Betty White scores Emmy win
2010-08-27 15:01
Los Angeles - The Betty White phenomenon keeps getting bigger.
White won an Emmy Award for best guest actress in a comedy series for her turn as Saturday Night Live host. The honour came last Saturday at the creative arts ceremony that is precursor to the main show this Sunday night.
The trophy is the fifth prime-time Emmy received by the 88-year-old White, according to the TV academy. Her previous honours came for classic sitcoms including The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls.
So far this year, besides the SNL gig, White made a splash with the new TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland, scored with a clever Super Bowl commercial and played a mad librarian on ABC's sitcom The Middle."
She did not attend Saturday's ceremony, which included presenters Jane Lynch of Glee, Elizabeth Mitchell of Lost and Christina Hendricks of Mad Men.
Critical acclaim
Neil Patrick Harris was a presenter and winner, taking the trophy for best guest actor in a comedy series for his appearance on Glee. The guest acting trophies for drama series went to John Lithgow for Dexter and Ann-Margret for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which has won Emmy acting honours for six consecutive years.
Harris, who stars in How I Met Your Mother, shared in another award. The Tony Awards show, which he hosted to critical acclaim, was recognised as best special class program.
The top network winner was HBO with 17 trophies, followed by ABC with 15 and Fox with nine. CBS, NBC and PBS each claimed seven. The Pacific, HBO's World War II miniseries, captured a leading seven creative arts awards.
Service to the TV academy
Four trophies went to Disney Prep & Landing, an animated Christmas special. Other big winners, with three trophies each, were first-year sitcom Modern Family, Saturday Night Live and The 25th Anniversary Rock And Roll Hall of Fame Concert.
Randy Newman won a trophy for original music and lyrics for When I'm Gone, written for the departed series Monk.
John Leverence, senior vice president of awards, received the Syd Cassyd Founders Award for his service to the TV academy.
The creative arts ceremony will air Friday on the E! channel. Sunday's 62nd annual prime-time Emmy ceremony, with Jimmy Fallon as host, will air live on NBC.
- AP