LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Widow’s Bay” stormed the Emmy Awards on Monday night, taking best actor for star Matthew Rhys along with two other acting prizes, while Jean Smart won her fifth best actress award for the fifth and final season of “Hacks” and Noah Wyle made it two for two as best actor in a drama for “The Pitt.”
The Apple TV horror comedy “Widow's Bay” rode into the night on a wave of buzz. It had already won eight Emmys at an earlier ceremony and
added four more, including supporting actress for breakout star Kate O'Flynn, supporting actor for Stephen Root and best writing for the show's creator, Katie Dippold.
“I promise all of you that no one will ever step foot in my home without seeing this thing,” Dippold, a first time Emmy winner and first time nominees, said while holding up her Emmy from the stage of the Peacock Theater. “It will have its own spotlight.”
Rhys also won best actor in a limited series for “The Beast in Me,” becoming the first man to win two leading actor categories in the same year.
If it keeps winning, “Widow's Bay” could break the record for Emmys in a comedy that “The Studio” set last year with 13.
Smart's fifth win was an unprecedented sweep. No actor had won an Emmy every year for a series that lasted more than three seasons until she did it Monday.
“What a ride this has been,” an emotional Smart said after getting a standing ovation.
The 75-year-old Smart has won eight Emmys overall in a career that was already more than respectable when she landed her defining role of Deborah Vance, a brash stand-up comic pushing back against age, obscurity and sexism in the HBO Max series.
Wyle won the Emmy for the second season of “The Pitt,” HBO Max's real-time emergency room drama, for playing Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, a role that brought him a major career revival after starring in “ER” in the 1990s.
“I grew up in LA, I’m a Hollywood kid. I was raised on a television, and movie theaters were my place of worship," Wyle said in his acceptance. "This is all I’ve ever wanted to do, and this is the only club I’ve ever wanted to join.”
Rhea Seehorn won best actress in a drama for playing the lone central character on Apple TV's “Pluribus.”
The 54-year-old had been nominated twice without winning for her breakthrough role on “Better Call Saul,” a show from “Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan, who put Seehorn at the center of “Pluribus.”
It was the first Emmy for both O'Flynn and Root.
O’Flynn, a 40-year-old British actor whose previous acclaim came mostly for her work in theater, plays Patricia Moyer, a city worker and social outcast dealing with a demonic darkness on “Widow's Bay.”
“This is the role of a lifetime,” O’Flynn said from the stage. “This is for all the Patricias out there.”
Root, one of the most ubiquitous character actors of the last few decades, beat out Harrison Ford, who many thought would get his first major competitive Hollywood award for his role on “Shrinking.”
“Thank you, sir, for all your many years of great, great, great acting,” Root said to Ford during his acceptance.
Root, 74, is the oldest person to win the category.
Sally Field, 79, became the oldest woman to win best actress in a limited or anthology series or TV movie for “Remarkably Bright Creatures.”
“The Pitt” was the top overall nominee, but it lost in both supporting acting categories despite having four nominees in one of them and three in the other.
Allison Janney won best supporting actress in a drama over Katherine LaNasa from “The Pitt,” who won last year, and three of her castmates. Janney joined Smart as an eight-time Emmy winner.
Tom Pelphrey won supporting actor in a drama for “Task.”
Mariska Hargitay opened the NBC telecast with a musical tribute to television viewing, “I Love TV Screens,” sung to the tune of “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll.” A recorded start featured NBA champion Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks and actor Jennifer Coolidge. It continued inside the theater with a group of dancers with TVs for heads.
“NBC is celebrating its 100th year, and I have been on ‘Law & Order: SVU’ for all of them,” said Hargitay, a three-time Emmy winner who has starred in the show for 27 seasons.
The Emmys telecast rotates between the broadcast networks, and this year it’s airing live on NBC and streaming live on Peacock.
“Live from E!: Countdown to the Emmys” is showing stars arriving on YouTube and Peacock. The Associated Press is streaming a delayed feed of celebrity arrivals on YouTube.
