With the Emmy Awards nominations set for Tuesday, it is a good time to back at a few of the greatest Emmy-winning and Emmy-nominated performances from some of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
Ingrid Bergman, “The Turn of the Screw” (1959)
The Oscar-winning Swedish actress certainly ended the 1950s on a different note than she began the decade. After making her U.S. film debut opposite Leslie Howard in 1939’s “Intermezzo,” Bergman became one of the top Hollywood stars earning her first Oscar for 1944’s “Gaslight.” Married with a young daughter, she shocked the U.S. when she had an affair and became pregnant by famed Italian director Roberto Rossellini during the production of “Stromboli.” She was even denounced in Congress for her affair. The couple did marry, have three children including actress Isabella Rossellini and made several films together before they divorced in 1957. All was forgiven by 1956 when she won glowing reviews and an Oscar for “Anastasia.”
Bergman made her US. TV debut in 1959 in NBC’s “Startime” showcase series in James Costigan’s adaptation of Henry James’ terrifying ghost story “The Turn of the Screw.” And she won the Emmy for outstanding single performance by an actress (lead or support). I watched this at the Paley Center for Media about 15 years ago and though technically it’s not as creepy and haunting as the 1961 film classic “The Innocents” with Deborah Kerr, “Turn of the Screw” is beautifully and atmospherically directed by John Frankenheimer and Bergman turns out all the stops as a governess with two young charges who must fight malevolent forces.
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Lee J. Cobb and Mildred Dunnock, “Death of Salesman” (1966)
Seventeen years after they electrified Broadway as Willy Loman and his long-suffering wife Linda in Arthur Miller’s landmark multi-Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Cobb and Dunnock reunited for this exceptional, albeit, abridged adaptation. Ironically, Cobb and Dunnock were not even nominated for Tony Awards for their iconic work, but they did earn nominations for their exceptionally powerful performances. James Farentino and George Segal are also terrific as their sons and a young Gene Wilder also has a small part.
“Death of a Salesman” earned 11 Emmy nominations winning outstanding dramatic program, outstanding directorial achievement for Alex Segal and special classifications of individual achievements for Arthur Miller. I had the great honor of interviewing Miller for the L.A. Times 30 years ago. Yes, I was a nervous wreck, but we did have a laugh together when I mentioned that Cobb was so young when he originally played Loman. “But he always looked old,” I told Miller. He smiled and noted “He was old when he was two!”
Geraldine Page, “ABC Stage ’67: Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory” (1966) and “The Thanksgiving Visitor” (1968)
The Oscar-winning actress (1985’s “A Trip to Bountiful”) won two outstanding single performance for a leading actress Emmys for these exquisite performances as Miss Sook in these acclaimed adaptation of Capote’s semi-autobiographical short stories. I saw these nostalgic heartwarming and heartbreaking dramas when I was young. I was absolutely mesmerized by Page.
Capote was also the narrator of “A Christmas Memory,” recalling the holidays during the Depression when his mother would park a young Truman with her distant relatives that included the eccentric, elderly Miss Sook who took great pride in baking fruit cake for everyone. Years later, Capote would tell People magazine that Sook was the “only stable person” in his life as a youngster. The great Frank Perry (“David and Lisa”) directed “A Christmas Memory” which was adapted by his wife Eleanor. The Perrys and Capote were also the creative forces behind the 1968 sequel “A Thanksgiving Visitor,” which was based on a 1967 Capote story.
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George C. Scott and Susannah York, “Jane Eyre” (1971)
There have been numerous adaptations of Charlotte Bronte’s romance “Jane Eyre,” most notably the classic 1944 version starring Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles. My preference is the lovely 1971 NBC presentation directed by Delbert Mann and starring Scott and York. Scott is usually not considered a romantic leading man, but he definitely demonstrates his dreamy side. And he and York mesh perfectly together. Both actors earned Emmy nominations with John Williams winning an Emmy for his glorious, gem of a score. Mann also received a DGA nomination for his direction.
Laurence Olivier, “Long Day’s Journey into Night” (1973)
The legendary British actor/director won five Emmys including one for his searing performance in this superb abridged version of Eugene O’Neill’s searing 1956 Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning semi-autobiographical drama, which aired on ABC in the spring of 1973. Set during a day at a summer house in 1912, the gut-wrenching drama finds Olivier as James Tyrone Sr., an aging matinee stage idol and fussbudget, dealing with his wife’s (a haunting Constance Cummings) morphine addiction, the alcoholism of his oldest son (Denis Quilley) and the serious illness of his youngest son (Ronald Pickup).
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