The Emmys of All-Time: Leading Actors and Actresses in a Drama Potential Candidates

Alright. The supporting actors and actresses are always great, but this is the big time. The show. The land of possibility. The main part. The leads, of course! First, we'll begin with the drama. We'll keep it at sixty with a need to be whittled down to thirty-five because, if anything, there are probably less leads than supporting actors. It's just math. Alright. Today is drama, away we go!

Outstanding Leading Actress in a Drama Series

Barbara Stanwyck (The Big Valley), Barbara Bain (Mission: Impossible), Diana Rigg (The Avengers), Joan Blondell (Here Comes the Brides), Peggy Lipton (The Mod Squad), Susan Saint James (McMillan & Wife), Michael Learned (The Waltons), Jean Marsh (Upstairs, Downstairs), Angie Dickinson (Police Woman), Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman), Kate Jackson (Charlie's Angels), Sada Thompson (Family), Melissa Sue Anderson (Little House on the Prairie), Barbara Bel Geddes (Dallas), Linda Gray (Dallas), Veronica Hamel (Hill Street Blues), Stefanie Powers (Hart to Hart), Michele Lee (Knots Landing), Tyne Daly (Cagney & Lacey), Linda Evans (Dynasty), Debbie Allen (Fame), Angela Lansbury (Murder, She Wrote), Sharon Gless (Cagney & Lacey), Cybill Shepherd (Moonlighting), Alfre Woodard (St. Elsewhere), Susan Dey (L.A. Law), Jill Eikenberry (L.A. Law), Linda Hamilton (Beauty and the Beast), Dana Delany (China Beach), Patricia Wettig (thirtysomething), Regina Taylor (I'll Fly Away), Kathy Baker (Picket Fences), Swoosie Kurtz (Sisters), Gillian Anderson (The X-Files), Sherry Stringfield (ER), Christine Lahti (Chicago Hope), Edie Falco (The Sopranos), Amy Brenneman (Judging Amy), Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos), Sela Ward (Once and Again), Marg Helgenberger (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under), Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Jennifer Garner (Alias), Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia), Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Glenn Close (The Shield), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters), Evangeline Lilly (Lost), Mary Lynn Rajskub (24), Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights), January Jones (Mad Men), Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife), Kathy Bates (Harry's Law), Claire Danes (Homeland), Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey), Robin Wright (House of Cards), Kerry Washington (Scandal), Monica Potter (Parenthood)

Outstanding Leading Actor in a Drama Series

Jack Webb (Dragnet), James Arness (Gunsmoke), Raymond Burr (Perry Mason), James Garner (Maverick), E.G. Marshall (The Defenders), Bill Cosby (I Spy), David Janssen (The Fugitive), Martin Landau (Mission: Impossible), Raymond Burr (Ironside), Robert Young (Marcus Welby, M.D.), Peter Falk (Columbo), Telly Savalas (Kojak), Andy Griffith (Matlock), Karl Malden (The Streets of San Francisco), Jack Klugman (Quincy, M.E.), Edward Asner (Lou Grant), Ralph Waite (The Waltons), Larry Hagman (Dallas), John Forsythe (Dynasty), Tom Selleck (Magnum, P.I.), Ed Flanders (St. Elsewhere), Don Johnson (Miami Vice), Bruce Willis (Moonlighting), Edward Woodward (The Equalizer), Corbin Bernsen (L.A. Law), Ron Perlman (Beauty and the Beast), Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap), Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks), Jerry Orbach (Law & Order), Dennis Franz (NYPD Blue), George Clooney (ER), David Duchovny (The X-Files), Sam Waterston (Law & Order), Anthony Edwards (ER), James Gandolfini (The Sopranos), Martin Sheen (The West Wing), Rob Lowe (The West Wing), Michael Chiklis (The Shield), Kiefer Sutherland (24), Peter Krause (Six Feet Under), James Spader (Boston Legal), Matthew Fox (Lost), Josh Holloway (Lost), Hugh Laurie (House), Denis Leary (Rescue Me), Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights), Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire), Jason Ritter (The Event), Damian Lewis (Homeland), Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), Kevin Spacey (House of Cards), Nathan Fillion (Firefly), Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead), Timothy Hutton (Leverage), Tony Shalhoub (Monk), Robert Loggia (Mancuso, FBI)

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