21st Primetime Emmy Awards

The 21st Emmy Awards—also known since 1974 as the 21st Primetime Emmy Awards—were handed out on June 8, 1969. The ceremony was co-hosted by Bill Cosby and Merv Griffin.

21st Emmy Awards
Date	June 8, 1969 (1969-06-08)
Location	Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, California
Presented by	Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Hosted by	Bill Cosby Merv Griffin
Highlights
Most awards	1968 Summer Olympics Get Smart Male of the Species The People Next Door (2)
Most nominations	Hallmark Hall of Fame: "Teacher, Teacher" Mission: Impossible (6)
Outstanding Comedy Series	Get Smart
Outstanding Dramatic Series	NET Playhouse
Outstanding Dramatic Program	Hallmark Hall of Fame: "Teacher, Teacher"
Outstanding Variety or Music Series	Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Television/radio coverage
Network	CBS
← 20th · Primetime Emmy Awards · 22nd →

The top shows of the night were Get Smart, which won Outstanding Comedy Series for the second consecutive year, and Outstanding Dramatic Series winner NET Playhouse. NET Playhouse, from the PBS predecessor National Educational Television Network, became the first show outside the Big Three television networks to win a top series award.

Due to several categories being combined for the ceremony, no show received more than two major wins. The most drastic rule change was that all shows that had aired more than two seasons were ineligible. The cause of this change was due to the rise in repeat winners in recent years. There was no winner in the category of Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, because the judges felt that none of the nominees were worthy of an award.^[1]

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed in bold and series' networks are in parentheses.^[2]

Programs

Programs

Outstanding Comedy Series Get Smart (NBC) Bewitched (ABC) Family Affair (CBS) The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (NBC) Julia (NBC)	Outstanding Dramatic Series NET Playhouse (NET) The F.B.I. (ABC) Ironside (NBC) Judd, for the Defense (ABC) Mission: Impossible (CBS) The Name of the Game (NBC)
Outstanding Variety or Musical Series Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (NBC) The Carol Burnett Show (CBS) The Dean Martin Show (NBC) The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (CBS) That's Life (ABC)	Outstanding Variety or Music Program The Bill Cosby Special (CBS) Barbra Streisand: A Happening in Central Park (CBS) Duke Ellington Concert of Sacred Music (NET) Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing (CBS) The Rite of Spring (NET) Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (NBC): "February 3, 1969" Vladimir Horowitz: A Television Concert at Carnegie Hall (CBS)
Outstanding Achievement in Daytime Programming - Programs The Dick Cavett Show (ABC) Hollywood Squares (NBC)	Outstanding Achievement in Sports Programming - Programs 19th Summer Olympics (ABC) 19th Summer Olympics (ABC) – Roone Arledge 19th Summer Olympics (ABC) – Chris Schenkel ABC's Wide World of Sports (ABC)
Outstanding Dramatic Program Hallmark Hall of Fame: "Teacher, Teacher" (NBC) CBS Playhouse: "The People Next Door" (CBS) Heidi (NBC) A Midsummer Night's Dream (CBS) Mission: Impossible: "The Execution" (CBS) NET Playhouse: "Talking to a Stranger" (NET)

Acting

Lead performances

Acting

Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series Don Adams as Maxwell Smart in Get Smart (NBC) Brian Keith as Uncle Bill Davis in Family Affair (CBS) Edward Mulhare as Capt. Daniel Gregg in The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (NBC) Lloyd Nolan as Dr. Morton Chegley in Julia (NBC)	Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series Hope Lange as Carolyn Muir in The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (NBC) Diahann Carroll as Nurse Julia Baker in Julia (NBC) Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 in Get Smart (NBC) Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens in Bewitched (ABC)
Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series Carl Betz as Clinton Judd in Judd, for the Defense (ABC) Raymond Burr as Robert T. Ironside in Ironside (NBC) Peter Graves as James Phelps in Mission: Impossible (CBS) Martin Landau as Rollin Hand in Mission: Impossible (CBS) Ross Martin as Artemus Gordon in The Wild Wild West (CBS)	Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series Barbara Bain as Cinnamon Carter in Mission: Impossible (CBS) Joan Blondell as Lottie Hatfield in Here Come the Brides (ABC) Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes in The Mod Squad (ABC)

Supporting performances

Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series Werner Klemperer as Col. Wilhelm Klink in Hogan's Heroes (CBS) Greg Morris as Barney Collier in Mission: Impossible (CBS) Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock in Star Trek (NBC)

Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series Susan Saint James as Peggy Maxwell in The Name of the Game (NBC) Barbara Anderson as Officer Eve Whitfield in Ironside (NBC) Agnes Moorehead as Endora in Bewitched (ABC)

Single performances

Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Paul Scofield as Sir Emlyn Bowen, Q. C. in Male of the Species (NBC) Ossie Davis as Charles Carter in Hallmark Hall of Fame (NBC): "Teacher, Teacher" David McCallum as Hamilton Cade in Hallmark Hall of Fame (NBC): "Teacher, Teacher" Bill Travers as Crichton in Hallmark Hall of Fame (NBC): "The Admirable Crichton"	Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Geraldine Page as Sook in The Thanksgiving Visitor (ABC) Anne Baxter as Betty-Jean Currier in The Name of the Game (NBC): "The Bobbie Currier Story" Lee Grant as Kay Gould in Judd, for the Defense (ABC): "The Gates of Cerberus"
Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Ned Glass as Sol Cooper in Julia (NBC): "A Little Chicken Soup Never Hurt Anybody" Hal Holbrook as Chancellor Graham in The Bold Ones: The Lawyers (NBC): "The Whole World Is Watching" Billy Schulman as Freddie Putnam in Hallmark Hall of Fame (NBC): "Teacher, Teacher"	Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Anna Calder-Marshall as Mary McNeil in Male of the Species (NBC) Pamela Brown as Lady Brocklehurst in Hallmark Hall of Fame (NBC): "The Admirable Crichton" Irene Hervey as Beatrice Brady in My Three Sons (CBS): "The O'Casey Scandal" Nancy Kovack as Bret Nicols in Mannix (CBS): "The Girl Who Came in with the Tide"

Directing

Directing

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music The Dean Martin Show (NBC): "October 17, 1968" – Greg Garrison The Bill Cosby Special (NBC) – Bill Hobin Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (NBC): "February 3, 1969" – Gordon Wiles

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama CBS Playhouse (CBS): "The People Next Door" – David Greene CBS Playhouse (CBS): "Secrets" – Paul Bogart Hallmark Hall of Fame (NBC): "Teacher, Teacher" – Fielder Cook

Writing

Writing

Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (CBS): "David Frye and Liberace" The Carol Burnett Show (CBS): "Nanette Fabray, Mel Tormé and Don Rickles" Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (NBC): "Don Rickles"

Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama CBS Playhouse (CBS): "The People Next Door" – J.P. Miller CBS Playhouse (CBS): "The Experiment" – Ellen M. Violett Hallmark Hall of Fame (NBC): "Teacher, Teacher" – Allan Sloane

Withdrawal of award

The category Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role did not receive a winner, as it was ruled by the judges that the person who garnered the most votes (and therefore the de facto winner) Billy Schulman, was unfit to receive the prize as there were concerns that Schulmann, who was neurodivergent, would be incapable of delivering a speech according to producers' standards.

According to George Gent for the New York Times:^[3]

In accepting the award, George Lefferts, producer of the drama that was seen Feb. 5 on NBC’s Hallmark Hall of Fame, criticized the academy’s board of directors and panelists for omitting this year the category for outstanding performance by a supporting actor, for which Billy Schulman, 14, had been nominated. The youngster, who is retarded, received instead a special plaque.

Lefferts said he wished that Billy had been allowed to compete like any other actor, adding: "I think many of us are retarded in many important ways and we will try to make things better."

Later, Lefferts expressed "shock" over a CBS decision not to allow young Schulman to go up on the stage to receive his award, despite the fact that he had received his mother’s approval. Instead, the camera panned to the youngster.

Had Schulman been acknowledged as the winner, he would have been the youngest male actor to ever win a Primetime Emmy Award, a record instead currently held by Owen Cooper for Adolescence.

Most major nominations

Networks with multiple major nominations[note 1] Network Number of Nominations NBC 36 CBS 22 ABC 14

Programs with multiple major nominations Program Category Network Number of Nominations Mission: Impossible Drama CBS 6 Teacher, Teacher Special NBC Julia Comedy 4 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Variety 19th Summer Olympics Sports ABC 3 Bewitched Comedy Get Smart NBC The Ghost and Mrs. Muir Ironside Drama Judd, for the Defense ABC The Name of the Game NBC The People Next Door Special CBS The Admirable Crichton NBC 2 The Bill Cosby Special Variety The Carol Burnett Show CBS The Dean Martin Show NBC Family Affair Comedy CBS Male of the Species Special NBC NET Playhouse Drama NET The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour Variety CBS

Most major awards

Networks with multiple major awards[note 1] Network Number of Awards NBC 11 CBS 5 ABC 4

Programs with multiple major awards Program Category Network Number of Awards 19th Summer Olympics Sports ABC 2 Get Smart Comedy NBC Male of the Species Special The People Next Door CBS

Notes

1. "Major" constitutes the categories listed above: Program, Acting, Directing, and Writing. Does not include the technical categories.