Actress Betty Gilpin ’04 has won her first Emmy for her performance in Apple TV’s horror-comedy Widow’s Bay, about a cursed New England island.  

Betty received the award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series at the Creative Arts Emmys on Sunday, September 6, ahead of the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 14. Betty won for her role as Sarah Westcott Warren in a flashback episode set in 1702.  

Betty also was lauded for her acceptance speech, a poem she wrote on the plane ride to the event in Los Angeles, Calif. The headline in Vulture read: "Every Award Show Should Feature a Betty Gilpin Acceptance Speech," the story saying the poem was "simultaneously funny, poignant, and emotional."  

Betty shared the inspiration for her speech backstage, according to a story in Deadline. She was on the same flight as Hamish Linklater, who plays Betty's husband on the show. He asked if she had prepared a speech. She said no, that she didn't feel she would win. Prepare something, he urged. "So I wrote a quick manic poem," Betty said. 

The poem appeared online in various articles: 

“If by some fluke you win / A poem might give it a less boring spin. 

If you lose, whisper it drunk to your date, Allie Brie / Whose toned shoulders we stand on for her work in TV. 

Thank you, Widow’s Bay residents, Dippold, Murai / To Hamish and Apple, our director, Ti. 

To my reps Sean, Jenny, Andrea, Dara, and Tony / Is it weird I say love you when we hang up the phone-y? (Sorry) 

Rhyming’s a vulnerability cloak / What we do means so much to me. That part’s not a joke 

Look, my family has nurses, a priest, and a teacher / I’m a spray-tanned, narcissistic, society leecher. 

But I want to thank all of the actors I’ve met / Old ladies in dressing rooms, hot guys on sets. 

What a privilege to spend this life laughing at crafty / Watching Shakespeare in theaters, half-full and drafty. 

Our business is stupid, but actors are the bomb / From Martindale to Milioti, my dad and my mom. 

To be cringe and elitist, which you’re free to find fault in / Let’s all lean toward Sam Shepard and less toward Sam Altman.” 

That last line brought headlines, too, this one in Variety: "Betty Gilpin Jabs at Sam Altman During ‘Manic Poem’ Acceptance Speech at the Emmys." Mr. Altman is the CEO of the artificial intelligence company OpenAI. Mr. Shepard was an acclaimed playwright and screenwriter. 

During the poem Betty choked up when thanking her mom and dad. After reading the poem, she continued to thank friends and family, including her husband, children, and brothers. 

This was Betty's fourth Emmy nomination. Three were for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on GLOW (2017–19). She also is well-known for her work on Nurse Jackie (2013–15). 

Betty was already a promising actress when she arrived at Loomis Chaffee, and during her four years on the Island, she wowed audiences at the Norris Ely Orchard Theater with her portrayal of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Rosalind, Kiss Me Kate’s Lois Lane, Wonderful Town’s Ruth Sherwood, and other roles. After Loomis, Betty attended Fordham University at Lincoln Center, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in theater before launching her professional acting career.