Stephen Root Wins His First Emmy At 74 For 'Widow's Bay'
Stephen Root finally has an Emmy. The 74-year-old actor, a television veteran of nearly four decades whose credits include NewsRadio, King of the Hill, Barry, Boardwalk Empire and Perry Mason, won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards Monday night at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles for his role as Wyck Crawford in Apple TV+'s Widow's Bay.
It is his first win in only his second career Emmy nomination, and it makes him the oldest actor ever to win the category, surpassing Henry Winkler's record by two years. Winkler was 72 when he won for Barry in 2019, the same show Root was nominated for one year later.
Widow's Bay, a horror comedy set in a cursed New England island town, created by Katie Dippold and directed by Hiro Murai, had the dominant night.
Root's co-star Kate O'Flynn won Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the show earlier in the evening, her first Emmy on her first nomination.
The show also won the comedy writing prize for Dippold. After picking up eight Creative Arts Emmys last weekend, Widow's Bay is now the most decorated show of the 2026 Emmy season.
"Holy cow, the money store," Root said, accepting the award. "The reason I'm up here is Katie. It is Matthew Rhys and the brilliant Kate O'Flynn and the comic stylings of these two are the best thing in the 21st century."
