Jon Hamm, 'Game of Thrones' finally win Emmys glory
GoT won key awards out of its 83 nominations at the 67th annual Primetime Emmy Awards.
Read: Dragons and deaths may lead 'Game of Thrones' to Emmy victory
Viola Davis gave an emotional speech as she became the first African-American to win the award for best actress in a drama series for her portrayal of a law professor involved in a twisted plot on ABC's How To Get Away with Murder.
Other highlights of the show included a best comedy series Emmy for HBO's political satire Veep and several prizes for Amazon's dark transgender comedy Transparent -- a major breakthrough for the streaming content provider.
Game of Thrones was the big winner at the star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles, raking in a record-breaking 12 awards, the most any series has won in a single year.
HBO also struck gold with Olive Kitteridge, about a couple whose marriage is in trouble, which won eight trophies.
Thrones -- a sweeping tale of clashing noble families filled with blood, sex and back-stabbing, based on the novels of George RR Martin -- had won many awards before, but never the top prize at television's equivalent of the Oscars.
"Thanks again, HBO, for believing in dragons," said series co-creator David Benioff.
But the emotional high points of the night belonged to Hamm and Davis. The actor, who ditched the stairs and crawled on to the stage to take the award, thanked his friends and cast for supporting him.
Hamm -- whose portrayal of seductive, mysterious ad man Don Draper on retro-cool Mad Men had won him rave reviews and transformed his career -- finally struck gold for the role. It took eight years and eight nominations for actor Jon Hamm to finally grab an Emmy award.
"It's incredible and impossible for me personally to be standing here," Hamm said after receiving a standing ovation from the audience at the 67th Emmys.
"I want to thank the people to whom I owe this incredible debt. Families, who have chosen for some reason to take me in and be nice to me along this strange, strange road," he said.
Hamm also gave a shout out to several people, which included "Cora (his dog) and Jen (his former girlfriend)."
He later told reporters he felt no bitterness at being overlooked in past years given the quality of his fellow nominees. "I'm just glad to be here -- look at the people I'm sitting next to," he said.
For Davis, the moment was not one to be missed.
"Let me tell you something," she told the audience to wide applause. "The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity."
Davis was honoured for her portrayal of alluring, tough and morally compromised law professor Annalise Keating in the ABC legal thriller How to Get Away with Murder.
She paid tribute backstage to fellow black actress Taraji P Henson, who was nominated for her role in Fox's music melodrama Empire, saying both were gunning for the other to make history.
"We whispered to each other, 'Whoever gets it, it's great'," Davis told reporters.
"If it's been 67 years since an actress of color has won an Emmy (for best actress), then there's certainly been a line, and it certainly has to be acknowledged, like the emperor being naked in the room," she added.
"So here's to all the writers, the awesome people...Shonda Rhimes (the show's creator), people who have redefined what it's like to be beautiful, sexy, to be a leading woman... to be black," she said.
In addition to top comedy series honors, Veep -- the misadventures of a female US vice president who rises to the presidency -- saw its star Julia Louis-Dreyfus win for the fourth time in a row. Co-star Tony Hale won his second Emmy for best supporting actor in a comedy.
The political satire Veep shined at the Emmy Awards as it clinched an Emmy in the Outstanding Comedy Series category, bringing an end to the five-year reign of Modern Family.
Louis-Dreyfus cracked a joke about Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump in her acceptance speech, saying, "It's getting trickier and trickier to satirize this stuff."