Behind the Candelabra has won eight awards at the Creative Arts Emmys, which celebrate artistic and technical achievement.
Among its haul were awards for casting, art direction, hairstyling, sound mixing, cinematography and costumes.
The Liberace biopic made by US cable broadcaster HBO premiered in Cannes earlier this year.
The TV movie stars Michael Douglas as the flamboyant pianist with Matt Damon playing the part of his secret partner.
The Creative Arts Emmys are a precursor to the primetime Emmys which take place next weekend.
Bob Newhart, whose career stretches back more than five decades, cried as he finally captured his first Emmy award.
Behind the Candelabra has won eight awards at the Creative Arts Emmys
He was honored for his guest role on The Big Bang Theory as Professor Proton, a former host of a children’s science show.
The 84-year-old has been nominated six times before – his first nomination came in 1961 when his variety series, The Bob Newhart Show, earned a writing bid.
“This is my seventh shot at this… I just love this very much,” he told the audience, who gave him a standing ovation.
His character will return to the series: “Yes. I think we’re doing two more…. in October we’re doing the next one, and they just handed me a great script. I keep saying, <<They kept giving me hanging curve balls and I keep swinging at them>>.”
Other winners for guest actors included Melissa Leo for the sitcom Louie, Dan Bucatinsky for Scandal and Carrie Preston for The Good Wife.
Another HBO show, Boardwalk Empire, picked up four awards, while NBC’s Saturday Night Live also won four.
CBS’s Undercover Boss won top reality programme.
Netflix’s original drama House of Cards picked up two Emmys for casting and cinematography.
Behind the Candelabra will compete for seven more awards at the primetime Emmys on Sunday.
Other winners included South Park: Raising the Bar for best animated programme.
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Michael Douglas reportedly snubbed Scott Thorson, the terminally ill former lover of piano legend Liberace – even though he’s starring in a movie based on a book written by the dying man.
Scott Thorson, who was diagnosed with advanced anal cancer in August 2012, was Liberace’s lover from 1976 to 1982.
His book, Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace, is the basis of the new HBO film that stars Michael Douglas as the flamboyant performer.
But even though Michael Douglas is a fellow cancer sufferer, sources say he rebuffed Scott Thorson’s request to visit him on the set before being jailed in February 2103.
“All I wanted do was meet Michael and talk to him about my cancer,” Scott Thorson, 54, explained to The National Enquirer.
“But I was bluntly told it would be impossible. That really hurt.”
Scott Thorson’s six-year romance with Liberace began when he was just 18 and the entertainer was 57.
He revealed he was showered with lavish gifts, expensive vacations and promises by Liberace to adopt and care for him.
But the relationship ended in 1982, when Scott Thorson says he was dumped for a teenager.
Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Da¬mon as Scott Thorson in Steven Soderbergh’s Behind The Candelabra
Although Behind the Candelabra was published in 1988, a year after Liberace died of AIDS, Scott Thorson says he didn’t find out until 2008 that producer Jerry Weintraub wanted to make a movie out of the book.
At the time, Scott Thorson was serving time behind bars on a drug-related robbery and desperately needed money. He admits he got “a little up-front money and a small percentage” of the film sales.
While Scott Thorson did his time, Jerry Weintraub assembled his team: Michael Douglas as Liberace, Matt Damon as Scott Thorson and director Steven Soderbergh.
In August 2010, Michael Douglas was diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer and the movie was put on hold.
Thankfully, Michael Douglas beat the cancer, and production began in the summer of 2012 in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Palm Springs. But Scott Thorson says he was left out in the cold.
“I thought it was very strange that I was never contacted,” he said.
“Then, about three months ago, I got one phone call from Jerry Weintraub when he found out that I had cancer. He said, <<I’m very sorry that you’re going through cancer>>. And that was it.”
Scott Thorson revealed he was immediately cut off when he asked if he could reach out to both Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. He said the indication was that Michael Douglas – whose son Cameron is also in jail on d**g charges – didn’t want him on the set, even as a consultant.
“It was clear that I wasn’t welcome,” Scott Thorson said.
“My heart sank. These people were portraying me but I was a persona non grata. I’m angry.”
Scott Thorson has undergone radiation and chemotherapy treatments, but the tumor remains.
“Right now, I’m very scared,” Scott Thorson admitted.
“I’ve already run through the money I got for the movie and I’ve got nothing left.
“I don’t know if I’ll make it to the premiere in May…or if I’m even invited.”
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Michael Douglas’ casting as Liberace in biopic Behind The Candelabra divided opinion, with many doubting whether he was the right person to play the role of the flamboyant stage star.
However, Michael Douglas has certainly proved his critics wrong, judging by a world exclusive clip of new film Behind The Candelabra.
Michael Douglas’ Liberace and Matt Damon’s Scott Thorson in Behind The Candelabra
Michael Douglas, 68, is seen flirting up a storm with young stranger Scott Thorson, played by Matt Damon, after he walked into his dressing room after a show in the summer of 1977.
A clearly naive Scott Thorson tells Liberace after watching the show: “What, you’re going to do that all over again? I don’t know how you do it.”
Wearing a silver sequinned waistcoat over his white shirt, Liberace is then seen joking with Scott Thorson: “Oh aren’t you sweet, it’s not bad for an old bag, huh?”
Liberace then pokes fun at his age, by telling Scott Thorson: “When I was working saloons back in Milwaukee they called them saloons – that’s how old I am.”
And when Scott Thorson replies that he is also from Wisconsin as well, Liberace replied: “No, you are? Well this must be fate!”
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