Anthony Geary, who has been the leading actor in "General Hospital" off and on for more than 30 years, picked up his seventh Daytime Emmy Award, setting a record for an actor.

"It's a good way for 'General Hospital' to start," Geary said when receiving the Best Actor trophy, the first for the ABC drama of the night at the broadcast ceremony held at Beverly Hilton hotel.

"General Hospital" led with 23 nominations at this 39th annual edition of the award.

"We have 23 nominations, which is pretty amazing since we were almost cancelled in favor of a surefire ratings bonanza 'Celebrity Boob Jobs Gone Wrong,' I think it was," Geary told the cheering crowd.

Jonathan Jackson, also from the daytime television drama, took home his second supporting actor trophy. He said, "It has been 19 years since I started as Lucky Spencer and I feel just about the same as I did when I was 11 years old." He will appear on primetime later this year on ABC's highly anticipated sitcom "Nashville."

Nancy Lee Grahn won her first Daytime Emmy, the Supporting Actress, for her work on "General Hospital".

The show also won the Best Directing Team award.

"General Hospital" has been credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest-running drama in television in American history after "Guiding Light" and "As the World Turns." The TV soap premiered on the ABC television network on April 1, 1963 and has almost always aired at 3 p.m. Eastern time (2000 GMT) since its debut.

Another big winner went to Heather Tom of CBS' "The Bold and the Beautiful." She became the first to win Daytime Emmys in three categories, namely Best Younger Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress. Tom, now a darling of daytime television, has been acting on soap operas since she was 15 and has won millions of fans.

NBC's "Days of Our Lives" won the award for Best Writing Team. 21-year-old Chandler Massey from the drama won Best Younger Actor in a Drama Series. While 24-year-old Christel Khalil from CBS' "The Young and the Restless" won her first Best Younger Actress in a Drama Series after being nominated for the fourth year.

Bill Geddie, the executive producer of ABC's talk show-entertainment "The View," received his Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions as a writer, producer and director in his more than 30-year television career.

Awards also include the Outstanding Talk Show -- Entertainment to syndicated "Live With Regis and Kelly," the Outstanding Morning Program to NBC's "Today" show and others.

The Daytime Entertainment Creative Arts Emmy Awards recognize outstanding achievement in all fields of daytime television production and are presented to individuals and programs broadcast from 2:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. during the 2011 calendar year.

This time, ABC picked up a total of 56 nominations with PBS closing in behind with 51. "General Hospital," which will live to see its 50th anniversary, received 23 nominations. "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" each picked up 11.

The ceremony paid tribute to "All My Children," which ended its nearly 42-year run on ABC on Sept. 23 last year and "One Life to Live," the second ABC daytime drama cancelled last year.