GH’s Female Performers Shut Out at Emmy’s While Men Repeat Wins

The cast and crew of General Hospital had reason to celebrate after this year’s Daytime Emmy Awards. With a total of 21 nominations, the longest running scripted series on television had the most nominations of any daytime drama. This year saw GH take home a record breaking 14th win for Outstanding Daytime Drama. The series also took home Emmy’s for Lead Actor, Supporting Actor, Directing Team, Technical Team and Casting. GH won the most awards of the four remaining daytime dramas.

In a repeat of 2019, GH’s Maurice Bernard and Max Gail won for Outstanding Lead and Supporting Actor. This win came at the conclusion of a critically acclaimed Alzheimer’s storyline which saw Mike’s condition rapidly deteriorated and Sonny weighing whether to or not to keep him on life support. This marked Maurice Bernard’s third win and Max Gail’s second in their respective categories.

The Lead Actor category had GH co-stars Steve Burton and Dominic Zamprogna nominated for their roles on GH. Another co-star, Wally Kurth, was nominated for his performance on Days of Our Lives (pulls double duty on both daytime dramas). Bold And The Beautiful’s Thorsten Kaye was the sole non-GH cast member nominated for Lead Actor.

For Supporting Actor, Max Gail was up against fellow cast mates James Patrick Stuart and Jeffery Kober. This was the first nomination for Jeffrey Kober, whose character Cyrus Renault has dominated storylines on GH over the past year. This was James Patrick Stuart’s second nomination for playing Valentin Cassidine on GH and his overall.

Last year’s winner, Bryton James of Young And The Restless was once again a contender in the category. Bryton James earned his ninth nomination since joining the series in 2004. Bold and The Beautiful star, Darrin Brooks, marked his first nomination in the category. This was Brooks his first since joining Bold and The Beautiful in 2013 and third overall.

None of the many talented women of GH took home an Emmy this year. With a total of sixteen acting nominations, the most of remaining four daytime dramas, multiple cast members were competing in each acting category.

This year’s voting was completed with all submissions reviewed in one group, with only one round of voting. This may have had the unintended effect of splitting the vote. In past years larger pools of submissions were whittled down to a core group prior to a final decision.

GH’s leading Ladies splint vote, B&B’s Jacqueline MacIness Woods wins second Emmy

However, their competition from the other nominees was formidable. Bold and The Beautiful’s Jacqueline MacInnes Woods took home her second Emmy for Lead Actress. This was her second domination in the category and fifth overall. Woods had previously been nominated three times for Younger Actress before her first win in 2019.

Marie Claire Egan of Young and The Restless was up for her first nomination in the Lead Actress category and fifth nomination overall. Egan had previously been nominated four consecutive years in the Supporting Actress category, twice for her time on All My Children and twice for Y&R.

Finola Hughes was in consideration for playing the roles of both Anna Devane and her evil twin sister, Alex Marrick. Playing dual roles is nothing new for Hughes. In fact she had previously pulled double duty, not just on GH but on All My Children for which she was nominated twice, once for Anna and once for Alex . This year marked thirty years since Hughes became the first actress from General Hospital to win in the Lead Actress category and her ninth nomination overall.

Fellow nominee and castmate, Nancy Lee Grahn, marked a milestone as well: this was her 25th anniversary of playing Alexis Davis on GH. The was celebrated onscreen with a special episode focusing on her character’s journey of over the years. This year saw Grahn’s character lose her license to practice law, her boyfriend to an overdose and her ex-husband to violence.

All of this was just part of her no-holds-barred performance as Alexis suffered a relapse into alcoholism, spiraling so far out of control she ended up in prison. This was Nancy Lee Grahn’s 10th nomination, the most of anyone in the category.

Genie Francis is currently celebrating 45 years since her first appearance as Laura on General Hospital. Francis is among the most well-known stars in daytime due to the popularity of Luke and Laura in the early 80s. Despite her icon status in the industry, Genie Francis had only been nominated three times for her role as Laura, winning once in the Supporting Actress category in 2007.

Viewers saw the mayor of Port Charles face off with drug kingpin Cyrus Renault, whose mob violence put her daughter in a coma and eventually was revealed as her half-brother. The past year marked a departure for the character. Laura now stands on her own after years of relying on her husband. Luke was written off the show upon Anthony Geary’s retirement in 2015 and has no plans to return. After many false starts, Genie Francis was finally given a storyline that focused on her character as an individual not as a function of Luke or any other man.

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