If you’ve been anywhere near a TV or social media, then you know that the Emmy Awards were last night.
Or maybe you didn’t know that and that’s cool too.
Last night the Emmy Awards aired on ABC with Jimmy Kimmel as host. Several actresses, actors, and shows made history. Kate McKinnon was the first ever to win an Emmy for Saturday Night Live in a major acting category. Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her fifth consecutive Emmy, a record-breaking winning streak. And Game of Thrones won its 38th Emmy, a new record-breaking number for a primetime series.
For a full list of winners, check out mxdwn’s coverage of the Awards Ceremony.
One such winner was the ever lovely Dame Maggie Smith who won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama for her role on Downton Abbey. Maggie Smith has now been nominated for 9 Emmys and won five, three of which have been for Downton Abbey.
But despite her many nominations and victories, the great lady has never actually attended an Emmy ceremony.
Her absence was not overlooked and was one of Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes in his opening monologue: “When Maggie Smith hears she’s nominated for an Emmy she has the same reaction the rest of us have when we get those 20 percent off Bed Bath and Beyond coupons. Right in the garbage.”
Then Maggie Smith won the Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama, beating out the three Game of Thrones actresses Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, and Maisie Williams. To be honest, I think a lot of us were mildly surprised Game of Thrones didn’t dominate this category after the amazing season they just had.
That of course isn’t to say that Maggie Smith didn’t deserve the award. Her character on Downton Abbey, the Dowager Countess, is one of the reasons why we tuned in every week.
But it sounds like if she wants to get her Emmy, she’s going to have to get on a plane and come to the U.S. After she was announced as the winner, Jimmy Kimmel said if she wanted the trophy, she would have to go to the lost and found to get it.
After hearing that Dame Maggie Smith had never bothered to attend the Emmys, the last thing anyone probably expected of her was to release a reply to Jimmy Kimmel’s threat. But reply she did.
The PBS Masterpiece Twitter account published her reply which reads, “I was very astonished and pleased to win the award. I feel the Emmys have been overly generous to me. If Mr. Kimmel could please direct me to the lost and found office, I will try and be on the next flight. Love, Old Maggie.”
What a class act.
It’s an amusing ending to an amusing story, but the question still stands. Why has Maggie Smith never attended the Emmys? Apparently she has never commented on her absence or offered any reason for not attending. But maybe we shouldn’t be surprised because she hasn’t even seen a single episode of Downton Abbey, the very show which earned her the majority of her Emmys.
I guess when you are as talented and respected as Maggie Smith you can really do whatever you please.