The Associated Press
Ron Howard accepts his Oscar for best director for his work on "A Beautiful Mind" during the 74th annual Academy Awards on Sunday. The movie also won best picture.

The Associated Press
Host Whoopi Goldberg gives her opening monologue at the Academy Awards. It is the fourth time the Oscar-winning actress has hosted the event.

A 'Beautiful' night

Academy Awards honor 'Mind,' Washington, Berry

DAVID GERMAIN, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published Monday, March 25, 2002

LOS ANGELES -- Halle Berry and Denzel Washington became just the second and third blacks to win Academy Awards on Sunday for lead roles, while "A Beautiful Mind" took top honors as best picture.

"A Beautiful Mind," which also won best director for Ron Howard, tied with "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" with four Oscars total.

Berry was the first black actress to earn an Academy Award in a lead role, for her portrayal of a death-row widow involved with her husband's executioner in "Monster's Ball." Washington, playing a corrupt cop in "Training Day," became the second black to win best actor.

They joined Sidney Poitier, who received the best-actor Oscar for 1963's "Lilies of the Field" and received a career-achievement award Sunday.

"Oh, my God," Berry said, sobbing and gasping in between words. "I'm sorry. This moment is so much bigger than me. This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. ... It's for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened."

Berry's acceptance speech ran about three minutes.

"It's been 74 years, I've got to take this time," said Berry, referring to the number of years that the Oscars have been presented.

"Two birds in one night," joked Washington, a past supporting-actor winner for "Glory."

"Forty years I've been chasing Sidney. They finally give it to me, and they give it to him the same night," he added, referring to Poitier's honorary Oscar.

Stand-by-your-spouse roles earned supporting-performance Oscars for Jim Broadbent of "Iris" and Jennifer Connelly of "A Beautiful Mind."

Broadbent took the supporting-actor Oscar for his role as the befuddled but doting husband of Alzheimer's-afflicted writer Iris Murdoch, and Connelly won the supporting-actress honor as the steadfast wife of delusional math genius John Nash.

"By some beautiful twist of fate I've landed in this vocation that demands that I feel and helps me to learn," said Connelly, who played the mathematician's wife, Alicia. "I believe in love, that there's nothing more important. Alicia Nash is a true champion of love, and so thank you to her for her example."

Broadbent thanked Murdoch's husband, John Bayley, "who allowed us to plunder and I'm sure misrepresent his life with Iris."

"A Beautiful Mind" also earned the adapted-screenplay award for Akiva Goldsman.

"I am terrified," Goldsman told the audience, after a long, falsetto laugh. "I would like to thank John and Alicia Nash for their extraordinary courage and for entrusting us with their lives."

Julian Fellowes took the original-screenplay honor for "Gosford Park," directed by Robert Altman.

"My thanks start with the great Robert Altman, who's given me the biggest break in movies since Lana Turner walked into Schwab's," Fellowes said.

"Shrek," the hip twist on cartoon fairy tales that featured the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz, won the first-ever Oscar for animated feature film.

"Thank you, members of the academy for inviting us to the party by creating this animated category to begin with," said Aron Warner, producer of the computer-animated film.

After 15 Oscar losses over the years for song or score, Randy Newman finally won for best song, "If I Didn't Have You," from "Monsters, Inc."

"I don't want your pity," Newman cracked. "I want to thank first of all the music branch for giving me so many chances to be humiliated over the years."

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," the adaptation of part one of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy epic, "Fellowship of the Ring," won best score for Howard Shore and the cinematography, visual effects and makeup Oscars.

Other awards went to "Black Hawk Down" for film editing and sound, "Pearl Harbor" for sound editing and "Moulin Rouge" for costume design and art direction, two Oscars shared by Catherine Martin, wife of "Moulin Rouge" director Baz Luhrmann, who was snubbed for a best-directing nomination.

"It was your vision. This is your Oscar, Baz," Martin said to her husband as she accepted the costume-design award.

The surprise foreign film award winner was Bosnia's "No Man's Land," writer-director Danis Tanovic's satiric story of a Bosnian soldier and a Serbian soldier stuck together in a trench. France's "Amelie," which had five nominations, was expected to win.

Along with Poitier, Robert Redford received an honorary Oscar for career achievement.

Opening the show, Tom Cruise took a moment to mention the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying he talked with a friend about whether his work as an actor was important in light of the tragedy.

"What about a night like tonight? Should we celebrate the joy and magic movies bring? Dare I say it? More than ever," Cruise said, drawing enthusiastic applause. "A small scene, a gesture, even a glance between characters can cross lines, break through barriers, melt prejudice or just plain make us laugh."

Viewers were treated to a standup routine by past Oscar winner Woody Allen, who introduced a tribute to films shot in New York City as a way to mark the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center.

When the academy called to invite him, Allen joked he thought officials wanted his Oscars back. "I panicked because the pawn shop has been out of business for ages. I had no way of retrieving anything," Allen said.

The tribute was made by filmmaker Nora Ephron. It began with the opening of Allen's "Manhattan" and included clips from "Taxi Driver," "Working Girl," "Tootsie," "The French Connection," "The Apartment," "On the Waterfront" and other films.

Later, in introducing the annual retrospective of the Hollywood notables who died in the past year, Kevin Spacey asked everyone to rise for a moment of silence "for every single American hero who gave his or her life on Sept. 11."

Oscar host Whoopi Goldberg made a grand entrance from the ceiling, lowered on a trapeze to the theater floor in a spoof of Nicole Kidman's first appearance in best-picture nominee "Moulin Rouge."

Dressed in a gaudy, glittering outfit, Goldberg told the audience, "I am the original sexy beast," referring to "Sexy Beast," the film that earned Ben Kingsley a supporting-actor nomination.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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