HBO Tops 57th Creative Arts Emmys, ABC Leads Nets
Show Airs Sept. 17 on E!
Los Angeles, Sept. 11, 2005 – Actor and comedian George Lopez hosted the 57th Annual Creative Arts Emmy Awards, where HBO topped the list of winners with 20 golden statuettes. Among broadcast networks, ABC led the field with 10 awards, and PBS followed closely with nine.
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| Jerry Lewis (c) received the prestigious Governor's Award for his decades of work with the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Will & Grace star Sean Hayes (l), who portrayed Lewis in the 2002 telefilm Martin and Lewis, joined Television Academy chair Dick Askin (r) in presenting the honor. |
A highlight of this year’s Creative Arts Awards, which honor excellence in numerous disciplines, many of them crucial behind-the-scenes crafts that rarely receive the recognition they deserve, was the presentation of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ prestigious Governors Award to Jerry Lewis for his more than 50 years of work on behalf of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Lewis was introduced by Will & Grace star Sean Hayes, who portrayed Lewis in the 2002 telefilm Martin and Lewis.
Presenters at the ceremony, which was held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, included actors Will Arnett (Arrested Development), Zach Braff (Scrubs), James Callis (Battlestar Gallactica), Sarah Chalke (Scrubs) Kristin Chenoweth (West Wing), Blythe Danner (Back When They Were Grownups; Huff; Will & Grace), Victor Garber (Alias), Jennifer Garner (Alias), Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Gallactica), Charlotte Jorgensen (Dancing with Stars), Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck), Ian McShane (Deadwood), Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy), John O’Hurley (Dancing with Stars), CCH Pounder (The Shield), Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck), Geoffrey Rush (The Life & Death of Peter Sellers), Tony Shalhoub (Monk) and Dylan Walsh (Nip/Tuck).
Lewis’ award, which was accompanied by a standing ovation, featured a videotape retrospective of his many decades of muscular dystrophy telethons, including appearances by Milton Berle, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and, of course, many of the children with neuromuscular diseases whose prospects have been so greatly improved by Lewis’ tireless fundraising efforts.
“It’s a strange feeling getting a commendation for something your heart tells you that you must do,” said Lewis, who noted with pride that donations to the Muscular Dystrophy Association recently surpassed the $2 billion mark. “I have been accused of being so selfless,” the 79-year-old comedy legend continued. “But I have to correct that. I am probably the most selfish man you will ever meet. No one gets the satisfaction or joy that I get from kids who realize there is hope.”
In addition to numerous light moments, such as when fitness icon Jack LaLanne took the stage and led the crowd in an impromptu exercise routine, the show featured a great deal of emotion as well.
Perhaps the most poignant moments were the speeches of Sophie Williams, who accepted two awards—Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming (Single or Multi-Camera) and Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming—on behalf of her late husband, British filmmaker James Miller, who received the awards for his work on Death in Gaza, a harrowing HBO documentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he was filming when he died. In a halting voice, Miller’s widow informed the audience that on May 2, 2003, her husband was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier while making the project.
“James felt that the role of the director was to stand back and let the story tell itself, but he became a part of this story,” said Sophie Williams, who added that the soldier who killed her husband went free in April of this year. “We are immensely proud of him.”
A few moments later, James Miller was honored with a third award, for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking, which was accepted by his sister, Katie, who said that it was fitting that her late brother had won three Emmys—one for Sophie, and one for each of their two children.
In addition to honors for animation, variety series and many technical categories, which included picture editing, sound editing, sound mixing, special visual effects, cinematography and art direction, four acting awards were handed out. Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series went to Amanda Plummer for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series went to Kathryn Joosten for Desperate Housewives; Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series went to Ray Liotta for ER; and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series went to Bobby Cannavale for Will & Grace.
Among the acting winners, only Joosten, who is also a governor in the Television Academy’s Performers Peer Group, was on hand to accept her award. In an amusing and touching speech, Joosten said she would like to exhume her late ex-husband, who was not supportive of her decision to pursue a professional acting career in middle age, to show him the extent to which her efforts had borne fruit. She then thanked her two sons for their unflagging love and encouragement. Backstage, Joosten told reporters that winning an Emmy was “the top of the mountain. I started out twenty-some years ago in community theater; I played a stripper in Gypsy. So to be here with this [award] is the ultimate.”
HBO, which in recent years has had tremendous Emmy success, enjoyed more of the same this year. Six of its awards went to The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, the biopic starring Geoffrey Rush as the titular chameleonic British actor; five to the acclaimed Western series Deadwood; and three each to Warm Springs, the historical drama about President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s struggle with polio, and to Death in Gaza. ABC’s 10 trophies included four each for its hit series Lost and Desperate Housewives.
Rounding out the winners after HBO, ABC and PBS were NBC with eight awards, Cartoon Network with seven, CBS with six and Fox with four. Nickelodeon and Showtime garnered two apiece, and A&E, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel and Hallmark each took home one.