Rob Reiner wins posthumous Emmy for The Bear, as Widow’s Bay dominates early awards | Emmys

Rob Reiner has won a posthumous Emmy for his performance in The Bear, nine months after his death – breaking the record set in the exact same category by his own father, Carl Reiner.

Reiner’s win for outstanding guest actor in a comedy was announced on Sunday night at the ceremony formerly known as the Creative Arts Emmys, a two-day awards event held a week before the main ceremony and telecast.

Reiner’s win prompted a long, standing ovation, with his friend and fellow The Bear guest star Jamie Lee Curtis among those in the crowd paying tribute.

The actor and film-maker was killed along with his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, in December. Their son Nick Reiner, who has pleaded not guilty, has been charged with stabbing them to death.

Reiner was up against Michael J Fox and Brett Goldstein for Shrinking, Hamish Linklater for Widow’s Bay, Christopher McDonald for Hacks and Connor Storrie for Saturday Night Live.

His win comes 48 years after he won the second of his two Emmys for his acting on All in the Family in 1978, the longest gap between acting wins in Emmy history. His father Carl Reiner previously held the record, having won the exact same category in 1995 for his role in Mad About You, 37 years after his first win for Caesar’s Hour.

Reiner is the first posthumous Emmy winner in an acting category since Raul Julia in 1995.

Elsewhere in the awards, Apple TV horror comedy Widow’s Bay won eight Emmys for its debut season, including Betty Gilpin winning outstanding guest actress in a comedy for her role on the show.

Gilpin read a rapid-fire comic poem as her acceptance speech that included the lines “our business is stupid, but actors are the bomb” and “let’s all lean more toward Sam Shepard and less toward Sam Altman”.

HBO medical drama The Pitt had a strong second-year showing with four wins, including best prosthetics, casting and outstanding guest actor in a drama for 73-year-old first-time nominee Ernest Harden Jr.

Harden, who won for portraying the last days of Louie Cloverfield, a warm man struggling with alcoholism who is a constant presence in the emergency room, wept when his name was called.

“I am just on cloud 25,” Harden said backstage at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. “I’m not saying it’s a complete surprise because The Pitt is such a powerful show to come from, but just to get it in your hands is unreal.”

Pluribus, another Apple TV debut, won four trophies Sunday night including editing, production design and sound mixing. Created by Breaking Bad’s Vince Gilligan, Pluribus could challenge The Pitt in the top drama categories.

DTF St Louis won six awards in the limited series categories, with co-stars and veteran actors David Harbour and Linda Cardellini both becoming first-time Emmy winners.

“Thank you to everybody who along the way through the years helped me get to this moment of a real dream come true,” Cardellini said, through tears.

Shailene Woodley won her first Emmy for best guest actress in a drama for her role on Paradise.

Spider-Noir, the Nicolas Cage series which was cancelled after one season last week by Amazon Prime Video, won five Emmys including visual effects and stunts.

The Television Academy hands out more than 100 primetime Emmys, with most of them presented this weekend in a pair of ceremonies dedicated mostly to production crew and guest star roles. They were previously known as the Creative Arts Emmys but have now been rebranded as simply the first two nights of the 78th Emmy Awards.

The primetime Emmys ceremony, also held at the Peacock Theater and hosted by Mariska Hargitay, will air live on NBC on 14 September US time.

Associated Press contributed to this report