Surprise Golden Globes 2011 Winner Katey Sagal Prevails After Last Year's Snub

Katey Sagal won the Best Actress in a Television Series-Drama during the 2011 Golden Globe Awards Sunday night. The actress nabbed the Golden Globe for her portrayal of "Sons of Anarchy's" Gemma Teller, the long-suffering and tough-as-nails motorcycle club matriarch. Winning the award wasn't just a surprise because Sagal wasn't favored to win, but also because she was snubbed by not even being nominated in the category last year.

Sagal won the Golden Globe over favored nominees Julianna Margulies in "The Good Wife" and Kyra Sedgwich in "The Closer". Also nominated in the Best Actress in a Television Series-Drama were Elizabeth Moss in "Mad Men" and Piper Perabo in "Covert Affairs".

Sagal Surprised to Win Golden Globe

Sagal said she had not expected to win at the 68th Annual Golden Globes, but had a speech ready. "I'm so shocked, but I am prepared," Sagal stated as she began her acceptance speech.

Sagal gave due credit to her husband, "Sons of Anarchy" creator Kurt Sutter. She went on to humorously point out in her acceptance speech, "Sweetheart, I love you. I'm so glad you're the boss of me."

Katey Sagal's Gemma Teller is a meaty role for any actress, but the woman who once played Peggy Bundy nails the performance in every episode. In season three, the one considered for the 2011 Golden Globes, she battled the ordeals of a kidnapped grandson, being framed for murder by the feds, suffering a heart condition and controlling the club from the hospital. Not to mention coming face-to-face with her dead husband's mistress and love child in Ireland.

Sagal Wins After Golden Globes Snub

As challenging as those situations were to act, Katey Sagal astounded viewers and critics as Gemma Teller the previous season, but not the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. She didn't even receive a Best Actress in a Television Series-Drama nomination last year. It was a snub that almost overtook any Golden Globes news.

Sagal brilliantly and believably suffered a brutal rape by white supremacists and took us on the emotional journey of Gemma trying to keep herself and the club together as she dealed. She struggled not to tell her son and new husband. We watched her have a gun on her rapist and decide not to shoot, while he was on the phone with his children. Above all else Gemma Teller is a mother. And now Katey Sagal is a Golden Globe winner.

Sources:
8th Annual Golden Globe Awards, NBC, 1-16-2011 airdate
"Sons of Anarchy" season two, FX, (2009)
"Sons of Anarchy" season three, FX, (2010)