‘PURPLE,’ 11; ‘AFRICA,” 11; SPIELBERG, 0

As expected, Steven Spielberg’s “The Color Purple” and Sydney Pollack’s “Out of Africa” dominated the 1985 Academy Awards nominations, announced Wednesday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Each film received nominations in 11 categories, including that of best picture.

But in a list laced with modest surprises, there was one shocking omission: Spielberg himself was not nominated as best director.

Only one other time in Oscar history has a director not gotten a nomination for a film that received more than 10 other nominations (Sam Wood was overlooked for the 1942 “Pride of the Yankees,” which also had 11 nominations).

The snub, if that’s what it is, comes from Spielberg’s director colleagues. The nominations are made in each category by the appropriate branch of the academy.

Spielberg, Pollack and 79-year-old John Huston, who directed the dark gangster comedy “Prizzi’s Honor,” were regarded as sure bets for director nominations, especially after being nominated last week, along with Peter Weir (“Witness”) and Ron Howard (“Cocoon”), for the Directors Guild of America award.

The DGA membership is comprised largely of TV directors and production people. The directors branch of the academy, a fraction of the size of the 7,800-member DGA, is restricted to feature film directors. Though the academy nominations often mirror the DGA’s, this year there were two departures.

The academy’s directors excluded Howard, as well as Spielberg, from their final slate and instead selected Japan’s 76-year-old Japanese master Akira Kurosawa (“Ran”) and Brazil’s Hector Babenco (“Kiss of the Spider Woman”).

Besides “The Color Purple” and “Out of Africa,” the best picture nominees were “Witness,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “Prizzi’s Honor.”

“Witness” and “Prizzi’s Honor” each had eight nominations, “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” four.

There were a few surprises in the acting categories, as well, notably the inclusion of James Garner (“Murphy’s Romance”), for a performance that received very little Oscar support from its releasing studio, Columbia Pictures, and Jon Voight (“Runaway Train”), considered a long shot even though his performance was trumpeted almost daily in Hollywood trade-paper ads taken out by Cannon Films. Eric Roberts’ nomination as best supporting actor for “Runaway Train” was an even bigger surprise than Voight’s.

Jack Nicholson, who played the dim love-struck hit man in “Prizzi’s Honor,” was nominated as best actor, along with William Hurt, the transvestite who falls in love with his cell mate in “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” and Harrison Ford, the Philadelphia cop who follows a murder witness into Amish country and finds romance in “Witness.”

This is Nicholson’s eighth Oscar nomination (he has won twice). It is Voight’s third (he won once). The other best actor nominees are on their maiden voyage to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, where the winners will be announced March 24 in a show that will be broadcast live by ABC-TV beginning at 6 p.m., PST.

The best actress nominees announced were:

Meryl Streep (her sixth nomination; she’s won twice), as the Dutch author Isak Dinesen who struggles through physical hardships and an ill-fated affair in “Out of Africa.”

Whoopi Goldberg, for her debut film performance as a woman whose emotional growth is traced from her impoverished, brutalized childhood in the rural South in “The Color Purple.”

Jessica Lange (her fourth nomination; she’s won once), for her portrayal of country singing legend Patsy Cline in “Sweet Dreams.”

Geraldine Page (her eighth nomination; she’s never won), who reprised the role played by Lillian Gish in the original Horton Foote TV drama “The Trip to Bountiful,” about an elderly woman’s journey to her childhood home.

Anne Bancroft (her fifth nomination; she’s won once), who plays the rigid Mother Superior of a convent in “Agnes of God.”

The biggest surprise in the category was the omission of Cher, who was considered one of the favorites for her performance as the mother of a deformed son in “Mask.” Eric Stoltz who played the deformed boy, Rocky Dennis, was also overlooked in the voting for best supporting actor.

In fact, “Mask,” released early in 1985, received only one nomination, for makeup.

Other supporting actor nominees were Don Ameche, one of the old folks rejuvenated in the alien-enriched waters of a neighbor’s pool in “Cocoon”; Klaus Maria Brandauer, Isak Dinesen’s philandering husband in “Out of Africa”; William Hickey, the gnarly godfather in “Prizzi’s Honor,” and Robert Loggia, the foul-mouthed detective who aids lawyer Glenn Close in “Jagged Edge.”

Anjelica Huston, who has won two previous critics awards for her role as Nicholson’s vengeful ex-girlfriend in “Prizzi’s Honor,” and Meg Tilly, the troubled nun accused of murdering her baby in “Agnes of God,” were expected nominees in the supporting actress category.

Their competition on the final Oscar ballot will be Amy Madigan, the unforgiving daughter of a broken marriage in “Twice in a Lifetime,” and two of the women from “The Color Purple”--Oprah Winfrey, a Chicago TV talk show host making her film debut as the strong-willed Sofia, and Margaret Avery, who played the blues-singer Shug Avery.

Among the studios, Universal was the biggest winner Wednesday, edging out Warner Bros. and Columbia in total nominations, 18 to those studios’ 13. Universal’s totals included the 11 for “Out of Africa,” four for “Back to the Future,” one for “Mask,” and two for “Brazil,” the film that was the subject of a bitter months-long feud between director Terry Gilliam and Universal.

“Brazil,” which was released in late December after winning three major awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn., was nominated for its art direction and its screenplay, co-written by Gilliam, Tom Stoppard and Charles McKeown.

The academy spread its nominations far and wide this year, even anointing “Rambo: First Blood Part II” with one for sound effects editing.

But, by a wide margin, the most stunning news of the day was the absence of Spielberg, who had been nominated three times before without winning, from the list of director nominees.

Warner Bros. released a statement later in the day, thanking the academy for the 11 nominations accorded “The Color Purple,” and expressing “shock and dismay that the movie’s primary creative force . . . was not recognized.”

The ballots, reflecting Wednesday’s nominations, will be mailed to the 4,000-plus members of the academy March 8; the polls will close March 18.

T he list of nominees announced Wednesday for the 58th annual Academy Awards:

Picture: “The Color Purple”; “Kiss of the Spider Woman”; “Out of Africa”; “Prizzi’s Honor”; “Witness.”

Actor: Harrison Ford, “Witness”; James Garner, “Murphy’s Romance”; William Hurt, “Kiss of the Spider Woman”; Jack Nicholson, “Prizzi’s Honor”; Jon Voight, “Runaway Train.”

Actress: Anne Bancroft, “Agnes of God”; Whoopi Goldberg, “The Color Purple”; Jessica Lange, “Sweet Dreams”; Geraldine Page, “The Trip to Bountiful”; Meryl Streep, “Out of Africa.”

Supporting Actor: Don Ameche, “Cocoon”; Klaus Maria Brandauer, “Out of Africa”; William Hickey, “Prizzi’s Honor”; Robert Loggia, “Jagged Edge”; Eric Roberts, “Runaway Train.”

Supporting Actress: Margaret Avery, “The Color Purple”; Anjelica Huston, “Prizzi’s Honor”; Amy Madigan, “Twice in a Lifetime”; Meg Tilly, “Agnes of God”; Oprah Winfrey, “The Color Purple.”

Director: Hector Babenco, “Kiss of the Spider Woman”; Sydney Pollack, “Out of Africa”; John Huston, “Prizzi’s Honor”; Akira Kurosawa, “Ran”; Peter Weir, “Witness.”

Foreign-Language Film: “Angry Harvest” (West Germany); “Colonel Redl,” (Hungary); “The Official Story” (Argentina); “3 Men and a Cradle” (France); “When Father Was Away on Business” (Yugoslavia).

Original Score: Georges Delerue, “Agnes of God”; Quincy Jones, Jeremy Lubbock, Rod Temperton, Caiphus Semenya, Andrae Crouch, Chris Boardman, Jorge Calandrelli, Joel Rosenbaum, Fred Steiner, Jack Hayes, Jerry Hey and Randy Kerber, “The Color Purple”; John Barry, “Out of Africa”; Bruce Broughton, “Silverado”; Maurice Jarre, “Witness.”

Original Song: “Miss Celie’s Blues (Sister)” (“The Color Purple”); “Power of Love” (“Back to the Future”); “Say You, Say Me” (“White Nights”); “Separate Lives” (“White Nights”); “Surprise, Surprise” (“A Chorus Line”).

Original Screenplay: Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, “Back to the Future”; Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard and Charles McKeown, “Brazil”; Luis Puenzo and Aida Bortnik, “The Official Story”; Woody Allen, “The Purple Rose of Cairo”; William Kelley, Pamela Wallace and Earl W. Wallace, “Witness.”

Screenplay adaptation: “The Color Purple,” Menno Meyjes; “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” Leonard Schrader; “Out of Africa,” Kurt Luedtke; “Prizzi’s Honor,” Richard Condon, Janet Roach; “The Trip to Bountiful,” Horton Foote.

Cinematography: Allen Daviau, “The Color Purple”; William A. Fraker, “Murphy’s Romance”; David Watkin, “Out of Africa”; Takao Saito, Masaharu Ueda and Asakazu Nakai, “Ran”; John Seale, “Witness.”

Art Direction: Norman Garwood and Maggie Gray, “Brazil”; J. Michael Riva and Linda De Scenna, “The Color Purple”; Stephen Grimes and Josie MacAvin, “Out of Africa”; Yoshiro Muraki and Shinobu Muraki “Ran”; Stan Jolley and John Anderson, “Witness.”

Costume Design: Aggie Guerard Rodgers, “The Color Purple”; Albert Wolsky, “The Journey of Natty Gann”; Milena Canonero, “Out of Africa”; Donfeld,”Prizzi’s Honor”; Emi Wada, “Ran.”

Film Editing: John Bloom, “A Chorus Line”; Fredric Steinkamp, William Steinkamp, Pembroke Herring and Sheldon Kahn, “Out of Africa”; Rudi Fehr and Kaja Fehr, “Prizzi’s Honor”; Henry Richardson, “Runaway Train”; Thom Noble, “Witness.”

Sound: Bill Varney, B. Tennyson Sebastian II, Robert Thirlwell and William B. Kaplan, “Back to the Future”; Donald O. Mitchell, Michael Minkler, Gerry Humphreys and Chris Newman, “A Chorus Line”; Les Fresholtz, Dick Alexander, Vern Poore and Bud Alper, “Ladyhawke”; Chris Jenkins, Gary Alexander, Larry Stensvold and Peter Handford, “Out of Africa”; Donald O. Mitchell, Rick Kline, Kevin O’Connell and David Ronne, “Silverado.”

Sound-Effects Editing: Charles L. Campbell and Robert Rutledge, “Back to the Future”; Bob Henderson and Alan Murray, “Ladyhawke”; Frederick J. Brown, “Rambo: First Blood Part II.”

Visual Effects: Ken Ralston, Ralph McQuarrie, Scott Farrar and David Berry, “Cocoon”; Will Vinton, Ian Wingrove, Zoran Perisic and Michael Lloyd, “Return to Oz”; Dennis Muren, Kit West, John Ellis and Daivd Allen, “Young Sherlock Holmes.”

Make-up: Ken Chase, “The Color Purple”; Michael Westmore and Zoltan, “Mask”; Carl Fullerton, “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins.”

Documentary, Feature: Maria Florio and Victoria Mudd, “Broken Rainbow,” Earthworks Films; Susana Munoz and Lourdes Portillo, “Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo,” Film Arts Foundation; Japhet Asher, “Soldiers in Hiding,” Filmworks; Ken Burns and Buddy Squires, “The Statue of Liberty,” Florentine Films; Stephen Okazaki, “Unfinished Business,” Mouchette Films.

Documentary, Short Subject: Robert Gardner, “The Courage to Care,” United Way; Michael Crowley and James Wolpaw, “Keats and His Nightingale: A Blind Date,” Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities; Barbara Willis Sweete, “Making Overtures--The Story of a Community Orchestra,” Rhombus Media; David Goodman, “Witness to War: Dr. Charlie Clements,” Skylight Pictures; Alan Edelstein, “The Wizard of the Strings,” Seventh Hour Productions.

Animated Short Film: Cilia Van Dijk, “Anna & Bella”; Richard Condie and Michael Scott, “The Big Snit”; Alison Snowden, “Second Class Mail.”

Live-Action Short Film: Dianna Costello, “Graffiti”; Jeff Brown, “Molly’s Pilgrim”; Bob Rogers, “Rainbow War.”