The television series Mad Men won the best drama series award at the 62nd annual Emmy Awards late on Sunday, and Modern Family dethroned 30 Rock as the best comedy show.

Mad Men, which tells the story of an advertising agency in the 1960s, won the outstanding drama series award for the third year in a row.

Modern Familymakes fun of the daily life of three American families.

The TV movie Temple Grandin, about a woman who triumphed over autism, took three prizes: Claire Danes won for lead actress in a movie or miniseries, Julia Ormond won the supporting actress award and David Strathairn won the supporting actor award.

Hollywood's glitterati were out in force on Sunday to fete television's finest performances.

Actress Edie Falco nabbed one of the first coveted statuettes of the evening, which got under way with Falco, an alumna of the hit show The Sopranos, winning top acting honors for her starring turn in the show Nurse Jackie, a dark comedy in which she depicts a drug-abusing hospital worker.

Ryan Murphy scooped an Emmy for directing Glee, also a popular situation comedy.

Glee, which entered the award season with 19 nominations, picked up two statuettes. In addition to Murphy, Jane Lynch won for supporting actress for playing a super-competitive cheerleading coach.

Producer Tom Hanks' and Steven Spielberg's epic Second World War miniseries, The Pacific, got the prize for outstanding miniseries. The production made the HBO cable television network the most prominent in the event, with 101 nominations this year.

Kyra Sedgwick won her first Emmy, for actress in a drama series, playing a tough LA policewoman in TNT's The Closer. Bryan Cranston for the third year in a row won as lead actor in a drama for Breaking Bad, in which he plays a deranged chemistry professor turned methamphetamine dealer.

George Clooney, who led a galaxy of stars in a January telethon fundraiser for Haiti's earthquake victims, received a special Emmy for his humanitarian efforts.

The 49-year-old was honoured for hosting the Hope for Haiti Now special, and for his efforts to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina and raise awareness of the killing in Darfur.