Though the Golden Globes may be turning 65 in January, this year's lifetime achievement honoree is no retiring senior citizen. The soon-to-be 61 Steven Spielberg is busier than ever - wrapping up production on "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull," prepping "Lincoln," and exec producing the HBO maxi-series "The Pacific." Today's announcement that he'll receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award sparked heated discussion in our forums - CLICK HERE - with seanflynn contending that Spielberg has turned down this honor in the past and is only accepting it now to drum up publicity for these projects.

However, that theory doesn't jibe with his accepting a similar tribute from the AFI back in 1995 before he was even 50! And he was feted by the Oscars with the Thalberg award four months after he turned 40 (and seven years before he won Oscars for directing and producing "Schindler's List"). Perhaps the Academy wanted to make it up to Spielberg for having snubbed him the previous year when his adaptation of "The Color Purple" went 0 for 11 nominations making it one of Oscar's biggest losers.

Honoring individuals with lifetime achievement awards while they are still in the prime of their career could only happen in Hollywood. While there may have been a certain symmetry then to giving Spielberg an award named for the Thirties wunderkind who died at 37, to be recognized at that point in his career for his "body of work" seems rather silly. Perhaps the powers that be at the Academy realized the error of their ways as they chose to honor six-time Oscar winner Billy Wilder - a mere 81 years young - the following year.

Since first feting Cecil B. DeMille himself with the award named after him in 1952, the Golden Globes have honored 55 others with this lifetime achievement - 45 actors (with the occasional hyphenate including last year's winner Warren Beatty) and only 10 producers and directors. One of Spielberg's role models, Walt Disney was the second honoree. And with the exception of Robin Williams, a mere 53 when he won in 2005, those honored as of late have tended to be sixty plus.