Susan Lucci: The Perennial Runner-Up
For a time, Leonardo DiCaprio’s 5 Oscar nominations and 0 wins was the butt of many jokes and memes, until he finally won in 2016 for The Revenant. But this is a mere pittance compared to Susan Lucci and the Emmys. While playing Erica Kane on the soap opera "All My Children” for over 41 years, from the show's debut in 1970 until its cancellation in 2011, she set the unlikeliest of Academy records.
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Nominated almost every year beginning in 1978, the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series consistently eluded Susan Lucci. In the midst of 18 consecutive nominations without a win, the phrase "the Susan Lucci of" became a cultural reference for someone who was repeatedly nominated for an award but never won. As she became notoriously synonymous with never winning an Emmy, her image in the media began to be lampooned.
Historically, the Daytime Emmys got very little attention for a very long time. But as the years went by and the nominations piled up, the spike in viewership became noticeable as every year the anticipation of her win generated tons of media attention and speculation, with fans and industry insiders wondering if she would ever take home the coveted Emmy. And the award show itself wasted no opportunity exploiting her notoriety. Hosts and presenters alike would make jokes at Lucci’s expense about the number of nominations and how this might finally be the year.
Like a good sport though, she took it all in stride. She even accepted an invite from SNL (Saturday Night Live) to host an episode, and during her monologue, the show's cast, crew, and even stagehands nonchalantly used their own Emmys as everyday props in her presence.
But joking about the story did not undermine the emotion of the story. Eventually conspiracy theories started forming about the academy purposely keeping Lucci from winning in order to maintain the press coverage it was receiving. The streak became so extensive and sympathetic, she began receiving standing ovations for her resilience and graciousness in losing.
"THE STREAK IS OVER!"
Going into the 26th Daytime Emmys Awards in 1999, Susan Lucci was the favorite to win the award for Outstanding Lead Actress, but not for the first time. Her streak of nominations without a win became a well-known part of Emmy history, often referred to as the "Susan Lucci Curse."
When she finally broke it, it became a historic moment in the world of soap operas and television in general. When Shemar Moore (“The Young and the Restless”) sauntered onto the stage to announce the award for Outstanding Daytime Diva, he opened the envelope and declared, “The streak is over!” and the crowd went wild in what is arguably the largest and loudest standing ovation in Emmy history.
After over a full minute of cheering, Lucci didn’t focus on the fact that she lost 18 times, but instead thanked the voters for 19 nominations. She said she wasn’t meant to win before that night, because otherwise she wouldn’t have the collection of “poems and letters and drawings and balloons and chocolate cakes” that her supporters had given her to make her feel better.
