In 1993, when Betty Thomas became the first woman to win an Emmy for directing a comedy series, she modestly explained that she'd gotten the gig due to a scheduling conflict. "I wasn't supposed to direct that script," she said of the episode "For Peter's Sake" of HBO's Dream On. "Tommy Schlamme was assigned that, but then he went and did some pilot. ... I stole his Emmy from him, happily."
Of course, like all the men directors before her, Thomas earned that Emmy with her vision and hard work. But maybe the term stole came to mind because in 1985, when she won her first Emmy — as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, for her role as Lucy Bates in Hill Street Blues — an imposter made it on stage before her and grabbed the award; he was soon arrested.
After Thomas's directing win, it would be another twenty years before another woman would match her achievement: Gail Mancuso won in 2013 for directing the "Arrested" episode of the ABC comedy Modern Family. In accepting, she thanked "Mom and Dad for letting me watch all the Hitchcock I wanted!" (She won again in 2014.)
A woman first won for directing a drama series back in 1985: Karen Arthur, for Cagney & Lacey; she was followed in 1995 by Mimi Leder for ER and in 2017 by Reed Morano for The Handmaid's Tale. In 2021 women finally took both categories in the same year: Jessica Hobbs won for the drama The Crown, and Lucia Aniello for the comedy Hacks.
Hobbs alluded to the rarity of the occasion in accepting. "Not a lot of women have won this award, so I feel I'm standing on the shoulders of some extraordinary people," she said. "I'm grateful for the path they led, and I particularly would like to pay tribute to my mum [Aileen O'Sullivan], who at seventy-seven is still directing."
This article originally appeared in emmy magazine issue #6, 2023.
