by Eric Blume
It seems inconceivable that Brian Cox will not win an Emmy for his towering, iconic performance as Logan Roy, the heart and soul (relatively speaking) of one of television’s all-time greatest shows, Succession. And yet, it appears he will not! Cox only has a handful of episodes, far less a cumulative punch than his fellow nominees for Best Actor in Drama Series. He simply didn’t have enough screen time in this final season to pull through with a victory. If Kieran Culkin and Sarah Snook win the lead Emmys (which I strongly believe they will), that means that all of Cox’s key co-stars will walk away from the series with the industry’s highest honor, while its central figure will go unrewarded. It’s a great example of the randomness and silliness of awards shows. It's not that his co-stars didn't absolutely deserve it, but it's crazy that the mighty Cox will go Emmyless.
Still, he’s in good company. After the jump let's look at a few other actors who created truly quintessential characters on major shows, but despite many nominations, never won the elusive Emmy for their creation...
Steve Carell nabbed six nominations for Best Actor in a Comedy for his inspired work on The Office. The entire show is unthinkable without him at the helm, as he brought cringe comedy to glorious heights through multiple seasons, and set the breezy, weird improvisational tone for all the other actors. Those four Emmys for Jim Parsons always looked dubious, but considering two of those wins were during Carell’s final years, when they had a good chance to reward him, it’s particularly jarring years later.
Michael C. Hall created one of TV’s most original, fascinating character with Dexter, and he received five nominations for Best Actor in a Drama. Unfortunately, three of those were against Bryan Cranston at the height of Breaking Bad, and Hall just never quite broke through. Hall found a beautiful perversity in Dexter, giving the character a crisp comic edge many actors wouldn’t have found, and a not-quite-human humanity that was incredibly compelling.
While her fellow Sex and the City co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon grabbed their Emmys, Kim Cattrall went through five nominations without ever scoring. Cattrall’s Samantha was a sparkling comic creation, and she was surely the funniest of the actresses on the show. Her contribution to the original series seems even grander when considering her absence in the execrable And Just Like That (where the acting is almost unbelievably bad). Doris Roberts beat Cattrall three times, which seems absurd in retrospect!
Another five-time iconic nominee is Lena Headey, whose work as Cersei Lannister across all seasons of Game of Thrones, was chilling AF. Headey found all sorts of interesting beats for this cruel monster, making her character far more complex and dynamic than she could have been, and always bringing a tangy human edge to the series. She deserved to win somewhere in there, maybe Julia Garner’s first of her three…
A personal favorite iconic character is Jane Krakowski’s Jenna Maroney from 30 Rock. Krakowski nabbed four nominations (too few!), and it’s basically a crime against comedy that she did not win at least one Emmy for this peerless creation. Few people can detonate a line like Krakowski did episode after episode here, finding endless variations on recurring jokes and runs. Every time she sang, it was funny…not just the material, but how she sang it. She scored with slapstick physical comedy, juicy wordplay, as the source of the joke, and with reckless abandon. Krakowski’s work as Jenna is true comic genius.
And a final note for the ladies of Mad Men, Elisabeth Moss and Christina Hendricks, who each received six nominations yet no wins for the all-time great characters of Peggy and Joan. These two actresses dazzled every single episode in ways that continually surprised. And that show’s matchless leading man, Jon Hamm, who created one of the medium’s most iconic leading characters with Don Draper, almost went Emmy-less himself, winning Best Actor in a Drama only on his seventh and final nomination!
There are other actors who weren’t able to break through with Emmy either. I could easily have also paid tribute to Martin Sheen, Jason Alexander, Amy Poehler, or going back a bit, Angela Lansbury. Do you have any other favorites, with multiple nominations and completely original characters, that you mourn as well?