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Morgan Freeman touched by lifetime achievement award

Morgan Freeman poses in the press room with the Cecil B. DeMille Golden Globe award at the Golden Globes on Jan. 15, 2012. Getty

(CBS) While accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Morgan Freeman said, "If you do what you love, you'll never have to work a day in your life." And for the 74-year-old celebrated actor, that theory seems to ring true.

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Filmmaker Sidney Poitier and actress Helen Mirren were on hand to honor Freeman with the lifetime achievement award, which has previously been given to Robert De Niro, Sean Connery and others.

"Being up here receiving this award, this tribute that you yourself received, makes it clear to me that though they call this the Cecil B. DeMille Award, in my house, it will also be called the Sidney Poitier Award," Freeman said.

He also had great things to say about Mirren, noting, "I can't really tell you how it feels to be up here being touted by a woman I love so much." Morgan then joked, "Working with you on 'Red' was great fun ... but I learned one thing. Watching you handle a gun makes me know I never want to piss you off."

Freeman may have received a career achievement honor on Sunday, but that doesn't mean he's slowing down anytime soon. Later this year, he'll appear in the next Batman installment, "The Dark Knight Rises." He's currently shooting a new season of his Science Channel series "Through the Wormhole" and is also attached to the upcoming film "Now You See Me" with Woody Harrelson.

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