Bob Newhart Wins Emmy For Big Bang Theory

Veteran actor Bob Newhart has won his first Emmy for his guest role in The Big Bang Theory.

The 84-year-old wept as he was honoured at the creative arts Emmy awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday.

After five decades in television, he scooped best guest actor in a comedy series for his role as Professor Proton, a down-on-his-luck former host of a children's science show.

"This is my seventh shot at this ... I just love this very much," he said as he received the award to a standing ovation.

Newhart's long TV history includes The Bob Newhart Show in the 1970s, Newhart in the 1980s and Bob in the 1990s.

He had been nominated for an Emmy on six previous occasions, five times for acting and once for writing.

Backstage, Newhart said at one point he had given up submitting his name for consideration.

"I just felt the kind of stuff I do doesn't win awards. I didn't want to go through the process, the disappointment," he said.

In addition to Newhart, other winners for guest turns included Melissa Leo for the sitcom Louie, Dan Bucatinsky for Scandal and Carrie Preston for The Good Wife.

With eight statuettes, HBO's Liberace biopic Behind The Candelabra was the top-winning individual programme at the ceremony, which honours technical and other achievements.

The movie will compete for seven more nominations at next Sunday's Primetime Emmy Awards.

Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn of Project Runway won for outstanding host for a reality or reality-competition show, and Undercover Boss for outstanding reality programme.

Lily Tomlin received the trophy for best voice-over performance for her narration of An Apology To Elephants, a documentary about the treatment of captive elephants.

Netflix's House Of Cards, the first online programme to compete for top drama series, picked up trophies for casting and cinematography for a single-camera series.

HBO earned 20 awards, followed by CBS with 15 and NBC with eight.