Stars of ‘Seinfeld,’ ‘Larry Sanders’ Grab Emmys

Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Rip Torn led off Sunday’s 48th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards with honors for outstanding supporting acting in comedy series.

Dreyfus, who crossed her fingers and mouthed “Please” before the winning actress was announced, won her first Emmy in five nominations for her role as Elaine on NBC’s “Seinfeld.”

“A lot of people say that our show is about nothing, but of course it’s been about plenty of something for me,” she said tearfully.

Torn, who plays the harried producer on HBO’s “The Larry Sanders Show,” credited its star for his supporting actor honor.

“I stand here--it’s all due to my boss Garry Shandling and his comic genius,” Torn said.

Emmys in 28 major categories were presented at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in ceremonies broadcast live by ABC. The show honored the 50th anniversary of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which hands out the Emmys each year.

Best comedy series writing went to NBC’s “Frasier,” which also won two in Saturday’s preliminary awards.

Greta Scacchi won outstanding supporting actress in a miniseries or special for her role as Alexandra in HBO’s “Rasputin.”

“The Kennedy Center Honors” picked up two trophies, one for best variety, music or comedy special and another for directing.

ABC and NBC headed into the Emmy Awards as dueling leaders with 11 trophies each, collected at a preliminary weekend ceremony.

“The X-Files” was the leading show, with four Emmys in the non-televised creative arts awards Saturday night.

NBC still appeared to have the edge going into the televised ceremony with 88 nominations. CBS had 67 nominations and HBO had 66. ABC had 55 nominations. Fox Broadcasting had 17, followed by PBS with 12.

NBC multiple-nominees included “Frasier,” “Seinfeld,” “Gulliver’s Travels” and “ER,” which had a leading 17 nominations.

Amid growing concern about sex and violence on TV, the new President’s Award was to be given to a program of social value. “ER” was the only network show nominated, the rest were drawn from cable TV.

HBO had eight awards in Saturday’s preliminary ceremony. Fox Broadcasting Co. and TBS each had four, and PBS and Showtime each received two.

Acting trophies given Saturday for guest appearances on drama and comedy series went to Peter Boyle for an episode of “The X-Files” in which he played a troubled psychic. Amanda Plummer won for Showtime’s “The Outer Limits,” Tim Conway for ABC’s “Coach” and Betty White for NBC’s “The John Larroquette Show.”

Paul Reiser of “Mad About You” was the ceremony host, aided by co-hosts Michael J. Fox and Oprah Winfrey.

Sunday’s show was expected to be seen in more than 85 foreign countries by an estimated overseas audience of more than 600 million, the academy said.

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