Another favourite, the true-crime series “The People vs OJ Simpson: American Crime Story”, a dramatization of the 1995 murder trial of the United States football star, won nine Emmys, including the award for best limited series.
Advertisement
The night featured several deserving wins, even if a couple of them were repeats – and, in the case of Julia Louis-Dreyfus winning the outstanding actress comedy Emmy for “Veep”, a five-peat.
Other big winners of the night included The People vs OJ Simpson – a dramatisation of the OJ Simpson trial of the 1990s, which was broadcast on BBC Two in the UK.
Courtney B Vance bagged best actor in limited series or movie, Sarah Paulson won best actress and the best supporting actor honour to Sterling K Brown.
“Obama out, Hillary in”, said Vance, as he wrapped his victory speech.
Cast and crew members of “Game of Thrones” pose with the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series, in the press room during the 68th Emmy Awards on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles.
The HBO fantasy series notched best drama honors for the second straight year, and added writing and directing nods to a treasure hoard that already included nine creative arts Emmys handed out last week.
The Emmys have outpaced the much-criticized Academy Awards, and each of this year’s major acting categories includes at least one minority nominee.
“The more I learned about the real Marcia Clark, not the two dimensional cardboard cut-out on the news, but the complicated, whip smart, giant hearted mother of two who woke up everyday, put both feet on the floor and dedicated herself to righting an unconscionable wrong, the more I had to recognize that I – along with the rest of the world – had been superficial and careless in my judgment and I am glad to be able to stand here today in front of everyone and tell you that I am sorry”, Paulson said.
The award gala also honoured Indian-origin actor-writer-director Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, who received the Outstanding Writing for a Comedy series honour for “Master of None“.
“I’d also like to take this opportunity to personally apologise for the current political climate”.
Actress, Comedy Series: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”.
“Our show started out as political satire, but now it feels like a sober documentary”, she said. If Trump wins the United States presidency, she promised “to rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it”.
“I’d like to dedicate this to my father, William Louis-Dreyfus, who passed away on Friday”, she said between sobs.
-Regina King repeated for her role on American Crime, as did Jeffrey Tambor for his role as a transgender woman in Transparent.
He called for Hollywood to make him the last non-transgender actor to get such a role.
The series creator, Jill Soloway, was named best director for a comedy and noted, “It’s a privilege and it also creates privilege”.
It is the third time Dame Maggie has won an Emmy for her portrayal of Violet Crawley, but she has never attended the ceremony in person.
-After numerous nominations, Saturday Night Live star Kate McKinnon picked up her first Emmy for Supporting Actress, Comedy.
The longform categories went the predictable route with The People V. O.J. Simpson sweeping most of the categories, with a dash of shocker when British import Sherlock upsetting front-runner All The Way.
Supporting Actor, Drama Series: Ben Mendelsohn, “Bloodline“.
John Oliver of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” won the Emmy for top variety talk series.
In addition to Regina King’s second consecutive win (outstanding supporting actress in a limited series) for ABC’s anthology drama “American Crime“, Jeffrey Tambor was another deserving repeat victor (outstanding actor in a comedy) for his striking performance as Maura Pfefferman in Amazon’s “Transparent”.
Advertisement
Louie Anderson’s win for supporting actor in a comedy on the FX series “Baskets” was also a refreshing move.
