Sir David Attenborough has made history by becoming the oldest recipient of a Daytime Emmy Award for his work on the documentary Secret Lives of Orangutans.
At 99 years old, Sir David won in the category of Outstanding Daytime Personality, Non-Daily, for the Netflix production, which also earned two additional awards. The film explores the lives of orangutans in the jungles of Sumatra, Indonesia.
He surpassed the previous record held by actor Dick Van Dyke, who was 98 when he won the award for Guest Performer in a Daytime Drama Series in 2024.
The 52nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards took place on Friday in Pasadena, California. Although Sir David, just eight months shy of his 100th birthday, did not attend the ceremony, his achievement was widely celebrated.
Secret Lives of Orangutans also received awards for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition, as well as Outstanding Directing Team for a Single-Camera Daytime Non-Fiction Program.
A writer, broadcaster, and naturalist, Sir David’s career spans more than seven decades, during which his distinctive voice has become synonymous with nature documentaries across the UK and the wider English-speaking world.
His acclaimed series include Life on Earth, The Private Life of Plants, and The Blue Planet. More than 40 animal and plant species have been named in his honor.
Earlier this year, Sir David released Ocean, a feature-length film he described as one of the most significant works of his career, expressing hope that it would help protect biodiversity and combat climate change.
Other winners at Friday’s ceremony included the long-running soap opera General Hospital, which won Outstanding Daytime Drama Series, and actress and presenter Drew Barrymore, who received the award for Outstanding Daytime Talk Series Host.
