The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie is an award presented annually by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role on a television limited series or television movie for the primetime network season.
The award was first presented at the 27th Primetime Emmy Awards on May 19, 1975, to Juliet Mills, for her role as Samantha Cady in QB VII (1974). The award ceremony garnered criticism during the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards, when Ellen Burstyn received a nomination for her work in Mrs. Harris (2005), despite having only 14 seconds of screen time and 38 words of dialogue. This resulted in a rule change, requiring nominees submitting for the category to have more than 5% screen-time on their respective projects.
Since its inception, the award has been given to 38 actresses. Regina King, Jane Alexander, Judy Davis, Colleen Dewhurst, and Mare Winningham have each won two awards. Kathy Bates is the most nominated actress in the category, with seven nominations.
Winners and nominations
1970s Year Actress Role Program Network Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special 1975(27th) Juliet Mills Samantha Cady QB VII ABC Eileen Heckart Herman's Mother Wedding Band ABC Charlotte Rae Helen Queen of the Stardust Ballroom Lee Remick Lady Margaret QB VII 1976(28th) Rosemary Murphy Sara Delano Roosevelt Eleanor and Franklin ABC Lois Nettleton Nan Claybourne Fear on Trial CBS Lilia Skala Mlle. Souvestre Eleanor and Franklin ABC Irene Tedrow Mary Hall 1977(29th) Diana Hyland (posthumously) Mickey Lubitch The Boy in the Plastic Bubble ABC Ruth Gordon Cecilia Weiss The Great Houdini ABC Rosemary Murphy Sara Roosevelt Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years Patricia Neal Sen. Margaret Chase Smith Tail Gunner Joe NBC Susan Oliver Neta "Snookie" Snook Amelia Earhart 1978(30th) Eva Le Gallienne Fanny Cavendish The Royal Family PBS Tyne Daly Karen Renshaw Intimate Strangers ABC Patty Duke Wendy A Family Upside Down NBC Mariette Hartley Clare Gardiner The Last Hurrah Cloris Leachman Clara Oddbody It Happened One Christmas ABC Viveca Lindfors Dr. Rosen A Question of Guilt CBS Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Special 1979(31st) Esther Rolle Ruth Summer of My German Soldier NBC Ruby Dee Queen Haley Roots: The Next Generations ABC Colleen Dewhurst Mrs. O'Neil Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story CBS Eileen Heckart Eleanor Roosevelt Backstairs at the White House NBC Celeste Holm Florence Harding
1980s Year Actress Role Program Network Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Special 1980(32nd) Mare Winningham Marlene Burkhardt Amber Waves ABC Eileen Heckart Eleanor Roosevelt F.D.R.: The Last Year NBC Patricia Neal Mrs. Baumer All Quiet on the Western Front CBS Carrie Nye Tallulah Bankhead Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara War NBC 1981(33rd) Jane Alexander Alma Rose Playing for Time CBS Colleen Dewhurst Val The Women's Room ABC Patty Duke Lily Shirley Knight Frau Lagerfuhrerin Maria Mandel Playing for Time CBS Piper Laurie Magda Goebbels The Bunker 1982(34th) Penny Fuller Mrs. Kendal The Elephant Man ABC Claire Bloom Lady Marchmain Brideshead Revisited PBS Judy Davis Young Golda Meir A Woman Called Golda Syndicated Vicki Lawrence Thelma "Mama" Harper Eunice CBS Rita Moreno Rosella DeLeon Portrait of a Showgirl 1983(35th) Jean Simmons Fee Cleary The Thorn Birds ABC Judith Anderson Nurse Kennedy Center Tonight: Medea PBS Polly Bergen Rhoda Henry The Winds of War ABC Bette Davis Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt Little Gloria... Happy at Last NBC Piper Laurie Anne Mueller The Thorn Birds ABC 1984(36th) Roxana Zal Amelia Bennett Something About Amelia ABC Beverly D'Angelo Stella DuBois Kowalski A Streetcar Named Desire ABC Patty Duke Martha Washington George Washington CBS Cloris Leachman Mary Kovacs Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter ABC Tuesday Weld Margie Young-Hunt The Winter of Our Discontent CBS 1985(37th) Kim Stanley Big Mama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof PBS Penny Fuller Mae Cat on a Hot Tin Roof PBS Ann Jillian Nellie Byfield Ellis Island CBS Deborah Kerr Emma Harte A Woman of Substance OPT Alfre Woodard Claudie Sills WonderWorks: Words by Heart PBS Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Special 1986(38th) Colleen Dewhurst Barbara Petherton Between Two Women ABC Phyllis Frelich Janice Ryder Love Is Never Silent NBC Dorothy McGuire Hester Farrell Amos CBS Vanessa Redgrave Tsarevna Sophia Peter the Great NBC Sylvia Sidney Beatrice McKenna An Early Frost 1987(39th) Piper Laurie Annie Gilbert Promise CBS Claudette Colbert Alice Grenville The Two Mrs. Grenvilles NBC Olivia de Havilland Dowager Empress Maria Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna Christine Lahti Althea Milford Amerika ABC Elizabeth Wilson Berenice Bradshaw Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder NBC 1988(40th) Jane Seymour Maria Callas Onassis: The Richest Man in the World ABC Stockard Channing Susan Reinert Echoes in the Darkness CBS Ruby Dee Elizabeth Keckley Lincoln NBC Julie Harris Alice The Woman He Loved CBS Lisa Jacobs Anne Frank The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank 1989(41st) Colleen Dewhurst Margaret Page Those She Left Behind NBC Peggy Ashcroft Miss Duber A Perfect Spy PBS Polly Bergen Rhoda Henry War and Remembrance ABC Glenne Headly Elmira Johnson Lonesome Dove CBS Paula Kelly Theresa The Women of Brewster Place ABC
1990s Year Actress Role Program Network Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Special 1990(42nd) Eva Marie Saint Lil Van Degan Altemus People Like Us NBC Stockard Channing Liz Sapperstein Perfect Witness HBO Colleen Dewhurst Hepzibah Lantern Hill Disney Swoosie Kurtz Joanne Winstow-Darvish The Image HBO Irene Worth Dolly Keeling The Shell Seekers ABC 1991(43rd) Ruby Dee Rowena Decoration Day NBC Olympia Dukakis Katherine Campbell Lucky Day ABC Vanessa Redgrave Empress Elizabeth Young Catherine TNT Doris Roberts Mimi Finklestein The Sunset Gang PBS Elaine Stritch Rose An Inconvenient Woman ABC 1992(44th) Amanda Plummer Lusia Miss Rose White NBC Anne Bancroft Kate Jerome Broadway Bound ABC Bibi Besch Lisa Carter Doing Time on Maple Drive Fox Penny Fuller Miss Kate Ryan Miss Rose White NBC Maureen Stapleton Tanta Perla 1993(45th) Mary Tyler Moore Georgia Tann Stolen Babies Lifetime Ann-Margret Sally Jackson Alex Haley's Queen CBS Lee Grant Dora Cohn Citizen Cohn HBO Peggy McCay Virginia Bembenek Woman on the Run: The Lawrencia Bembenek Story NBC Joan Plowright Olga Stalin HBO 1994(46th) Cicely Tyson Castalia Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All CBS Anne Bancroft Lucy Marsden (age 99–100) Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All CBS Swoosie Kurtz Mrs. Johnstone And the Band Played On HBO Lee Purcell Ann Theilman Secret Sins of the Father NBC Lily Tomlin Dr. Selma Dritz And the Band Played On HBO 1995(47th) Judy Davis Diane Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story NBC Shirley Knight Peggy Buckey Indictment: The McMartin Trial HBO Sônia Braga Regina de Carvalho The Burning Season HBO Sissy Spacek Spring Renfro The Good Old Boys TNT Sada Thompson Virginia McMartin Indictment: The McMartin Trial HBO 1996(48th) Greta Scacchi Tsarina Alexandra Rasputin HBO Kathy Bates Helen Kushnick The Late Shift HBO Diana Scarwid Bess Truman Truman Mare Winningham Sheila The Boys Next Door CBS Alfre Woodard Queen of Brobdingnag Gulliver's Travels NBC 1997(49th) Diana Rigg Mrs. Danvers Rebecca PBS Kirstie Alley Rose Marie Clericuzio The Last Don CBS Bridget Fonda Anne In the Gloaming HBO Glenne Headly Aunt Ruth Bastard Out of Carolina Showtime Frances McDormand Gus Hidden in America Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie 1998(50th) Mare Winningham Lurleen Wallace George Wallace TNT Helena Bonham Carter Morgan le Fay Merlin NBC Julie Harris Leonora Nelson Ellen Foster CBS Judith Ivey Lucille What the Deaf Man Heard Angelina Jolie Cornelia Wallace George Wallace TNT 1999(51st) Anne Bancroft Gerry Eileen Cummins Deep in My Heart CBS Jacqueline Bisset Isabelle d'Arc Joan of Arc CBS Olympia Dukakis Mother Babette Bebe Neuwirth Dorothy Parker Dash and Lilly A&E Cicely Tyson Tante Lou A Lesson Before Dying HBO Dianne Wiest Sarah McClellan The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn CBS
2000s Year Actress Role Program Network Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie 2000(52nd) Vanessa Redgrave Edith Tree If These Walls Could Talk 2 HBO Kathy Bates Agatha Hannigan Annie ABC Elizabeth Franz Linda Loman Death of a Salesman Showtime Melanie Griffith Marion Davies RKO 281 HBO Maggie Smith Betsey Trotwood David Copperfield PBS 2001(53rd) Tammy Blanchard Young Judy Garland Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows ABC Anne Bancroft Mama Gruber Haven CBS Brenda Blethyn Auguste Van Pels Anne Frank: The Whole Story ABC Holly Hunter Rebecca Waynon Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her Showtime Audra McDonald Susie Monahan Wit HBO 2002(54th) Stockard Channing Judy Shepard The Matthew Shepard Story NBC Joan Allen Morgause The Mists of Avalon TNT Anjelica Huston Viviane Diana Rigg Baroness Lehzen Victoria and Albert A&E Sissy Spacek Zelda Fitzgerald Last Call Showtime 2003(55th) Gena Rowlands Virginia Miller Hysterical Blindness HBO Kathy Baker Gladys Sullivan Door to Door TNT Anne Bancroft Contessa The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone Showtime Juliette Lewis Beth Tocyznski Hysterical Blindness HBO Helen Mirren Mrs. Porter Door to Door TNT 2004(56th) Mary-Louise Parker Harper Pitt Angels in America HBO Julie Andrews Nanny Eloise at Christmastime ABC Anne Heche Rowena Larson Gracie's Choice Lifetime Anjelica Huston Carrie Chapman Catt Iron Jawed Angels HBO Angela Lansbury Dora The Blackwater Lightship CBS 2005(57th) Jane Alexander Sara Roosevelt Warm Springs HBO Kathy Bates Helena Mahoney Warm Springs HBO Camryn Manheim Gladys Presley Elvis CBS Charlize Theron Britt Ekland The Life and Death of Peter Sellers HBO Joanne Woodward Francine Whiting Empire Falls 2006(58th) Kelly Macdonald Gina The Girl in the Café HBO Ellen Burstyn Gerda Stedman Mrs. Harris HBO Shirley Jones Aunt Batty Hidden Places Hallmark Cloris Leachman Pearl Schwartz Mrs. Harris HBO Alfre Woodard Mrs. Brown The Water Is Wide CBS 2007(59th) Judy Davis Joan McAllister The Starter Wife USA Toni Collette Kathy Graham Tsunami: The Aftermath HBO Samantha Morton Myra Hindley Longford Anna Paquin Elaine Goodale Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Greta Scacchi Mrs. Nola Johns Broken Trail AMC 2008(60th) Eileen Atkins Deborah Jenkyns Cranford PBS Laura Dern Katherine Harris Recount HBO Ashley Jensen Maggie Jacobs Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale Audra McDonald Ruth Younger A Raisin in the Sun ABC Alfre Woodard Edna Reilly Pictures of Hollis Woods CBS 2009(61st) Shohreh Aghdashloo Sajida Khairallah Talfah House of Saddam HBO Marcia Gay Harden Janina Krzyżanowska The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler CBS Janet McTeer Clementine Churchill Into the Storm HBO Jeanne Tripplehorn Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Grey Gardens Cicely Tyson Pearl Relative Stranger Hallmark
2010s