Audra McDonald makes Tony Awards history
Audra McDonald has become the most decorated actress in Tony Awards history.
The singer and actress on Sunday won her sixth Tony for portraying Billie Holiday in "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill," putting her ahead of five-time winners Angela Lansbury and the late Julie Harris for the most competitive wins by an actress.
"You deserve more than you were given on this planet and this is for you baby," McDonald said of Holiday as she fought back tears accepting the award at New York's Radio City Music Hall in a ceremony airing on CBS.
The latest win -- for best lead actress in a play -- also makes McDonald, 43, the first grand-slam performance winner. She previously won as best featured actress in a play ("A Raisin in the Sun" and "Master Class"), best lead actress in a musical ("The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess") and best featured actress in a musical ("Ragtime" and "Carousel"). She also has two Grammys.
She beat Tyne Daly from "Mothers and Sons," LaTanya Richardson Jackson in "A Raisin in the Sun," Cherry Jones of "The Glass Managerie" and Estelle Parsons in "The Velocity of Autumn."