To the surprise of no one, rave reviews keep pouring in for birthday girl Meryl Streep (she turns 70 years old today) as bereaved mother Mary Louise in Season 2 of “Big Little Lies.” That begs the question: Will Streep become yet another performer to win an Emmy for appearing in a show written and produced by David E. Kelley? To date this TV veteran has helped a whopping 33 actors take home Emmy Awards, including Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern and Alexander Skarsgard for the first season of HBO’s popular program. Click through our photo gallery above to see which stars have Kelley to thank for their Emmys.
Before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s remember that the current episodes of “Big Little Lies” are not eligible at this year’s Emmys, but will instead contend at the 2020 ceremony. That’s because the Emmy eligibility period runs from June 1-May 31 each year, and this second season will air throughout the summer.
As Mary Louise, Streep brings a sense of stark humanity to the show as she tries to get to the bottom of how her son Perry (Skarsgard) really died. In between her scenes helping out widow Celeste (Nicole Kidman) around the house, Mary Louise has also feuded with Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) on several occasions because she “finds little people to be untrustworthy.” In the second episode Mary Louise discovered a potential clue about Perry’s untimely death when she learned that he’d fathered a child with Jane (Shailene Woodley) after raping her. “You were planning to leave him the very night he died. You left that out,” she icily told Celeste.
While Streep is mostly known for her film work, for which she’s won three Oscars for “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979), “Sophie’s Choice” (1982) and “The Iron Lady” (2011), she’s also no stranger to television. In fact, Streep already has three Emmys on her mantel for acting in the limited series “Holocaust” (1978) and “Angels in America” (2004) and narrating “Five Came Back” (2017). Will “Big Little Lies” earn her Emmy #4 next year?
Kelley got his start in television writing for “L.A. Law” before eventually moving on to creating his own hit shows, including “Picket Fences,” “Chicago Hope,” “The Practice,” “Ally McBeal,” “Boston Public,” “Boston Legal” and “Harry’s Law.” To date he’s won 11 Emmys including nine producing awards for “L.A. Law” (1989-91), “Picket Fences” (1993-94), “The Practice” (1998-99), “Ally McBeal” (1999) and “Big Little Lies” (2017) and two writing trophies for “L.A. Law” (1990-91)
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