Actor George Clooney, who was at the 72nd Golden Globe award ceremony to receive the prestigious Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement honour, was uninhibited in professing his love for wife Amal Amaluddin while on stage.

While concluding his speech, Clooney could not help but make a mention of human rights lawyer Alamuddin, who sat in the audience and blushed at her husband's compliments.

"It's a humbling thing to find someone to love. Amal, I couldn't be prouder to be your husband," he said.

Earlier on during the ceremony, hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler had joked about the couple, who got married in Venice September 2014.

"George Clooney married Amal Alamuddin this year," said Fey, and added: "Amal is a human rights lawyer, who worked on the Enron case, was an adviser to Kofi Annan regarding Syria and was selected for a three-person UN commission investigating rules of war violations in the Gaza strip.

"So tonight her husband is getting a lifetime achievement award."

In his speech, the 53-year-old thanked his film fraternity for keeping "small films alive" and also referred to last week's terrorist attacks in Paris.

"Today was an extraordinary day, there were millions of people who marched not just in Paris but around the world, and they were Christians and Jews and Muslims, they were leaders of countries all over the world and they didn't march in protest," he said.

"They marched in support of the idea that we will not walk in fear. So Je suis Charlie."

Clooney, a four-time Golden Globe winner, is also a two-time Oscar winner. During his career, he has appeared in over 40 films and TV shows. He attained star status with the 1990s TV drama "ER" before moving on to pursue a career in films.

As a director, he has five features to his credit. These include "Good Night and Good Luck," "The Ides of March" and "The Monuments Men".

Apart from his contribution to the world of cinema, Clooney was chosen for the honour because of his humanitarian work, particularly in Darfur and Sudan.

The actor was introduced to the stage by his "ER" co-star Julianna Marguiles.

"In an industry where it is so easy to lose touch with who you are and what really matters, he has never been anything but real," she said in her introductory message.