‘America,’ Goldberg Win Image Awards From the NAACP

Clint Eastwood, Eddie Murphy, Denzel Washington and Whoopi Goldberg were among the performers lauded Saturday at the Wiltern Theatre by the NAACP for contributing to the positive portrayal of black Americans.

TV viewers will get to see the 21st annual Image Awards show on Jan. 14, when NBC broadcasts a one-hour version of the ceremony at 11:30 p.m.

Among the 25 artists, film and TV productions vying for top honors, Washington, who played slain South African civil rights leader Stephen Biko in “Cry Freedom,” and Whoopi Goldberg, who played Rita Rizolli in “Fatal Beauty,” walked away with best acting honors in the film category.

“Coming to America” was also a big winner, landing best motion picture award, while Eddie Murphy, who played the lead in Paramount Pictures’ $127-million hit, was named Entertainer of the Year.

Murphy, though present to receive his award, did not make himself available for interviews. Arsenio Hall, who won the best supporting actor award for his role as Murphy’s sidekick in the film, did, however.

“I think no matter what you achieve in life,” an appreciative Hall said, “it’s always so much more important when your own say thank you.” All of the winners were selected by the NAACP’s Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who became a two-time Image winner when he received the President’s Award, used the occasion to salute the NAACP in its 80th anniversary and to remind Hollywood of its moral duties at home and abroad.

“Hollywood is just coming into some early morning appreciation of the American kinship with South Africa,” Jackson said. “The reality is that South Africa could not stand unless we tolerated their state-sponsored terrorism. So, our kinship with South Africa is a source of shame. Often artists are the first to project what ought to happen.”

Jackson also reiterated the NAACP’s campaign to persuade CBS to revive “Frank’s Place,” the acclaimed but low-rated sitcom starring Tim Reid and his wife, Daphne Maxwell Reid, canceled in October. “Their talent, their excellence in that show deserves to be on television,” Jackson pronounced. “It has an audience, it has a message. It must have a place.”

The evening’s other award winners included Michael Jackson, who received honors for best male recording artist and best album for “Bad.” He also shared the Leonard H. Carter Humanitarian Award with singer Lou Rawls.

Eastwood, who directed “Bird,” a film that chronicled the life of jazz musician Charlie Parker, received a special award for a career of casting blacks and other minorities in non-stereotypical roles.

NBC “Today” show host Bryant Gumbel won a special award for broadcast journalism, and farm labor leader Cesar Chavez, who did not attend because he still was recovering from his 36-day fast protesting the use of agricultural pesticides, received the Roy Wilkins Civil Rights Award.

This year’s show earned another distinction: It avoided the long delays of past years. The show ended as scheduled, a few minutes after its 8:30 p.m. deadline.