Michael J. Fox rolled onto the stage in a wheelchair and a black suit on Monday, September 14, 2026, and the crowd at the Peacock Theater at L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles rose to its feet. The Bob Hope Humanitarian Award went, at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, to an actor who has spent years advocating for Parkinson’s research.
Decades of funding and advocacy for Parkinson’s disease research earned Fox, 65, the honor, and the room stood to applaud him twice — once before his remarks and once after. He attended with his wife, actress Tracy Pollan — the first time in 13 years that the two had been at the Emmy Awards together. Actress Julianna Margulies, his former co-star on the legal drama “The Good Wife,” presented the award. Margulies drew praise from the stage as an acting partner, and Fox said he had enjoyed his run on the series, adding that he was glad to be done with legalese.
The disease that reshaped his career came next in his remarks. “Initially, I kept my Parkinson’s diagnosis a secret. I worried that it would affect my work and my relationships with audiences. Would they laugh if they knew I was sick?” Fox told the room.
Audiences themselves gave him the answer, he said. “All of you are so uplifting and just made me feel like I could keep doing this,” he continued. “I hadn’t lost what I do, and it couldn’t take it away from me. And it’s because you stood up for me.”
That response taught him, he said, that accepting Parkinson’s did not mean giving in to it. He described the recognition as a humbling honor. He finished with his family — Tracy Pollan, his wife of more than 30 years, their four adult children, and his parents and siblings. “I thank Tracy and our kids for their sacrifices, for their patience and for their love,” he said. “You have no idea.”
A Diagnosis He Kept Private
Doctors told Fox he had young-onset Parkinson’s disease in 1991, when he was 29 and his career — built on “Family Ties” and the “Back to the Future” trilogy — was at its height. He kept the diagnosis to himself for years and kept working, starring in films including “For Love or Money” and “The American President” and in the ABC series “Spin City.” He made the diagnosis public in 1998 and stepped back from his lead role on “Spin City” in 2000. In 2020, as managing the disease became increasingly difficult, he retired from full-time acting.
He also appeared earlier in “Teen Wolf,” “The Secret of My Success,” “Casualties of War” and “Doc Hollywood.”
More Than $3 Billion in Research
Fox founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in 2000, and it is now the world’s largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson’s research, having supported more than $3 billion in research programs. He told the Emmys audience that he had set out to advocate for patients’ needs, raise money and search for a cure, recruiting people to lead the effort and committing to fund the best science available.
“I am proud of the progress we’ve made to benefit Parkinson’s patients and families,” he said, giving credit to the foundation’s staff, donors, researchers and the wider Parkinson’s community. A cure is close, he said, and eradicating the disease is a fight he promised to continue. The award’s namesake also took up a portion of his speech.
“Christmases, Thanksgivings, other holidays where he could have been celebrating his family, he was showing up for the troops in Berlin, Saigon, the Middle East, with a turkey leg and a golf club, and, maybe if you’re lucky [singer] Lola Falana,” Fox said at the ceremony. That example, he said, taught him that when things get hard, you show up and help, and he could not have known how those lessons would resonate in his own life. He closed by thanking his wife, his family and Bob Hope, whose humanitarian example, he said, showed him “how it’s done.”
A Room on Its Feet
Inside the Peacock Theater, the reaction was unmistakable. As Fox described the diagnosis and the years he spent hiding it, the room was visibly moved. The ovation afterward ran long, and Fox gestured to the crowd in acknowledgment.
The Television Academy and the Bob & Dolores Hope Foundation present the award, created in 2002 for someone working in television whose charitable work reflects the spirit of the entertainer it is named after. The award has been handed out only seven times in Emmys history. In July, the Television Academy named Fox as this year’s recipient, citing his public advocacy along with the optimism and humor he has brought to writing and speaking about his own challenges.
Fox came to the ceremony with another reason to celebrate. A five-time Emmy winner, he landed his 19th career nomination this year in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series category, for his portrayal of Gerry, a man living with Parkinson’s, in Apple TV+’s “Shrinking,” opposite actor Harrison Ford as therapist Dr. Paul Rhoades. Bill Lawrence, the show’s co-creator, also co-created “Spin City.”
The 1980s brought his first Emmy wins. “Family Ties” earned him three consecutive trophies for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, a streak that began in 1986. He won a fourth in the same category for “Spin City” in 2000, then took Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for “Rescue Me” in 2009.
Mariska Hargitay hosted the night, which NBC carried live. “Widow’s Bay” and “The Pitt” took the top series prizes, and actors Matthew Rhys and Jean Smart made history.
