Maggie Smith won her fourth Emmy for her portrayal of Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham. (Photo: Nick Briggs)
Maggie Smith received a Primetime Emmy as best supporting actress in a drama series in Sunday night’s Primetime Emmy Awards, recognition that made Masterpiece’s Downton Abbey the winningest PBS program among three to be honored.
Smith won a fourth Emmy for her portrayal of Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, this time in the finale season of the Masterpiece drama. The series, which had been nominated for best drama series among nine other categories, also won two statuettes in Creative Arts categories for hairstyling and production design.
In another PBS highlight in the live televised, red-carpet gala, Sherlock: The Abominable Bride was named outstanding television movie. Cited for the Emmy were five executive producers: Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat, Beryl Vertue, Sue Vertue and Rebecca Eaton. The drama, presented by Masterpiece’s “Mystery!” strand, also received a Creative Arts Emmy for outstanding visual effects in a supporting role.
Earlier Primetime Emmy presentations honoring Creative Arts recognized Keith David for his narration of Jackie Robinson, the four-hour biography produced for PBS by Ken Burns and his team at Florentine Films. Two statuettes went to a Live from Lincoln Center performance special “Danny Elfman’s Music From the Films of Tim Burton.” Elfman, the composer and performer whose works were featured during the concert, won the Emmy for music direction. The show also one for best sound mixing in a variety series or special.
From its slate of 26 nominations across in all categories, PBS won a total of eight Primetime Emmys, placing it fourth among all television networks and on-demand services whose programs were nominated. HBO topped the competition with 22 Emmy wins, followed by FX Networks with 18 and Netflix, nine.
Watch highlights from the televised Emmy presentation and see a full list of winners.
An earlier version of this post miscounted the number of Emmys awarded to Maggie Smith for her role on Downton Abbey. Counting the statuette presented in the 2016 Primetime Emmys, she’s won a total of four.