Emmys Flashback: Hugh Laurie Angling for His 10th Nom (and First Win)

He’s still a long way away from Angela Lansbury, but Hugh Laurie, 57, has a shot at someday setting Primetime Emmy records. If the British-born actor is nominated and loses this year (he’s eligible for the Hulu drama series Chance), he’ll have had 10 nominations without a win (seven times between 2005 and 2011 as the title character on House and once as its producer; then in 2016 for acting in The Night Manager and executive producing it).

This still would leave Laurie comfortably behind Lansbury, 91, who has 17 nominations without a win (12 were for Murder, She Wrote). Jon Hamm once had a strong shot at overtaking Lansbury, but after earning 16 acting and producing nominations without a win, in 2015 the Mad Men star accepted the statuette for outstanding lead actor in a drama series. (“There has been a terrible mistake, clearly,” were Hamm’s words when handed the award.)

It’s not as though Laurie’s work has been overlooked completely. In 2006 and 2007, he won Golden Globes for best actor in a television drama series for his work on House. And this year at the Globes, when he received a supporting actor statuette for The Night Manager, he used the occasion to take a shot at President Trump, saying: “I accept this award on behalf of psychopathic billionaires everywhere.” Could there be more where that came from? Emmy has to end the cold streak first. 

This story first appeared in a June standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.