Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Ruth Negga, Helen Mirren attend AARP's Movies for Grownups Awards

Helen Mirren takes a selfie at the 16th Annual AARP Movies for Grownups Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills on Feb. 6.

By Ellen Olivier

Feb. 7, 2017 1:35 PM PT

As host of AARP’s Movies for Grownups Awards on Monday, actress Margo Martindale started out by reminiscing about her longtime love affair with the movies, having seen an assortment of films as a youngster from “The Blob” to “Gone with the Wind.”

Then Martindale, the three-time Emmy Award winner who stars in “Sneaky Pete,” described the characteristics of the evening’s winning films, saying, “They tackle complex human relationships from all angles — family ties, grown-up love, longtime friendship — but most of all, they are incredibly entertaining.”

Staged by AARP at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the 16th annual affair named Denzel Washington as best actor for “Fences”; Annette Bening as best actress for “20th Century Women”; Jeff Bridges as best supporting actor for “Hell or High Water”; and Viola Davis as best supporting actress for “Fences.” Morgan Freeman received an award for career achievement.

Warren Beatty, left, and Annette Bening attend the 16th annual AARP Movies for Grownups Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills on Feb. 6.

Also in the crowd were Ruth Negga, who accepted the best movie for grownups award for “Loving”; Isabelle Huppert, picking up the best foreign language film award for “Elle”; and retired airplane pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who received the readers’ choice award for the film based on his heroics, “Sully.”

Hollywood legends filled the ballroom, yet there were no age requirements for participation, as celebrated presenters included teen actor Lucas Jade Zumann and singer/actor Justin Timberlake, the latter there to introduce producers Brian Grazer and Nigel Sinclair, winners of the best documentary award for “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week.”

"Fences" co-star and Academy Award nominee Viola Davis accepts the award for best supporting actress at AARP's 16th annual Movies for Grownups Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills on Feb. 6.

“When I was born the Beatles no longer existed,” Timberlake noted, after joking that the audience, largely baby boomers, might be wondering, “What Justin is that?”

If you didn’t happen to attend, here are few more things you missed.

-- Helen Mirren had the honor of introducing Freeman, and while Martindale earlier referred to his roles as God, Mirren spoke instead of the Academy Award winner’s range — to “speak with the voice of a president and also tell us far more than any of us really ever wanted to know about mating habits of penguins.” (Freeman narrated the 2005 documentary, “March of the Penguins.”)

Academy Award nominee Isabelle Huppert, left, and Sharon Stone attend the 16th annual AARP Movies for Grownups Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Feb. 6.

-- Sharon Stone talked of “Elle” director Paul Verhoeven, whose films, she said, “when first seen are often considered wildly controversial, only to be later copies or remade. What is new or shocking often becomes mainstream.”

As evidence, Stone recalled her Golden Globes best actress nomination for “Basic Instinct,” another Verhoeven film. “Thanks,” she said as the audience applauded, “but that’s not what happened.” Back then, she said, “the room burst into laughter.”

Morgan Freeman accepts the Career Achievement Award at AARP's 16th annual Movies for Grownups Awards.

-- Sullenberger received a standing ovation as he stepped up to the podium to accept what he called an appropriate award, having recently learned that the “RP” in AARP stands for “real possibilities.” Said the former US Airways captain, “On that frigid January day in 2009, when I was looking through the cockpit windows at the Hudson River, I was thinking, ‘Now there’s a real possibility.’”

More applause greeted Sullenberger as he concluded, “I’m so fortunate to have spent my entire working lifetime pursuing a profession I love and the profession, fortunately, in which education, knowledge, judgment and experience are valued and are critically important.”