This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Before 1975, supporting actors featured in a mini series or movie were included in categories such as comedy or drama. From 1975 to 1978, the award was called Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special. Despite the category's name, actors appearing in many episodes of a miniseries were included. In 1979, the award was named Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Special. The award was renamed again in 1986, in Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special. By 1998, the award was renamed Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.
Winners and nominations
1970s Year Actor Role Program NetworkOutstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special 1975(27th) Anthony Quayle Tom Banniester QB VII ABC Ralph Bellamy Adlai Stevenson The Missiles of OctoberABC Jack Hawkins (posthumously) Justice Gilroy QB VII Trevor Howard Abbé Faria The Count of Monte Cristo NBC 1976(28th) Ed Flanders Phil Hogan A Moon for the Misbegotten ABC Ray Bolger Billy Rice The Entertainer NBC Art Carney Thornton Alman Katherine ABC 1977(29th) Burgess Meredith Joseph N. Welch Tail Gunner Joe NBC Martin Balsam Daniel Cooper Raid on EntebbeABC Mark Harmon Robert Hugo Dunlap Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years Yaphet Kotto Idi Amin Raid on Entebbe Walter McGinn (posthumously) Louis Howe Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years 1978(30th) Howard da Silva Eddie Verna: USO Girl PBS James Farentino Simon Peter Jesus of NazarethNBC Burgess Meredith Cardinal Burke The Last Hurrah Donald Pleasence Vladimir Popov The Defection of Simas Kudirka CBS Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. Mike Long A Family Upside Down NBCOutstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Special 1979(31st) Marlon Brando George Lincoln Rockwell Roots: The Next Generations ABC Ed Flanders Calvin Coolidge Backstairs at the White House NBC Al Freeman, Jr. Malcolm X Roots: The Next Generations ABC Robert Vaughn Woodrow Wilson Backstairs at the White House NBC Paul Winfield Dr. Horace Huguley Roots: The Next Generations ABC
1980s Year Actor Role Program Network Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Special 1980(32nd) George Grizzard Floyd Kincaid The Oldest Living Graduate NBC Ernest Borgnine Stanislaus Katczinsky All Quiet on the Western FrontCBS John Cassavetes Gus Caputo Flesh & Blood Charles Durning Commissioner Russell Oswald Attica ABC Harold Gould Louis B. Mayer The Scarlett O'Hara War NBC 1981(33rd) David Warner Pomponius Falco Masada ABC Andy Griffith Ash Robinson Murder in TexasNBC Yūki Meguro Omi Shōgun Anthony Quayle Rubrius Gallus Masada ABC John Rhys-Davies Vasco Rodrigues Shōgun NBC 1982(34th) Laurence Olivier Lord Marchmain Brideshead Revisited PBS Jack Albertson (posthumously) Poppa MacMahon My Body, My Child ABC John Gielgud Edward Ryder Brideshead Revisited PBS Derek Jacobi Adolf Hitler Inside the Third Reich ABC Leonard Nimoy Morris Meyerson A Woman Called Golda Syndicated 1983(35th) Richard Kiley Paddy Cleary The Thorn Birds: Part 1 ABC Ralph Bellamy Franklin D. Roosevelt The Winds of WarABC Bryan Brown Luke O'NeillThe Thorn Birds Christopher Plummer Archbishop Vittorio Contini-Verchese David Threlfall Smike The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby Syndicated 1984(36th) Art Carney Tony Terrible Joe Moran CBS Keith Carradine Foxy Funderburke ChiefsCBS John Gielgud Lord Durrisdeer The Master of Ballantrae John Lithgow Joe Huxley The Day AfterABC Randy Quaid Harold "Mitch" Mitchell A Streetcar Named Desire David Ogden Stiers William Milligan Sloane The First Olympics: Athens 1896 NBC 1985(37th) Karl Malden Freddy Kassab Fatal Vision NBC Richard Burton (posthumously) Phipps Ogden Ellis Island CBS John Gielgud Theodore Woodward Romance on the Orient ExpressNBC Richard Masur Aryon Greydanus The Burning Bed Rip Torn Lewis Slaton The Atlanta Child Murders CBS Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special 1986(38th) John Malkovich Biff Loman Death of a Salesman CBS Charles Durning Charley Death of a Salesman CBS John Glover Victor DiMato An Early Frost NBC Harold Gould Dr. Marvin Elias Mrs. Delafield Wants to MarryCBS Pat Morita Tommy Tanaka Amos 1987(39th) Dabney Coleman Martin Costigan Sworn to Silence ABC Stephen Collins Billy Grenville, Jr. The Two Mrs. GrenvillesNBC John Glover Richard Behrens Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder Laurence Olivier Harry Burrard Lost Empires PBS Eli Wallach Norman Voss Something in Common CBS 1988(40th) John Shea Bill Stern Baby M ABC Dabney Coleman Gary Skoloff Baby MABC Anthony Quinn Socrates Onassis Onassis: The Richest Man in the World Ron Silver Ron Levin Billionaire Boys Club NBC Bruce Weitz Rick Whitehead Baby M ABC 1989(41st) Derek Jacobi The Imposter The Tenth Man CBS Armand Assante Richard Mansfield Jack the RipperCBS James Garner Bob Smith My Name Is Bill W. Danny Glover Joshua Deets Lonesome Dove Corin Nemec Steven Stayner I Know My First Name is Steven NBC
1990s Year Actor Role Program Network Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special 1990(42nd) Vincent Gardenia Michael Aylott Age-Old Friends HBO Ned Beatty Cornelius Van Horne Last Train Home Family Brian Dennehy Ed Reivers A Killing in a Small Town CBS Anthony Hopkins Abel Magwitch Great Expectations Disney James Earl Jones Alice By Dawn's Early LightHBO Max von Sydow Szaz Red King, White Knight 1991(43rd) James Earl Jones Junius Jackson Heat Wave TNT Ruben Blades Count Giuseppe Pepito AbatinoThe Josephine Baker StoryHBO David Dukes Jo Bouillon Richard Kiley Earl Warren Separate But Equal ABC Leon Russom Titus Wardlow Long Road Home NBC 1992(44th) Hume Cronyn Ben Broadway Bound ABC Brian Dennehy Dixon Hartnell The Burden of Proof ABC Héctor Elizondo Lieutenant Angel Mrs. Cage PBS Jerry Orbach Jack Jerome Broadway Bound ABC Ben Vereen Gene Randall Intruders CBS 1993(45th) Beau Bridges Terry Harper The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom HBO Brian Dennehy John McArthur Murder in the Heartland ABC Jonathan Pryce Henry KravisBarbarians at the GateHBO Peter Riegert Peter A. Cohen Maximilian Schell Vladimir Lenin Stalin 1994(46th) Michael A. Goorjian David Goodson David's Mother CBS Alan Alda Dr. Robert Gallo And the Band Played On HBO Matthew Broderick John A Life in the Theatre TNT Richard Gere The ChoreographerAnd the Band Played OnHBO Ian McKellen Bill Kraus 1995(47th) Donald Sutherland Mikhail Fetisov Citizen X HBO Jeffrey DeMunn Andrei Chikatilo Citizen X HBO Sam Elliott "Wild Bill" Hickok Buffalo Girls CBS Ben Kingsley Potiphar Joseph TNT Edward James Olmos Wilson Pinheiro The Burning Season HBO 1996(48th) Tom Hulce Peter Patrone The Heidi Chronicles TNT Andre Braugher Benjamin O. Davis The Tuskegee Airmen HBO John Goodman Harold "Mitch" Mitchell A Streetcar Named Desire CBS Ian McKellen Tsar Nicholas II RasputinHBO Treat Williams Michael Ovitz The Late Shift 1997(49th) Beau Bridges James Farley The Second Civil War HBO Obba Babatundé Willie Johnson Miss Evers' Boys HBO Michael Caine F. W. de Klerk Mandela and de Klerk Showtime Ossie Davis Mr. Evers Miss Evers' Boys HBO Joe Mantegna Pippi De Lena The Last Don CBS Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie 1998(50th) George C. Scott Juror #3 12 Angry Men Showtime Hume Cronyn Juror #9 12 Angry Men Showtime Gregory Peck Father Mapple Moby Dick USA Martin Short Frik Merlin NBC J. T. Walsh (posthumously) Ray Percy Hope TNT 1999(51st) Peter O'Toole Bishop Pierre Cauchon Joan of Arc CBS Beau Bridges E. K. Hornbeck Inherit the Wind Showtime Don Cheadle Sammy Davis, Jr. The Rat Pack HBO Peter Fonda Frank O'Connor The Passion of Ayn Rand Showtime Joe Mantegna Dean Martin The Rat Pack HBO
2000s Year Actor Role Program Network Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie 2000(52nd) Hank Azaria Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie ABC Klaus Maria Brandauer Otto Preminger Introducing Dorothy DandridgeHBO James Cromwell William Randolph Hearst RKO 281 Danny Glover Will Walker Freedom Song Showtime John Malkovich Herman Mankiewicz RKO 281 HBO 2001(53rd) Brian Cox Hermann Göring Nuremberg TNT Alan Alda Willie Walters Club Land Showtime Colin Firth Wilhelm Stuckart Conspiracy HBO Victor Garber Sidney Luft Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows ABC Ian Holm Patrick The Last of the Blonde BombshellsHBO Stanley Tucci Adolf Eichmann Conspiracy 2002(54th) Michael Moriarty Winton Dean James Dean TNT Alec Baldwin Robert McNamara Path to WarHBO Jim Broadbent Desmond Morton The Gathering Storm Don Cheadle Chuck Things Behind the Sun Showtime Jon Voight Jürgen Stroop Uprising NBC 2003(55th) Ben Gazzara Nick Piccolo Hysterical Blindness HBO Alan Arkin Harry Rowen The Pentagon Papers FX Chris Cooper Thomas Riversmith My House in Umbria HBO John Malkovich Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord Napoleon A&E Peter O'Toole Paul von Hindenburg Hitler: The Rise of Evil CBS 2004(56th) Jeffrey Wright Mr. Lies / Norman "Belize" Arriaga / Homeless Man / The Angel Europa / The Antarctic Eskimo Angels in America HBO Justin Kirk Prior Walter / Leatherman in Park Angels in America HBO William H. Macy John Irwin Stealing Sinatra Showtime Ben Shenkman Louis Ironson / The Angel Oceania Angels in AmericaHBO Patrick Wilson Joe Pitt 2005(57th) Paul Newman Max Roby Empire Falls HBO Brian Dennehy Father Dominic Spagnolia Our Fathers Showtime Philip Seymour Hoffman C.B. Whiting / Charlie Mayne Empire Falls HBO Christopher Plummer Cardinal Bernard Law Our Fathers Showtime Randy Quaid Colonel Tom Parker Elvis CBS 2006(58th) Jeremy Irons Earl of Leicester Elizabeth I HBO Robert Carlyle Sergei Karpovich Human Trafficking Lifetime Clifton Collins, Jr. Jack Hill Thief FX Hugh Dancy Earl of Essex Elizabeth I HBO Denis Lawson John Jarndyce Bleak House PBS 2007(59th) Thomas Haden Church Tom Harte Broken Trail AMC Ed Asner Luke Spelman The Christmas Card Hallmark Joe Mantegna Lou Manahan The Starter Wife USA Aidan Quinn Henry L. DawesBury My Heart at Wounded KneeHBO August Schellenberg Sitting Bull 2008(60th) Tom Wilkinson Benjamin Franklin John Adams HBO Bob Balaban Ben Ginsberg RecountHBO Stephen Dillane Thomas Jefferson John Adams Denis Leary Michael Whouley Recount David Morse George Washington John Adams 2009(61st) Ken Howard Phelan Beale Grey Gardens HBO Len Cariou Franklin D. Roosevelt Into the Storm HBO Tom Courtenay William Dorrit Little Dorrit PBS Bob Newhart Judson The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice TNT Andy Serkis Rigaud / Blandois Little Dorrit PBS
2010s