Getty, Seymour, Wettig Win Emmys for Acting : Animation Team of Hanna & Barbera Receives Governors’ Award for Contribution to Television

Estelle Getty, the outspoken Sophia of “The Golden Girls,” was named best supporting actress in a comedy as the 40th Annual Emmy Awards ceremonies got under way Sunday night.

Among other early winners at the 3,000-seat Pasadena Civic Auditorium were Patricia Wettig of “thirtysomething,” awarded best supporting actress in a drama, and Jane Seymour, for best supporting actress in a miniseries or special, in “Onassis: The Richest Man in the World.”

Winners of the prestigious Governors’ Award were Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, leaders in television animation for more than 30 years, and creators of Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones and other cartoon characters.

The highest honor awarded by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which awards the Emmys, the Governors’ Award is given to an individual, company or organization in recognition of lifetime contributions to television.

“I think that is the peak,” Barbera, 77, said, “when the people that work around you suddenly say, ‘Hey, wait a minute, these guys have done something worthwhile,’ and they give us the top award, the No. 1.”

The pair had previously won eight Emmys.

In a non-televised presentation Saturday for technical and craft categories, CBS captured 16 statuettes, including three apiece for “Beauty and the Beast” and the syndicated “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

ABC picked up 10 early Emmys, including four for the musical special “Julie Andrews . . . The Sound of Christmas.” NBC captured eight, the Public Broadcasting Service won six and Home Box Office, in the first year cable networks were eligible, won two.

To liven up the show, which ran four hours last year and received its lowest ratings ever, executive producer Lorne Michaels, creator of “Saturday Night Live” staged only one production number and featured several clips of memorable television moments over the last 40 years.

Instead of one emcee, the show, televised for the second year by Fox Broadcasting Co., paired old-time co-stars as presenters, such as Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke, and William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy of “Star Trek.”

“This show won’t take itself too seriously,” Michaels promised, and perhaps with tongue in cheek, enlisted ABC’s political sparring mates, George Will and Sam Donaldson, to announce the winner for drama-comedy special.

Michael J. Fox, Danny DeVito, Tracey Ullmann, Sharon Gless, Penny Marshall, Garry Shandling and Alf were also presenters.

Michaels promised to try to keep the awards presentation within its three-hour time slot, but said he could not set time limits on award winners’ acceptance speeches.

The Emmy telecast normally is held in late September, but was scheduled earlier this year to avoid competing with the Olympic Games, according to Murray Weissman, academy spokesman.

The Emmy show was expected to attract an estimated audience of more than 100 million people in the United States and overseas, on either a live or delayed basis.

Fox said the show would be seen live in Australia, Canada, the Bahamas, Bermuda, New Zealand and Venezuela.

It was also aired live on the Armed Forces Television and Radio Services.

The big winner was expected to be “L.A. Law,” which had gained the largest number of nominations--19--compared to 12 each for “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Golden Girls” and 11 for “Cheers.”

For the first time this year, programs broadcast on cable were eligible, as long as they were available to 50% of the nation’s population. Five cable networks managed to collect 21 nominations among them, compared to 114 for NBC, 87 for CBS, 75 for ABC, and 27 for PBS.

Nominations in the major categories were:

Comedy Series--”Cheers” (NBC), “Frank’s Place” (CBS), “The Golden Girls” (NBC), “Night Court” (NBC) and “The Wonder Years” (ABC).

Drama Series--”Beauty and the Beast” (CBS), “L.A. Law” (NBC), “St. Elsewhere” (NBC) and “thirtysomething” (ABC).

Miniseries--”Baby M” (ABC), “Billionaire Boys Club” (NBC), “Gore Vidal’s Lincoln” (NBC), “The Murder of Mary Phagan” (NBC) and “Rumpole of the Bailey: Mystery!” (PBS).

Lead Actress in a Comedy Series--Kirstie Alley, “Cheers” (NBC); Blair Brown, “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd” (NBC); Rue McClanahan, “The Golden Girls” (NBC); Beatrice Arthur, “The Golden Girls” (NBC); and Betty White, “The Golden Girls” (NBC).

Lead Actor in a Comedy Series--Ted Danson, “Cheers” (NBC); Michael J. Fox, “Family Ties” (NBC); Tim Reid, “Frank’s Place” (CBS); John Ritter, “Hooperman” (ABC); and Dabney Coleman, “The Slap Maxwell Story” (ABC).

Lead Actor in a Drama Series--Ron Perlman, “Beauty and the Beast” (CBS); Edward Woodward, “The Equalizer” (CBS); Michael Tucker, “L.A. Law” (NBC); Corbin Benson, “L.A. Law” (NBC); and Richard Kiley, “A Year in the Life” (NBC).

Lead Actress in a Drama Series--Sharon Gless, “Cagney and Lacey” (CBS); Tyne Daly, “Cagney and Lacey” (CBS); Jill Eikenberry, “L.A. Law” (NBC); Susan Dey, “L.A. Law” (NBC); and Angela Lansbury “Murder, She Wrote” (CBS).

Lead Actress in a Miniseries, Special--Ann Jillian, “The Ann Jillian Story,” (NBC); Mary Steenburgen, “The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank: General Foods Showcase” (CBS); JoBeth Williams, “Baby M” (ABC); Mary Tyler Moore, “Gore Vidal’s Lincoln” (NBC); and Jessica Tandy, “Foxfire: Hallmark Hall of Fame” (CBS).

Lead Actor in a Miniseries, Special--Hume Cronyn, “Foxfire: Hallmark Hall of Fame” (CBS); Stacy Keach, “Hemingway: Part 1” (Syndicated); Jason Robards, “Inherit the Wind” (NBC); Danny Glover, “Mandela” (HBO); and Jack Lemmon, “The Murder of Mary Phagan: Part 2” (NBC).