Who is David Attenborough? Everything to know as he becomes the oldest recipient of a Daytime Emmy Award at 99

The 52nd Daytime Emmy Awards honored Sir David Attenborough, as the environmentalist became the oldest winner to receive an Emmy Award. Attenborough’s Secret Lives of Orangutans, a 2024 Netflix series, earned him the award for the Outstanding Daytime Personality – Non-Daily. He is currently 99 years old and will turn 100 in May 2026. 

Incidentally, Dick Van Dyke held the record of being the oldest Daytime Emmy recipient to get the award at 98 last year as a guest performer in Days of Our Lives. Meanwhile, the Daytime Emmy Award 2025 rolled out the long-awaited event in Pasadena, California, on October 17, 2025. 

Some of the other notable winners on the Daytime Emmy Award 2025 include General Hospital as the best Daytime Drama Series, Entertainment Tonight as best Entertainment News Series, Hot Bench as best Legal/Courtroom Program and Delicious Miss Brown as best Culinary Instructional Series, to name a few. 

While Nancy Lee Grahn won the Lead Actress award for her role in General Hospital, the best Lead Actor award went to Paul Tefler for playing Xander Kiriakis on Days of Our Lives. ABC’s General Hospital grabbed wins in seven different categories, including best Writing Team and best Directing Team. 

A look at the oldest Emmy Awardee Sir David Attenborough    

British biologist, Sir David Frederick Attenborough, was born in May 1926 to the Principal of University College, Leicester. While his elder brother, Richard, is an actor-director, his younger brother, John, is a car manufacturer. David’s interest in Biology started early while being raised within the university campus. He acquired a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge before joining the Royal Navy for about two years.

David Attenborough joined the BBC’s Talks team in 1952 for quiz shows and various environment-related projects. He became associated with natural history during his series, Animal Patterns, presented by naturalist Julian Huxley. Later, during the filming of another project, Zoo Quest, David became the presenter after the curator-presenter, Lester, took ill.

He later resigned from the BBC to complete his post-graduate degree in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics. While he joined the BBC as the Controller of BBC Two in 1965, he continued his independent projects involving wildlife. He continued to handle more responsibilities at the BBC. 

However, after being promoted to the post of Director-General, David admitted to his brother about losing his appetite for these positions. His opinions soon earned him the reputation of a natural historian, biologist and environmental advocate. He gained much disrepute for his opinions on human population.

Besides Zoo Quest, some of Sir David Attenborough’s notable projects include The Planet Earth franchise, including The Blue Planet and Blue Planet II, Wildlife on One, Natural World and The Life Collection. His vast body of work has earned him more than 50 awards from different organizers in different categories.

Incidentally, the Daytime Emmy Award 2025 is his fourth Emmy win. David previously received Emmys in 2018, 2019 and 2022.

A glimpse at Netflix’s Secret Lives of Orangutans

The logline for the Netflix series says:

“Orangutans are not just one of our closest relatives, they’re perhaps more relatable to us than any other great ape. Narrated by David Attenborough, this film follows a remarkable group of orangutans in the pristine jungles of Sumatra…”

Aimed at all ages, the documentary peeps into the lives and social structures of this species of apes. The show follows Eden, an 8-year-old female, who embarks on her adult life journey and social negotiations. The series also grabbed awards in other categories of Directing Team for Single Camera and Music Direction and Composition.

Sir David Attenborough’s Secret Lives of Orangutans is currently available to watch on Netflix.