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A Salute to Legends Like Kathy Bates, Jean Smart and Harrison Ford on Finally Getting Their Emmy Flowers
I'm sure we're all doom scrolling through social media these days, and it has most certainly not been good for my mental health. (Have you read some of my recent columns or Awards HQ newsletters? Yeah, things are dark.) But one bright spot that actually was good for my psyche came from 'Matlock' creator Jennie Snyder Urman and her team.
Recently, when the iconic Kathy Bates was recognized with a well-deserved Emmy nomination for playing the unexpectedly complex 'Matty' Matlock (er, Madeline Kingston), Urman and team were ready with their flowers. Literally. The team formed a spirit tunnel, filled with cheers and balloons as well. They filmed that moment, and it was a joy to see on my feeds.
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'We're inspired every single day by your hard work and your grace and your humility and your talent and the way that you lead this set,' Urman said through tears on the video. Quipped Bates: 'This has been an extraordinary experience for an old broad like me.'
As I wipe away my own tears, I think: This is the kind of content I desperately need. And honestly, how lucky are we to be living in a golden age of legends? Bates, of course, made history as the oldest person ever to be nominated in the drama actress field, but she's not the only acting veteran still making waves.
And at this point I have to turn to Jean Smart, who has been turning her Sept. 13 birthday into an almost annual Emmy celebration — having now won the comedy actress Emmy in 2021, 2022 and 2024. This year, the Emmys take place the day after she turns 74. Smart is already the second-oldest Emmy comedy actress winner, but is actually the overall champ if you don't consider Ruth Gordon, who is the oldest winner at 82, in 1979 for 'Taxi.' But Gordon was a guest star; there was no guest category that year so she competed in lead.
Technicality or not, let's just remind folks that Smart also remains a screen queen. Her turn on this season of 'Hacks' was once again both impressive and heartbreaking; watching Deborah Vance realize her talk show dreams was exhilarating. And then, seeing it quickly turn toxic was a twist I didn't see coming.
I honestly can't tell who has a more crowded IMDB list of credits over the past decade — Bates or Smart. Both have experienced some whiplash castings in recent years: Bates doing Chuck Lorre comedies like 'The Big Bang Theory' and 'Disjointed,' and then Ryan Murphy-style thrills with 'American Horror Story' and straight-up drama with 'The Great Lillian Hall' and 'Richard Jewell.'
Then there has been the lengthy 'Jean Smartaissance' with her dramatic, powerful and sometimes scary roles in 'Fargo,' 'Watchmen,' 'Mare of Easttown' and 'Babylon' among them. (I will forever remember Smart as Helen in 'Mare of Easttown,' hiding her ice cream in a bag of frozen vegetables. It's a life hack I still think about to this day.)
Of course, on the actor side, on July 30, Variety ran a wonderful cover story on Harrison Ford — who just landed his first Emmy nomination, at 83, in the comedy supporting actor category for 'Shrinking.' Like Bates and Smart, Ford is doing some of his best and most memorable work right now. He also hasn't been busier, having also headlined the drama '1883.'
And if we want to talk about national treasures — and couples goals — let's look no further than Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen. I was disappointed that Danson and his wonderful Netflix comedy 'A Man on the Inside' failed to get Emmy love, and am hopeful voters rectify that next year with the show's Season 2, in which Steenburgen joins her real-life husband on the show. But I was pleased to see the TV Academy will single out the couple for this year's Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for their charitable work in several causes.
Because, while I continue to scroll through nonstop awful headlines about what's happening in our country, I at least can take solace in knowing that there are living TV legends using their resources to do something about it.
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