In 2021 – three years after bagging a Best Drama Actor Emmy for the final season of “The Americans” – Matthew Rhys returned to compete for the same award as the star of “Perry Mason.” This made him only the ninth man to ever earn recognition for multiple series in that single category. Scroll through our photo gallery to find out who else belongs to this exclusive group.
Counting Rhys, two-thirds of the men listed here won for at least one of their respective shows. This includes James Spader, who was honored for playing Alan Shore on both “The Practice” (2004) and “Boston Legal” (2005; 2007) and James Garner, whose victory for “The Rockford Files” (1977) occurring between his bids for “Maverick” and “Bret Maverick” made him the second and most recent three-series nominee in either drama lead category, after Richard Boone (“Medic”; “Have Gun – Will Travel”; “The Richard Boone Show”).
Despite the fact that male drama series stars were not permanently afforded an exclusive category until 1966, those (like Boone) who competed for earlier generic awards such as “Best Male Star of a Regular Series” are counted here.
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Richard Boone
Image Credit: NBC; CBS; NBC “Medic” (1955)
“Have Gun – Will Travel” (1959-1960)
“The Richard Boone Show” (1964)Results:
1955 – lost to Danny Thomas, “Make Room for Daddy”
1959 – lost to Raymond Burr, “Perry Mason”
1960 – lost to Robert Stack, “The Untouchables”
1964 – lost to Dick Van Dyke, “The Dick Van Dyke Show” -
Raymond Burr
Image Credit: CBS; NBC “Perry Mason” (1959-1961)
“Ironside” (1968-1972)Results:
1959; 1961 – won
1960 – lost to Robert Stack, “The Untouchables”
1968 – lost to Bill Cosby, “I Spy”
1969 – lost to Carl Betz, “Judd, for the Defense”
1970 – lost to Robert Young, “Marcus Welby, M.D.”
1971 – lost to Hal Holbrook, “The Bold Ones: The Senator”
1972 – lost to Peter Falk, “Columbo” -
James Garner
Image Credit: ABC; NBC; NBC “Maverick” (1959)
“The Rockford Files” (1976-1980)
“Bret Maverick” (1982)Results:
1959 – lost to Raymond Burr, “Perry Mason”
1976 – lost to Peter Falk, “Columbo”
1977 – won
1978; 1980 – lost to Ed Asner, “Lou Grant”
1979 – lost to Ron Leibman, “Kaz”
1982 – lost to Daniel J. Travanti, “Hill Street Blues” -
Sam Waterston
Image Credit: NBC; NBC “I’ll Fly Away” (1992-1993)
“Law & Order” (1997; 1999-2000)Results:
1992 – lost to Christopher Lloyd, “Road to Avonlea”
1993 – lost to Tom Skerritt, “Picket Fences”
1997; 1999 – lost to Dennis Franz, “NYPD Blue”
2000 – lost to James Gandolfini, “The Sopranos” -
Andre Braugher
Image Credit: NBC; ABC “Homicide: Life on the Street” (1996; 1998)
“Gideon’s Crossing” (2001)Results:
1996 – lost to Dennis Franz, “NYPD Blue”
1998 – won
2001 – lost to James Gandolfini, “The Sopranos” -
James Spader
Image Credit: ABC; ABC “The Practice” (2004)
“Boston Legal” (2005; 2007-2008)Results:
2004-2005; 2007 – won
2008 – lost to Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad” -
Michael C. Hall
Image Credit: HBO; Showtime “Six Feet Under” (2002)
“Dexter” (2008-2012)Results:
2002 – lost to Michael Chiklis, “The Shield”
2008-2010 – lost to Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad”
2011 – lost to Kyle Chandler, “Friday Night Lights”
2012 – lost to Damian Lewis, “Homeland” -
Kyle Chandler
Image Credit: DirecTV; Netflix “Friday Night Lights” (2010-2011)
“Bloodline” (2015-2016)Results:
2010 – lost to Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad”
2011 – won
2015 – lost to Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”
2016 – lost to Rami Malek, “Mr. Robot” -
Matthew Rhys
Image Credit: FX; HBO “The Americans” (2016-2018)
“Perry Mason” (2021)Results:
2016 – lost to Rami Malek, “Mr. Robot”
2017 – lost to Sterling K. Brown, “This Is Us”
2018 – won
2021 – lost to Josh O’Connor, “The Crown”
