it to make a difference”. Among the many TV stories Clooney shared in pre-taped interview segments was a hilarious one, impression included, about working with Buddy Hackett on an RexShutterstock episode of Murder She Wrote. Continuing with the TV theme, Friends stars Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox came out to claim full credit for Clooney’s success on NBC’s E.R. ( after 13 failed pilots ) which followed the network’s must see tv comedy block on Thursdays and , they say, inherited their audience. Bill Murray then came out to explain the real reason a “56 year old man ” is getting this kind of award is because “George is dying” and this is a celebration of his life. He then used the rest of what he says was his “nine minutes” to lead the audience in a song about Kentucky , and then recited a poem about the state. Shortly thereafter Miley Cyrus came out to do a terrific bluegrass rendition of the song “Man Of Constant Sorrow” that Clooney admitted previously on tape that he didn’t really voice in the Coen Brothers’ O Brother Where Art Thou, even though coming from a family that included Rosemary Clooney he thought he could sing. RexShutterstock Julia Roberts was originally slated to present the actual award live but instead appeared on tape for a tribute, while Clooney’s old friend and co-star on failed pilots Richard Kind made some remarks about the star’s early days followed by father Nick who brought his George to tears when he said that at age 84 he would like to grow up to be like his son. At this point different co-stars like Anna Kendrick and Cate Blanchett talked about working with him in movies like Up In The Air and The Monuments Men, and there were also clips from his Oscar winning role in Syriana, highly emotional and powerful scenes from The Descendants , and most impressively his acting , writing and directorial triumph about CBS newsman Ed Murrow, Goodnight And Good Luck which seeing it again in these short clips only reminded me this is a movie that still stands tall as a powerful reminder of just how far the media has descended in the era of Trump. It should be re-released and required viewing in the era of so-called “fake news”. The real highlight of the evening was the heartfelt and moving speech from Amal Clooney who earned a huge standing ovation for her words about how generous and RexShutterstock gentlemanly her husband is. She also quoted Walter Cronkite who noted he had met his fair share of movie stars but not many with the same level of character and class. MacLaine admitted she was a last minute fill-in for Roberts and related her own Ocean’s 11 stories as someone who was there with the rat pack during the making of the 1960 original that led to Clooney’s trilogy of Ocean’s films starting in 2001. In an almost sermon like presentation MacLaine admitted she didn’t really know Clooney well but was impressed with his work and life and hoped he would continue directing. She mentioned that more than once in bringing him up to the stage. Clooney himself was warm and reassuring while saying good things about the seismic “overdue changes” in the industry without getting specific except to say he was proud to be part of this community and industry. He ended his remarks by appropiately saying , “good night and good luck”. RexShutterstock I caught up with the man of the hour and his dad at the dinner break and asked if he had seen Ocean’s 8 yet which he said he hadn’t and wanted to know how it was. I told him they killed off his character Danny Ocean by having his sister Debbie , played by Sandra Bullock , talk to him at his resting place in a mausoleum saying, “you better be in there”. He laughed and said if the movie is a success he can probably find a way to bring Danny back to life, and that the next one should be directed by a woman. Clooney told me he was very happy to be receiving the AFI honor , and obviously was thrilled to have his parents there with him. I told Nick Clooney I worked at AMC network where he was the great movie host for years before the network set off in a new direction.<doc-sep>George Clooney is feeling the love. The actor, 57, couldn’t help but get emotional at his wife Amal’s sweet tribute to him at the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony Thursday night. The Oscar winner was being honored at the 46th annual event for his career achievements. Get push notifications with news, features and more. Speaking publicly for the first time about her husband of almost four years, Amal, 40, got candid about falling in love with the actor. “I met George when I was 35 and starting to become quite resigned to the idea that I was going to be a spinster,” she joked during the speech. “Then we met and started hiding out in my London flat, and very soon it felt like no matter what happened I would never want to be with anyone else. I couldn’t sleep when we were apart. And I am told I would display a particular grin and head tilt when reading his text messages or the letters that he would hide in my bag.” The actor was seen tearing up at his wife’s glowing words and he only continued to get more emotional as she praised him for being a great father to their 1-year-old twins, Ella and Alexander. RELATED VIDEO: The Clooneys! The Beckhams! Here Are the Celebrity Royal Wedding Guests We Can’t Get Enough Of “My love, what I have found with you is the great love that I always hoped existed, and seeing you with our children Ella and Alexander is the greatest joy in my life,” she said. “You fill our home with laughter and happiness and that is even before the children have worked out that dada is actually Batman, a talking fox and friends with Mary Poppins.” 775173717PL00002_American_F Amal and George Clooney Watch the full season of Search History on PeopleTV.com or download the PeopleTV app on your favorite device. She finished by gushing about how their children will one day share her sentiments. “I am so proud of you my love. Congratulations on this great honor you are receiving tonight,” she said. “I am proud of you, but I also know that when our children find out not only what you have done, but who you are, they will be so proud of you too.” While the twins, who celebrated their first birthday the day before the tribute, have largely been kept out of the public eye, those who have met the kids swear they’re a perfect combination of their parents. “They’re too beautiful, simply adorable,” a source close to the family recently told PEOPLE. “One looks just like her mother and the other is the image of his father … It looks like they took the best parts of both Amal and George and mixed them together.”<doc-sep>
George Clooney was awarded the American Film Institute's 2018 Life Achievement Award and attended the gala tribute last night in Los Angeles. His wife Amal gave a speech in his honor, speaking movingly about falling in love with him and his relationship with their children, 1-year-old twins Ella and Alexander. And George, in the audience, teared up listening to her. Sharing a kiss during the gala. Getty Images Amal said: Although George’s modesty attributes much of the success we’re celebrating here tonight to luck, I think it’s incredible talent and character that got him here. And these attributes also make him an amazing husband and father. I met George when I was 35 and starting to become quite resigned to the idea that I was going to be a spinster. Then we met and started hiding out in my London flat and very soon it felt like no matter what happened, I would never want to be with anyone else. I couldn’t sleep when we were apart, and I am told I would display a particular grin and head tilt when reading his text messages and all the letters that he would hide in my bag. Five years later, none of that has changed. He is the person who has my complete admiration and also the person whose smile makes me melt every time. My love, what I have found with you is the great love that I always hoped existed. And seeing you with our children, Ella and Alexander, is the greatest joy in my life. You fill our home with laughter and happiness and that’s even before the children have worked out their dada is actually that man, a talking fox and friends with Mary Poppins. I’m so proud of you, my love. Congratulations on this great honor that you’re receiving tonight. I’m proud of you but I also know that when our children find out not only what you’ve done but who you are, they will be so proud of you too. George’s reaction by the end. Twitter Alyssa Bailey News and Strategy Editor Alyssa Bailey is the news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton).