LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) - Morgan Freeman, the versatile actor known for playing gods, presidents and pimps, will be honoured with the 2017 lifetime achievement award by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) at its annual ceremony in January (2018).

Freeman, 80, whose prolific career spans 50 years and more than 100 movies, will join the likes of past recipients Lily Tomlin, Debbie Reynolds and Dick Van Dyke when he gets the honour at a Los Angeles ceremony on Jan 21.

SAG announced the award on Tuesday (Aug 22).

"Some actors spend their entire careers waiting for the perfect role. Morgan showed us that true perfection is what a performer brings to the part," SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris said in a statement.

"He is innovative, fearless and completely unbound by expectations," she added.

The award is given annually to the actor who fosters the finest ideals of the acting profession.

Freeman's calm demeanour and authoritative voice has seen him cast as God, or the voice of God, in movies including Bruce Almighty (2003), and he played the role of president in Invictus (2009) and Deep Impact (1998).

In 2005, he won an Oscar for playing a former boxer in Million Dollar Baby.