By Lisa Richwine and Danielle Broadway
LOS ANGELES, Sept 14 (Reuters) - "Widow's Bay," a horror comedy about a cursed New England town, led this year's Emmy Award winners with a record 14 statuettes including best comedy, while emergency room drama "The Pitt" repeated as best drama at television's highest honors.
Apple TV's "Widow's Bay" overcame the final season of previous winner "Hacks" to earn the comedy prize on Monday night.
"Hacks" star Jean Smart won her fifth Emmy for portraying tenacious stand-up comic Deborah Vance, and Matthew Rhys became the first person to win two lead acting honors at the same ceremony, including one for his role as a small-town mayor on "Widow's Bay."
Smart's accolade made her the first performer to win the Emmy for best comedy actress for every season of a show's run.
"What a ride this has been!" Smart said on stage after thanking the creators of the HBO Max show.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who won best comedy actress for six of the seven seasons of "Veep," is the only woman to come close to Smart's milestone.
TENSIONS IN TINSELTOWN
The Emmys offered a rare night of celebration as Hollywood grapples with production cutbacks, anxiety over artificial intelligence and the proposed Paramount Skydance purchase of HBO owner Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal that has divided the industry and faces legal challenges.
Winners largely avoided potentially divisive topics in their acceptance speeches and stuck to thanking their families and co-stars.
"The Pitt" actor Noah Wyle said it felt "overwhelming" to land his second straight Emmy for playing Dr. "Robby" Robinavitch on the HBO Max medical drama set in a Pittsburgh trauma center.
Describing himself as a "Hollywood kid," Wyle told the Emmy audience, "This is the only club I've ever wanted to join. Thank you for accepting me."
Rhys claimed awards for best comedy actor for "Widow's Bay" and for best actor in a limited series for the Netflix psychological thriller "The Beast in Me."
The Welsh actor said he felt "slightly giddy and a little bit dizzy" to receive the honors.
"At the moment, I genuinely can't believe what's just happened," he told reporters backstage.
"I'm from a small country, and I'm glad we get moments to put our flag on the map and say we punch higher than our weight sometimes in Wales," Rhys added.
In other awards, "Widow's Bay" star Stephen Root upset favorite Harrison Ford of "Shrinking" for best supporting actor in a comedy. "Widow's Bay" also claimed awards on Monday for supporting actress, directing and writing. Combined with technical and other awards handed out earlier this month, the show earned 14 Emmys, a record for a comedy in a single season.
"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," which was canceled by CBS and aired its final episode this year, won best variety series.
HBO Max murder mystery "DTF St. Louis" won best limited series.
Best drama actress went to Rhea Seehorn, who plays a misanthropic woman at war with an unfailingly kind alien hive mind on "Pluribus," another win on a big night for Apple TV. Seehorn addressed her fellow nominees, including "The Diplomat" star Keri Russell and Zendaya of "Euphoria," with a quote from the feminist activist Gloria Steinem, who died this month aged 92.
"We are linked, not ranked. I feel that way about all you women," Seehorn said.
Emmy winners are chosen by the more than 27,000 writers, directors, performers, producers and craftspeople in the Television Academy.
FOX HONORED FOR HIS HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS
The academy honored Michael J. Fox during the ceremony for his advocacy for Parkinson's disease research and treatment.
Speaking from a wheelchair, Fox said support from Hollywood had allowed him to keep acting after his own diagnosis with Parkinson's. "It's because you stood up for me," he told the crowd.
Mariska Hargitay, star of NBC's drama "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," hosted the ceremony, breaking with a tradition of having a comedian serve as emcee. It was broadcast live on NBC and streamed on Peacock.
"It's a lot of pressure, but it is so reassuring to see so many familiar faces out there, and I'm not just talking about how many of you I've arrested on SVU," Hargitay told the crowd.
In one pre-recorded sketch, Hargitay's "SVU" character, Olivia Benson, tried to piece together clues to determine if singer Taylor Swift, an Emmy nominee this year for a concert film, would attend the ceremony.
Swift made a surprise cameo in the bit as a rookie detective who pointed out that the singer's categories had been considered in a separate ceremony a week earlier. Benson correctly deduced that Swift would be in Kansas City watching her husband, Travis Kelce, play on Monday Night Football.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Danielle Broadway; Editing by Howard Goller)
