The Emmy record: two wins, one nomination, and one claim that fails

1966 — 2008

The wins: The Television Academy's own record for Sydney Pollack reads: five nominations, two Emmys. The first win came at the start of his career — Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama for 1966, for an episode of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, "The Game" — after nominations in the same category in 1963 (for Ben Casey) and 1964. The second came forty-two years later and four months after his death: as an executive producer of HBO's Recount, he won the 2008 Emmy for Outstanding Made for Television Movie, alongside a fifth nomination the same year as executive producer of the James Taylor special One Man Band. The tie is the same raised-here strength as his Oscar line.

The nomination: Lloyd Haynes, born in South Bend in 1934 and a Central High School graduate, was nominated for the 1970 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series, for Pete Dixon of Room 222 — the history teacher at the center of ABC's landmark integrated-classroom drama, which he played for 113 episodes. He did not win; the nomination is the ledger entry, and it is the city's only acting nomination on the Academy's prime-time record.

A claim that fails its roster: Dean Norris, born in South Bend in 1963 and raised here — Clay High School's valedictorian of 1981 — is widely said on biography websites to have been nominated three times for an Emmy for playing Hank Schrader on Breaking Bad. The Television Academy's database, the grantor's own record, carries no nomination for him: the series' acting Emmys went to Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, and Anna Gunn, and Norris's documented honors for the role are of another kind — Saturn Award nominations and a Screen Actors Guild ensemble award shared with the cast. The claim is printed here as a claim, with its failure stated, because it is exactly the species of honor-inflation this ledger exists to catch: repeated everywhere, recorded nowhere that counts.

Sources:

1. Television Academy, "Sydney Pollack — Emmy Awards and Nominations" (televisionacademy.com) — five nominations, two Emmys: winner, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama, 1966 (Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre); winner, Outstanding Made for Television Movie, 2008 (Recount); nominations 1963 (Ben Casey), 1964, and 2008 (James Taylor: One Man Band).
2. The Emmy Awards record for 1970 — Lloyd Haynes, nominee, Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series (Room 222); the Famous People section of this history for the South Bend birth and Central schooling.
3. Television Academy awards database, searched for Dean Norris — no nomination recorded; TV Guide's awards listing for Norris (Saturn nominations, the 2014 SAG ensemble award) as the documented substitute record.