Ellen DeGeneres and Rachael Ray share Emmy spotlight

Reuters

LOS ANGELES -
Comedian Ellen
DeGeneres and cooking-
lifestyle guru Rachael
Ray shared the
Daytime Emmy
spotlight on Friday as
they split television's
top two awards for
entertainment talks
shows.

In another high point
of the evening,
Jeanne Cooper, the
grand dame of
America's longtime
No. 1 soap opera, was
named best lead
actress in a drama
series for her 35-year
role as Katherine
Chancellor on "The
Young and the
Restless."

It was the first Emmy
win after eight
nominations for
Cooper, who is one of
only two remaining
"The Young and the
Restless" cast
members from the
early days of the
show.

"I bet you thought I
died," the 79-year-old
actress joked as she
accepted her award,
adding later, "This is
totally shocking to
me."

Veteran "General
Hospital" star Anthony
Geary, who plays the
popular Luke Spencer
character, won his
sixth trophy as best
lead actor. "General
Hospital" was named
best daytime drama
series for a record
10th year.

The victory for
"Rachael Ray" in the
race for best talk
show marked an upset
triumph over "The
Ellen DeGeneres Show,"
which had won the
prize in each of the
last four years.

"Wow! Holy cat," a
stunned Ray enthused
on stage. "I really
can't breathe."

Ray, whose syndicated
series was spun off
from recurrent
appearances on Oprah
Winfrey's show, has
grown quickly into a
ubiquitous brand
highlighting a
homespun, easy
approach to cooking
based on her "30
Minute Meals" concept.

She made headlines
last month when a
Dunkin' Donuts ad she
appeared in was
yanked after a Fox
News Channel
commentator
complained the scarf
Ray wore resembled a
Muslim kaffiyeh.

Ladies of 'the view'
still bridesmaids

Although her program
lost out to Ray,
DeGeneres pulled off a
triumph for a fourth
straight year as best
talk show host. In
doing so, she
prevailed again over
the co-hosting
ensemble of "The
View," led by creator-
producer Barbara
Walters and newly
installed moderator
Whoopi Goldberg.

Another team of
perennial joint
nominees, Regis
Philbin and Kelly Ripa
of the morning show
"Live with Regis and
Kelly," extended their
losing streak as well.

But Philbin, 76, was
not sent home empty-
handed. The veteran
TV personality, who
got his big break as
Joey Bishop's sidekick
in the 1960s and
hosted the game show
hit "Who Wants to Be
a Millionaire" decades
later, received a
lifetime achievement
award recognizing his
47 years in the
business.

DeGeneres' win capped
a tumultuous year for
the comedian in which
she sparked a national
uproar over an
adopted puppy, ad-
libbed her way
through the writers
strike and announced
plans to wed her long-
time partner, actress
Portia de Rossi, after
a California court
ruling allowing gay
marriage.

"I never take this for
granted," DeGeneres,
50, said taking the
stage to accept the
prize. "This has been
a crazy year and...
we've done a lot of
crying and a lot of
laughing, and I cried
all by myself and then
people laughed."

It was an obvious
reference to tears
DeGeneres shed last
October when she
recounted on the air
how an animal rescue
group took back a
puppy she had
adopted because she
had given the dog,
Iggy, to a friend
without first notifying
the agency.

Another bittersweet
moment Friday night
came as Jennifer
Landon, 24, the
daughter of the late
TV star Michael
Landon ("Bonanza,"
"Little House on the
Prairie") saluted her
father in French as
she accepted her
third consecutive
award as best
younger actress for
her role on "As the
World Turns."

"It was a little salute
to my pops: 'For you
always, I love you,'"
she said backstage
when asked for a
rough translation.

The 35th annual
edition of the awards
was broadcast live on
ABC from Hollywood's
Kodak Theater, home
of the Oscars.

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