``I'm not from these parts,'' said Gervais, who later won best TV comedy actor. ``I'm from a little place called England ... We used to run the world before you.''
Tim Robbins and Renee Zellweger collected supporting movie performer honors.
Robbins' supporting role as a grown child-abuse survivor suspected of murder in Mystic River earned him the first trophy of the evening. ``Wow! We just sat down. The good thing about this coming early is that I get to drink now,'' Robbins joked.
Later in his acceptance speech he shouted to director Clint Eastwood: ``Clint, you are the man! I have never felt so trusted and in such good hands as when we were on the set for that movie.''
Eastwood accepted the drama actor award on behalf of Penn, who did not attend, and described his Mystic River star as an actor who has been too often taken for granted.
Zellweger received the supporting movie actress award for playing a tough-as-bark backwoods woman in Cold Mountain. She previously won two lead comedy actress Golden Globes for Nurse Betty in 2001 and last year for Chicago.
Besides winning best TV movie or miniseries, Angels in America won four performing awards. Co-star Meryl Streep and Al Pacino were picked best TV movie lead performers and supporting TV honors went to Jeffrey Wright and Mary-Louise Parker.
Streep, who was previously onstage to present the award to Robbins, accepted her trophy with a blushing remark: ``I just realized you can see completely though my dress.''
The honorary Cecil B. DeMille Award went to Michael Douglas, whose actor father, Kirk Douglas, received the honor in 1968. ``My father couldn't make it here tonight, but if Kirk was here I would acknowledge him for his stamina, for his endurance and for his great sense of material,'' Douglas said.
Douglas, 59, also thanked another acting veteran, his co-star on the 1970s TV series The Streets of San Francisco, for teaching him about the business. ``I will be eternally grateful to Karl Malden for showing me what a work ethic is about,'' Douglas said, while Malden smiled from the audience.
RSS