Russell Crowe honoured at Australia’s GQ Men of the Year Awards

Russell Crowe, Jai Courtney and Baz Luhrmann were among the stars honoured at Australia’s GQ Men of the Year Awards this week (beg18Nov13). The Gladiator star picked up the Icon Award during the ceremony in Sydney on Tuesday night (19Nov13) and he was surprised to receive the trophy from Australian acting veteran Jack Thompson, telling the crowd, “The one sure way to invalidate something like this is to actually have Jack Thompson present it. I’m like every other person in the room thinking ‘Jack, what the f**k are you giving it to him for?'”
Crowe also reminisced about a conversation he had with British musician Sting on the subject of lifetime achievement awards, adding, “About 10 years ago I had the privilege to be in a room with Gordon Sumner – Sting – and he won a lifetime achievement award. At one point I said to him, ‘Mate how does it feel?’ And he said, ‘Listen man, no matter how many of these hints of retirement they give me… I’m just going to keep doing what I love’.”
During the ceremony, moviemaker Luhrmann secured the Visionary honour, while A Good Day to Die Hard star Courtney landed the Breakthrough of the Year prize.
Other winners included musician Jimmy Barnes, who was named Legend of the Year, and comedy duo Hamish Blake and Andy Lee, who landed the top honour of Men of the Year.