The SAG Life Achievement Award winners list began in 1962 when Eddie Cantor accepted the guild's first lifetime tribute. Stan Laurel, Bob Hope, and Barbara Stanwyck followed before the televised era launched.

Eddie Cantor's 1962 honor predates the SAG Awards telecast by 33 years. The SAG Life Achievement Award winners list grew through Golden Age icons James Stewart, Gregory Peck, and Katharine Hepburn.

Charlton Heston, Frank Sinatra, James Cagney, and Pearl Bailey joined the SAG Life Achievement Award winners list through the 1970s. The guild skipped 1963 and 1981 with no presentations.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward shared the 1985 tribute — the first dual-recipient year on the SAG Life Achievement Award winners list. Gene Kelly, Jack Lemmon, and Audrey Hepburn followed.

Robert Redford's 1995 presentation was the first Life Achievement tribute televised during the inaugural SAG Awards. Angela Lansbury, Elizabeth Taylor, and Sidney Poitier closed the pre-2000 SAG Life Achievement Award winners list.