‘Angels in America’ 20th anniversary: A look back at its 2004 Emmy Awards sweep

David Buchanan
·4 min read

Before the age of Primetime Emmy Awards sweeps for comedy “Schitt’s Creek” and drama “The Crown” – a trend that could very well continue this year by either “The Bear” or “Shōgun” – there was “Angels in America.” The HBO miniseries adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tony Kushner won 11 Emmys back in 2004 and famously took home the prizes in all seven top categories, making it the very first program to do so. This year’s 76th annual ceremony marks the 20th anniversary of the show’s historic night. To celebrate Kushner’s birthday on July 16, let’s flashback to that epic Emmys sweep.

The television adaptation followed just 10 years after the premiere of both plays on Broadway in 1993. Those original productions of “Millennium Approaches” and “Perestroika” nabbed seven Tony Awards combined, including two wins for Best Play, one for director George C. Wolfe, one for actor Ron Liebman as Roy Cohn, one for featured Actor for Jeffrey Wright as Belize and two for Stephen Spinella, first in featured and then in lead, for playing Prior Walter.

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Those roles were all Emmy nominated when the work leapt from stage to screen. Al Pacino took over the reigns of Cohn, Justin Kirk stepped into the central character of Prior Walter and Wright reprised his Tony-winning turn as Belize. Other nominated performers were Mary-Louise Parker, Ben Shenkman, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson and Patrick Wilson. Pacino, Parker, Streep and Wright all won Emmys. It was the first victory for Parker, Wright and Pacino, while Streep had previously nabbed an award for “Holocaust” in 1978.

Their four acceptance speeches were at turns hilarious and heartfelt. Streep kicked off her remarks quipping that “there are some days when I myself think I’m overrated… but not today,” before lauding Kushner for creating a piece of art that “transforms the world with the truth.” Parker echoed that sentiment about the playwright’s words, saying that “there are some roles that are so well-written that you practically start winning awards the day you get the part.” Wright acknowledged his three costars in the supporting actor category, saying “when one of us stands here, we all stand here,” before advocating for attention for how AIDS was “devastating” Sub-Saharan Africa. Pacino joked that Variety Program winner Elaine Stritch stole his acceptance speech before tipping his hat to director Mike Nichols, an EGOT champ.

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Its other major victories were for Best Miniseries, Best Directing for Nichols and Best Writing for Kushner. It also won Creative Arts Emmys for art direction, casting, makeup and single-camera sound mixing.

“Angels in America” continues to attract trophies for its performers. The Broadway revival of both parts of the masterwork in repertory in 2018 took three trophies for Best Revival, Best Actor for Andrew Garfield as Prior Walter and Best Featured Actor for Nathan Lane as Cohn. Streep and Lane could both receive Emmy nominations this year, her for a supporting role on comedy series “Only Murders in the Building” and him for his supporting performance on “The Gilded Age.”

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