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When it comes to the Emmy Awards, there really are no bad winners; if an actor is nominated, there’s usually a reason. Indeed, these performers do a wonderful job in the role they play, whether it’s a lesser-known show or a high-profile one, in network television or streaming. Their work is recognized, and most wins are usually worth the acknowledgment.
Still, there’s no denying that, sometimes, a win comes unexpectedly, often at the expense of someone who fans or peers consider more deserving. In some cases, a deserving actor is passed over altogether, not even nominated in the first place, thus making an already puzzling winner even more frustrating. When it comes to the Best Actress category, a few wins over the decades turned heads. These are the worst Lead Actress winners across the Comedy, Drama, and Miniseries categories, ranging from disappointing to outright confusing.
8 1950s: Nanette Fabray – Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
‘Caesar’s Hour’ (1954-1957)
Way back in the ‘50s, the Emmys didn’t have a separate category for sketch comedy shows. That makes sense since the awards only started in 1949 and there weren’t many shows in general on the air at that time. Nonetheless, while Nanette Fabray’s win for her role in Caesar’s Hour in 1957 might have seemed justified back then, by today’s standards, viewers today can’t make sense of it.
Fabray’s competition that year included bigwigs like Lucille Ball in
I Love Lucy
, widely considered a legend of the small screen.
The sketch comedy series saw Fabray play numerous characters, and she did a great job. In fact, the entire cast did, which is why Caesar’s House swept the awards that year, winning in all four acting categories, a record it held onto for 50 years. Still, her competition that year included bigwigs like Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy, widely considered a legend of the small screen. Ball had already taken home her share of Emmys previously, winning in 1953 and 1956; still, it seems preposterous for someone else to win while she was still playing her iconic character.
7 1960s: Hope Lange – Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
‘The Ghost and Mrs. Muir’ (1968-1970)
Hope Lange took home an award in both 1969 and 1970 for her role in The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, a sitcom based on the 1947 film about a young widow who rents a cottage with her kids that happens to be haunted by the ghost of its former owner. The show was canceled by NBC after a single season, brought back by ABC, and canceled again after season two, which doesn’t speak volumes for its popularity.
It’s odd to think Hope Lange prevailed for a largely forgotten series that wasn’t even popular at the time.
Somehow, however, Lange’s performance earned her recognition from her peers over and above Diahann Carroll in Julia, Barbara Feldon in Get Smart, and Elizabeth Montgomery in Bewitched. Considering how those other shows are better known today, it’s odd to think Lange still prevailed for a largely forgotten series that wasn’t even popular at the time. Sometimes, the Emmy voters truly go for the oddest of choices, and Lange is the best example; hardly anyone can explain these back-to-back wins today.
6 1970s: Mariette Hartley – Lead Actress in a Drama Series
‘The Incredible Hulk’ (1977-1982)
There were a lot of great shows on television in the ‘70s, and The Incredible Hulk is certainly one. Mariette Hartley won in 1979 for her role in the CBS series that starred Lou Ferrigno as the titular character and ran for five seasons. What’s baffling about her win is that she wasn’t even a main character; in fact, she only appeared in a single episode as Dr. Carolyn Fields, who marries Hulk’s alter ego, Bruce Banner, played by Bill Bixby.
As great as she was in the episode, it’s at best odd and at worst flat-out unfair to win a Lead Actress Emmy for what is effectively a guest stint. Furthermore, the category included other nominees like Barbara Bel Geddes in Dallas and Sada Thompson in Family, both of whom played more fleshed-out roles in their respective series. Hartley’s win remains one of the few times a performer has won a major award for a comic book project, so that’s at least something.
5 1980s: Dana Delaney – Lead Actress in a Drama Series
‘China Beach’ (1988-1991)
China Beach was a war drama series set in an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War that aired for four seasons on ABC. Dana Delaney stars as First Lieutenant Colleen Murphy, an army nurse who is both courageous and kind. It’s tough to argue the win in 1989 because it was more than deserved, and China Beach remains one of the best modern series about the 1960s.
Nonetheless, it still raised eyebrows because while the show was good, it had poor ratings; the final season was even delayed, which is the only reason Delaney was eligible that year. It was as though she was only awarded because the writing was on the wall that the series was going to end. With Linda Hamilton up against her for Beauty and the Beast, Angela Lansbury for Murder, She Wrote, and Susan Dey and Jill Eikenberry for L.A. Law, the timing may have given these four ladies the short end of the stick. What’s more, the award went to Delaney again in 1992, despite the show having been canceled and never having picked up a loyal legion of fans.
4 1990s: Sela Ward – Least Actress in a Drama Series
‘Sisters’ (1991-1996)
Winning in 1994 for her role in Sisters, Sela Ward left her mark in Emmy history. The NBC family drama was a good show that lasted six seasons, but it was really about the ensemble cast, which included four sisters dealing with childhood trauma and the fact that their father wished he had boys. Ward’s character was Theodora “Teddy” Reed Margolis Falconer Sorenson, a recovering alcoholic trying to figure out her life.
The show wasn’t particularly memorable, arguably qualifying as one of the most underrated series from the ‘90s. Moreover, many believed that Jane Seymour should have won instead for her role as Dr. Michaela Quinn in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Ward was good in the show, but her performance seems even more underwhelming in hindsight, especially as her show has all but disappeared from the public consciousness.
3 2000s: Julia Louis Dreyfus – Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
‘The New Adventures of Old Christine’ (2006-2010)
There’s no denying Julia Louis Dreyfus’ talents. She proved it with all the praise she received for her role in Seinfeld and again in Veep, which earned her six consecutive and well-deserved Emmy Awards for Lead Actress. The New Adventures of Old Christine was a fun sitcom about a single mom navigating life after divorce, and she brought her usual comedic style to it, but it wasn’t in the same league as her other small-screen efforts. Thus, it seemed as though Dreyfus was being awarded just because it was her and not because her role on that show truly earned it.
This isn’t to detract from the win in 2006 for the show’s inaugural season, nor Dreyfus’ acting talents. But it seemed like the need to continue to shower Dreyfus with praise, no matter her role, came to the detriment of other nominees like the arguably worthier Jane Kaczmarek for Malcolm in the Middle and Lisa Kudrow for The Comeback. Considering Kaczmarek was nominated seven times for the role yet never won, it seems like 2006, which coincidentally was also the last year Malcolm in the Middle aired, should have been her winning time.
2 2010s: Melissa McCarthy – Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
‘Mike & Molly’ (2010-2016)
Mike & Molly was a cute sitcom that starred McCarthy and Billy Gardell as a couple who meet in an Overeaters Anonymous group and fall in love. At the time, the undeniably talented Melissa McCarthy was one of the most sought-after comedians, thanks to her roles in Bridesmaids, which earned her an Academy Award nomination, and The Heat.
Winning in 2011, McCarthy seemed like an odd and puzzling choice, especially with so much competition at the time in the comedy space. Indeed, her role was solid enough to warrant the nomination but simply not at the same level as some of the other nominees that year, like Edie Falco from Nurse Jackie, Tina Fey from 30 Rock, and especially Amy Poehler from Parks and Recreation, whose plucky portrayal of Leslie Knope would’ve been a wonderful choice that year.
1 2020s: Kate Winslet – Lead Actress in a Miniseries
‘Mare of Easttown’ (2021)
There are plenty of examples of movie actors diving into TV and earning awards that predominantly TV actors have sought for so long (think Kevin Costner for Hatfields & McCoys). Kate Winslet is arguably one of them. The incredibly talented actor shifted to TV to star in Mare of Easttown, a crime drama set in a small town of Philadelphia where she plays a detective investigating a murder. The series received positive reviews and 16 Emmy nominations, winning four, including one for Winslet.
The 2021 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology series or Movie category was jam-packed with talent, including Cynthia Erivo in Genius: Aretha, Elizabeth Olsen in WandaVision, Anya Taylor-Joy in The Queen’s Gambit, and Michaela Coel in I May Destroy You. Coel, in particular, delivered an all-time great performance that would’ve been a wonderful winner. Winslet is quite good as Mare, even if the show was effectively a one-season procedural, but to say she was worthier than Coel or Anya Taylor-Joy is divisive, to say the least.
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