21st Primetime Emmy Awards

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21st Emmy Awards
DateJune 8, 1969 (1969-06-08)
LocationSanta Monica Civic Auditorium,
Santa Monica, California
Presented byAcademy of Television Arts and Sciences
Hosted byBill Cosby
Merv Griffin
Highlights
Most awards1968 Summer Olympics
Get Smart
Male of the Species
The People Next Door (2)
Most nominationsHallmark Hall of Fame: "Teacher, Teacher"
Mission: Impossible (6)
Outstanding Comedy SeriesGet Smart
Outstanding Dramatic SeriesNET Playhouse
Outstanding Dramatic ProgramHallmark Hall of Fame: "Teacher, Teacher"
Outstanding Variety or Music SeriesRowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Television/radio coverage
NetworkCBS
← 20th · Primetime Emmy Awards · 22nd →

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.

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

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

Programs

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Programs
  • 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
Outstanding Achievement in Sports Programming - Programs

Acting

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Lead performances

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Acting

Supporting performances

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Single performances

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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
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

Directing

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Directing
  • 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

Writing

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Writing
  • 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"
  • 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

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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

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Most major awards

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

References

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  1. ^ O'Neil, Thomas (2000). The Emmys. New York: Berkley Publishing Group. pp. 130–132. ISBN 0399526110.
  2. ^ Emmys.com list of 1969 Nominees & Winners
  3. ^ "N.B.C.'s 'Teacher, Teacher' Voted Best TV Drama (Published 1969)". June 9, 1969. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
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