After starring in over 80 features and racking up four Best Actress Oscar nominations, Barbara Stanwyck ended her 35-year film career in 1964. The 57-year-old, who had first ventured into TV acting eight years earlier, only accepted small screen roles from then on and quickly found success on the ABC western “The Big Valley.” In 1983, she appeared on the first installment of the four-part limited series “The Thorn Birds” and was ultimately rewarded with her fifth Emmy nomination and third win.
“The Thorn Birds,” an adaptation of the novel by Colleen McCullough, starred Stanwyck in the role of Mary Carson, a wealthy widow who sets out to ruin the romantic conquests of a much younger man after he scorns her advances. At 76, she was originally the second oldest winner and fourth oldest nominee in the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress category. Nearly four decades later, she ranks as the 10th oldest contender, with two of the newest women on the list having earned their bids after turning 85.
The television academy has recognized the work of lead actresses on non-continuing programs since the seventh Emmys ceremony in 1955. The award’s inaugural recipient was Judith Anderson (“Macbeth”), while the most recent was Kate Winslet (“Mare of Easttown”).
Check out our photo gallery to find out who ranks ahead of Stanwyck on the list of 10 oldest Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress Emmy nominees.
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10. Barbara Stanwyck (‘The Thorn Birds,’ 1983)
Image Credit: ABC Age: 76
Role: Mary Carson
Stanwyck’s third victory came after two Best Drama Actress wins for “The Barbara Stanwyck Show” (1961) and “The Big Valley” (1966).
Other nominees:
Ann-Margret (“Who Will Love My Children?”)
Rosanna Arqutte (“The Executioner’s Song”)
Mariette Hartley (“M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers”)
Angela Lansbury (“Little Gloria… Happy at Last”) -
9. Jean Marsh (‘Upstairs, Downstairs,’ 2011)
Image Credit: BBC Age: 77
Role: Rose Buck
Over 30 years after collecting three nominations for the original “Upstairs, Downstairs,” Marsh earned one more for reprising her role on the nine-episode revival series. Her portrayal of housekeeper Rose Buck won her the Best Drama Actress prize in 1975.
Other nominees:
Taraji P. Henson (“Taken from Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story”)
Diane Lane (“Cinema Verite”)
Elizabeth McGovern (“Downton Abbey”)
Kate Winslet (“Mildred Pierce”) – WINNER -
8. Gena Rowlands (‘What If God Were the Sun?,’ 2007)
Image Credit: New Line Cinema Age: 77
Role: Melissa Eisenbloom
This was Rowlands’s seventh nomination and sixth in this category. She had previously triumphed here with her roles in “The Betty Ford Story” (1987) and “Face of a Stranger” (1992), and in the corresponding supporting category with “Hysterical Blindness” (2003).
Other nominees:
Queen Latifah (“Life Support”)
Debra Messing (“The Starter Wife”)
Helen Mirren (“Prime Suspect”) – WINNER
Mary-Louise Parker (“The Robber Bride”) -
7. Peggy Ashcroft (‘The Jewel in the Crown,’ 1985)
Image Credit: ITV Age: 77
Role: Barbie Batchelor
Ashcroft earned her first Emmy nomination months after setting a still-intact record for oldest Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner (“A Passage to India”). Four years later, she was also recognized for her featured turn in the limited series “A Perfect Spy.”
Other nominees:
Jane Alexander (“Malice in Wonderland”)
Farrah Fawcett (“The Burning Bed”)
Mary Tyler Moore (“Heartsounds”)
Joanne Woodward (“Do You Remember Love”) – WINNER -
6. Helen Hayes (‘A Family Upside Down,’ 1978)
Image Credit: 20th Century Studios Age: 77
Role: Emma Long
Hayes’s final Emmy nomination was preceded by four others in this category, namely for “Mrs. Gilling and the Skyscraper” (1958), “One Red Rose for Christmas” (1959), “Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate” (1972), and “The Snoop Sisters” (1974).
Other nominees:
Eva Marie Saint (“Taxi!!!”)
Maureen Stapleton (“The Gathering”)
Sada Thompson (“Our Town”)
Joanne Woodward (“See How She Runs”) – WINNER -
5. Katharine Hepburn (‘Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry,’ 1986)
Image Credit: CBS Age: 79
Role: Margaret Delafield
This was the fourth and final time Hepburn competed for this award. She was previously nominated for “The Glass Menagerie” (1974) and “The Corn Is Green” (1979) and prevailed for “Love Among the Ruins” (1975).
Other nominees:
Vanessa Redgrave (“Second Serve”)
Gena Rowlands (“An Early Frost”)
Marlo Thomas (“Nobody’s Child”) – WINNER
Mare Winningham (“Love is Never Silent”) -
4. Lynn Fontanne (‘Anastasia,’ 1967)
Image Credit: NBC Age: 79
Role: Grand Duchess Marie
Fontanne’s last screen appearance brought her a second Emmy nomination just two years after she won the same award for “The Magnificent Yankee.”
Other nominees:
Shirley Booth (“The Glass Menagerie”)
Mildred Dunnock (“Death of a Salesman”)
Julie Harris (“Anastasia”)
Geraldine Page (“A Christmas Memory”) – WINNER -
3. Edith Evans (‘David Copperfield,’ 1970)
Image Credit: BBC Age: 82
Role: Betsy Trotwood
This was the only time Evans was recognized by Emmy voters during her 27-year TV career. 30 years later, 65-year-old Maggie Smith was nominated in this category for playing the same role on a new adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel.
Other nominees:
Patty Duke (“My Sweet Charlie”) – WINNER
Shirley Jones (“Silent Night, Lonely Night”) -
2. Jessica Tandy (‘To Dance with the White Dog,’ 1994)
Image Credit: CBS Age: 85
Role: Cora Peek
Tandy garnered three notices in this category, all for co-starring alongside her real-life husband, Hume Cronyn. Her first nomination for “The Fourposter” (1956) was followed three decades later by a victory for “Foxfire” (1988).
Other nominees:
Kirstie Alley (“David’s Mother”) – WINNER
Bette Midler (“Gypsy”)
Helen Mirren (“Prime Suspect”)
Joanne Woodward (“Breathing Lessons”) -
1. Cicely Tyson (‘The Trip to Bountiful,’ 2014)
Image Credit: Universal Pictures Age: 89
Role: Carrie Watts
This was Tyson’s ninth acting nomination and fourth in this category. She had previously triumphed here as the star of “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” (1974), and in the corresponding supporting category as a cast member of “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All” (1994).
Other nominees:
Helena Bonham Carter (“Burton & Taylor”)
Minnie Driver (“Return to Zero”)
Jessica Lange (“American Horror Story: Coven”)
Sarah Paulson (“American Horror Story: Coven”)
Kristen Wiig (“The Spoils of Babylon”)
