Sir David Attenborough is oldest Daytime Emmy winner for Secret Lives of Orangutans

Sir David Attenborough broke the record for the oldest person to win a Daytime Emmy for his work on the documentary The Secret Lives of Orangutans.

The 99-year-old actor won in the outstanding non-daily daytime personality category and received two other awards for his Netflix film about a group of monkeys living in the jungles of Sumatra, Indonesia.

Sir David won the guest actor award in the daytime drama series category in 2024, breaking the record held by 98-year-old actor Dick Van Dyke.

52nd annual Daytime Emmys It was held in Pasadena, California, on Friday, but Sir David, eight months shy of his 100th birthday, was not in attendance.

The Secret Lives of Orangutans also won outstanding musical direction and composition and outstanding directing team for a single-camera daytime nonfiction program.

Author, broadcaster and naturalist Sir David’s career spans more than 70 years, during which time his voice has become synonymous with natural history programs in both the UK and the English-speaking world.

Award-winning natural history programs include Life on Earth, The Private Life of Plants and The Blue Planet.

Additionally, more than 40 animal and plant species are named after him.

He released the feature film Ocean earlier this year. He described it as one of the most important projects of his career. He stated that he believes that it can play a decisive role in preserving biodiversity and protecting the planet from climate change.

Other winners at Friday’s ceremony included long-running Daytime Series General Hospital for outstanding daytime drama series and actor and host Drew Barrymore for outstanding daytime talk series host.