Kate Winslet wins best actress in mini-series Emmy

Kate Winslet accepts the award for outstanding lead actress in a mini-series or movie for “Mildred Pierce” at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

LOS ANGELES – British actress Kate Winslet won the best actress in a mini-series Emmy on Sunday, for her role in period drama “Mildred Pierce.”

The Oscar-winning star plays a divorcee single mother who opens a restaurant to survive in the Great Depression in the drama, for which her English-born co-star Guy Pearce won best supporting actor Emmy moments earlier.

Winslet gave a short acceptance speech saying she “didn’t think we were going to win anything” — until her gong it had been having a disappointing night — before thanking her mother.

Winslet’s success came on a big night for another British period drama, “Downtown Abbey.”

The show won the best mini-series Emmy, while veteran Maggie Smith won best supporting actress and Julian Fellowes, who wrote the British period drama, best writer of a mini-series.

Brian Percival also won best director for “Downtown Abbey,” which tells the story of the aristocratic Crawley family in the stately home of the show’s name.