20 years ago at the Emmys: Sharon Stone and William Shatner join forces

The guest actor and actress category nominations are like the ghost awards of the Emmys. They’re not handed out live along with the rest of the Primetime Emmy Awards telecast, which makes it easy to forget that the stars in the room (if they are in the room) can be some of the biggest in the industry. But on Sept. 12, 2004 — as in other years — they were given at the Creative Arts Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to a room full of Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony award winners — including one EGOT holder.

All the honored ladies

“The Practice” swept the field for dramatic guest roles this year, with Sharon Stone picking up her first and so far only Emmy for guest actress in a drama series, for playing eccentric attorney Sheila Carlisle. She accepted the award from presenters Christina Applegate and Anthony LaPaglia, noting that “The Practice” creator David E. Kelley “seems to be able to crawl inside our soul and know that you have something special that you need to express.”

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Stone was up against Oscar winner Louise Fletcher as Eva on “Joan of Arcadia” (CBS); Oscar winner Marlee Matlin as Dr. Amy Solwey on “Law & Order: SVU” (NBC); two-time Emmy winner Mare Winningham as Sandra Blane on “SVU”; and five-time Emmy winner Betty White as Catherine Piper on “The Practice.”

For guest actress in a comedy category, Laura Linney earned the second of her four Emmys to date, this one for playing matchmaker Charlotte Novak on “Frasier” (NBC). Her other Emmy wins have been for different series and were always in the lead actress category. Linney was up against Emmy winner Christina Applegate as Amy Green on “Friends”; Emmy winner Eileen Brennan as Zandra Zoggin on “Will & Grace”; Georgia Engel as Pat MacDougall in “Everybody Loves Raymond”; and Cloris Leachman as Grandma Ida in “Malcolm in the Middle” (Fox). Oscar winner Leachman is still tied with Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the performer with the most acting Emmy wins, with eight. Linney was not present to accept her award.

Time and space wait for no man

William Shatner also received his first Emmy that year in the guest actor in a drama category, also for “The Practice.” He played self-aggrandizing lawyer Denny Crane on the ABC series. After being presented with the award by Bradley Whitford and Jane Kaczmarek, Shatner joked with the voters, “What took you so long?” He would go on to win for the same role in 2005 — but this time in the supporting actor in a drama category on the “Practice” spinoff “Boston Legal.”

Awards

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Shatner competed alongside the EGOT in the room, 1991 double Emmy winner James Earl Jones, who was up for playing Will Cleveland in “Everwood” (the WB). Also under consideration: Matthew Perry as Joe Quincy in “The West Wing” (NBC) for the second year in a row; future 2013 Emmy winner Bob Newhart as Ben Hollander in “ER” (NBC); and Oscar winner Martin Landau as Frank Malone in “Without a Trace” (CBS).

In the guest actor comedy category, John Turturro earned his first nomination and sole win for playing Ambrose Monk, the agoraphobic brother of Tony Shalhoub’s title character on “Monk” (USA). He was up against Emmy winner John Cleese as Lyle Finster on “Will & Grace” (NBC); Emmy winner Danny DeVito as Roy Goodbody on “Friends” (NBC); Fred Willard as Hank MacDougall on “Everybody Loves Raymond” (CBS); and Emmy winner Anthony LaPaglia, nominated for playing Simon Moon on “Frasier” for the third time. LaPaglia also was nominated as lead actor in a drama series for “Without a Trace” but lost. Turturro was not present to accept his award.