Kevin Costner looked incredible on Sunday at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles.
The 67-year-old Hollywood veteran – who is best known for his hit films Bull Durham (1988) and Dances With Wolves (1990) – was at the star-studded event to support his smash hit Paramount+ series Yellowstone.
The former Eighties matinee idol proved he has retained his silver screen good looks as he sported a nice Southern California tan, an impressive head of hair complete with a goatee and an enviable slender frame.
Young looking: Kevin Costner looked incredible on Sunday at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles
It was a big night for the popular Paramount+ show, as it received its first ever major nomination in the award season race, despite being a huge ratings hit for years.
However, sadly it was not to be as the show was beaten out by HBO’s Succession in the category of Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
The nomination came after news that Costner’s co-star Forrie J Smith would not be attending the event because he doesn’t believe in vaccines and hasn’t had a COVID shot.
What is his secret? The former matinee idol proved he has retained his silver screen good looks as he sported a nice Southern California tan, an impressive head of hair and a slender frame
A true gent: The 67-year-old Hollywood veteran – who is best known for his hit films Bull Durham and Dances With Wolves – was at the event to support his smash hit series Yellowstone
Meanwhile, Costner, 67, looked suave in a tuxedo, as he posed with his wife Christine Baumgartner. His wife Baumgartner, 47 – who he married in 2004 – looked stunning in a sparkly peach evening gown.
Forrie J Smith, 62, a real-life cowboy who stars in the drama, broke the news to his fans that he’ll be shunning the event over fears having a vaccine could destroy his immune system.
‘I want to apologize to y’all for not being at the Screen Actors Guild Awards,’ the married father-of-one said in a video posted on his Instagram account.
‘I mean no offense to anyone. I’m not vaccinated, and it’s a requirement to be vaccinated.’
Main star: Kevin Costner lead the Yellowstone cast arrivals on Sunday afternoon at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles
Anyone attending the LA Awards must have had their full-COVID vaccine, as well as a booster and a negative COVID test.
Safety-obsessed bosses say participants must wear an N95, KN95 or KF94 mask throughout proceedings, in accordance with local guidelines, unless they’re eating, drinking, collecting an award or posing for photographers on the red carpet.
It was revealed earlier this month that Yellowstone has been officially renewed for a fifth season by the Paramount Network.
It comes after the hit show – that has been described as ‘anti-woke’ – broke records with its season four finale this year, when 15 million viewers tuned in, making it the most-watched show on TV since 2017.
It was nominated in the category of Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, losing out to Succession.
Ensemble: Yellowstone stars gather backstage, L-R, Jefferson White, Eden Brolin, Ian Bohen, Piper Perabo, Brecken Merrill, Kevin Costner, Hassie Harrison, Kelsey Asbille Chow and Jen Landon
Support: Luke Grimes, who plays Kayce Dutton on the show with his wife Bianca Rodrigues Grimes
Gang is together: Hassie Harrison, who plays barrel racer Laramie on the show, looked stunning in a sophisticated evening gown
The drama takes a break from TV’s typical New York City or LA settings to focus on a real American family in Montana who are fighting to protect their cattle ranch from land-grabbing interlopers.
The non-woke Paramount series, which first aired in 2018, has been besting cable TV mainstays with over 7 million viewers on the week of December 6. It was only surpassed by the 13 million attracted to the New England Patriots versus Buffalo Bills football game, outpacing the FOX channel’s The Five, Special Report with Brett Baer and Tucker Carlson Tonight.
On January 2, it became the most watched show on TV since The Walking Dead Season 8 premiere on AMC in October 2017, which drew 11.4 million viewers.
Family affair: Tim McGraw and wife Faith Hill – who star in Yellowstone spin-off series 1883 – were also at the star-studded event
Power duo: Tim and Faith presented an award to Squid Games star Lee Jung-Jae
Yellowstone’s finale, which was aired on Paramount Network and CMT, was viewed by 10.3 million people, while the Paramount Network encores boosted the figures to more than 11 million viewers – 81 per cent higher than its season three finale’s 5.2 million.
‘Yellowstone continues to shatter records with more than 11 million viewers tuning into the season finale, proving we’ve hit a cultural nerve – from the center of the country to each of the coasts – and still have lots of room to grow on linear,’ said Chris McCarthy, President and CEO, ViacomCBS Media Networks.
‘Our strategy to franchise Yellowstone into a universe of series to fuel growth for Paramount+ is already exceeding expectations with 1883 and Mayor of Kingstown proving to be two of the top titles.’
Before this, the show had only received a single Creative Arts Emmys nomination for production design for a narrative contemporary program (one hour or more).
The show’s creator Taylor Sheridan said in a statement following the nomination: ‘There’s no bigger compliment to an actor than being recognized by their peers.’
‘Congratulations to our incredibly talented cast on this wonderful and well deserved nomination.’
Co-creator Taylor Sheridan, 52, who writes his scripts from a ranch in Weatherford, Texas, has ridden the show’s rising wave of popularity, releasing Yellowstone prequel 1883 and Mayor of Kingstown.
It is about two Michigan brothers who serve as the liaisons between prisoners and the surrounding community in a town home to multiple prisons, on Paramount+ in December and November, respectively.
When it launched three years ago, it took off in Nielsen D markets – the least-popular TV markets, like Albany, Georgia or Missoula, Montana, as opposed to ‘Nielsen A’ markets like Los Angeles and New York City – ranking fourth among viewers between 25 and 54 in that designation.
In ‘Nielsen A’ markets, it didn’t even crack the top 50 watched shows, according to the Wall Street Journal.
When McCarthy took over ViacomCBS in 2019, he shifted the show’s slot from Wednesdays to Sundays and began advertising it on the Network’s other channels, like MTV and CMT.
‘We needed to do things that would signal that the show has coastal appeal,’ McCarthy told the Journal.
‘It’s a misconception to think you can only play to the coasts or the center. The question is: How do you play to both?’
Now, the show’s viewers are more evenly distributed, with 28 percent of its Season 4 finale viewers in A markets and another 28 percent in D markets.
David Glasser, chief executive of 101 Studios, which produces Sheridan’s shows, said that city and country viewers alike can appreciate Yellowstone – ‘it doesn’t matter where you sit, on the coasts or in middle America, it’s about protection of your family.’
Yellowstone star Forrie J Smith (pictured) announced that he will not be walking the red carpet at the upcoming SAG Awards because of his anti-vaxx beliefs
Recognition: Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone is finally being recognized this awards season, after receiving it’s first ever nomination at the 2022 Screen Actors Guild Awards
Yellowstone depicts modern-day struggles that are all too real for middle-America viewers in those D markets, like the development of rural areas and the clash between landowners and government over stewardship
But the show depicts a way of life unfamiliar to coastal viewers, with pans on ranch landscapes and drawn-out scenes of cowboys elegantly wrangling cattle.
And Yellowstone depicts modern-day struggles that are all too real for middle-America viewers in those D markets, like the development of rural areas and the clash between landowners and government over stewardship.
Kevin Costner’s character, patriarch John Dutton, put it bluntly in Episode 7 of Season 4: ‘there’s a war on our way of life.’
‘They’ll tell you that the land’s only hope if for them to be its steward. The ugly truth is they want the land, and if they get it, it will never look like our land again.’
‘I am the opposite of progress. I am the wall that it bashes against it, and I will not be the one who breaks.’