The Supporting Actor and Actress categories are often the most competitive categories in any given year. Take this year's Supporting Actor category. Three out of the five nominees have claimed at least one prior Daytime Emmy statue. Of the two who had not, Jeff Kober has appeared in numerous primetime roles, and James Patrick Stuart has been a part of the daytime family since the 1990s. There's not much of a need to say that all the gents in this category are über talented (that's obvious). But there is a need to say which of them reigned supreme in 2020, because that's what you're here for, right?! After what we can only guess was much deliberation, the Emmy judges decided that the actor who stood out just a little bit more in the Outstanding Supporting Actor field was General Hospital's Max Gail (Mike Corbin)
"It's heavier than I remember," Gail joked upon taking the stage to accept his award, a reference to his win in the same category two years ago. "I can't quite believe this is happening again."
Gail's 2020 storyline was intensely emotional, with his Port Charles alter ego succumbing to Alzheimer's disease. Gail thanked the entire cast and crew of the ABC soap but took a moment to single out his on-screen son, Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos).
"I just welcome a chance to thank everybody at General Hospital," Gail continued. "I'm just thankful for the whole experience, including the audience who watches the show and cares and brings their hearts and minds to it and just makes the whole thing work."
This is the second Daytime Emmy win in the Supporting Actor category for Gail, who previously won in the same category in 2019. He also has two Primetime Emmy nominations in the Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Variety Music Series for his work on Barney Miller, which he earned in 1979 and 1980.
With this win, General Hospital has won 13 times in the Supporting Actor category. The ABC soap won the very first trophy in this category back in 1979 when Peter Hansen (Lee Baldwin) took home the award.
Over the past year or so, many soap fans have compared and contrasted the Alzheimer's storylines told simultaneously by General Hospital and The Young and the Restless. Those comparisons were finally put to rest by the Emmy voters. Both GH and Y&R told incredibly powerful and moving stories, that were acted superbly by the shows' casts.
Marla Adams, who first appeared as The Young and the Restless's Dina Mergeron in 1983, put an exclamation point on a storied career by winning her very first Daytime Emmy award. Viewers -- and apparently voters -- were moved as Dina, a once savvy businesswoman, began to slowly decline after an Alzheimer's diagnosis. In October 2020, Dina passed away.
An exuberant Adams accepted her award and dedicated it to her extended family.
"I carry you all in my heart," Adams beamed., "This is so awesome, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart."
Adams received a previous Daytime Emmy nomination -- also in the Supporting Actress category -- in 2018.
