Newman Gets 7th Chance; Will He Finally Get Oscar? : Nominated for ‘Color of Money’

Paul Newman, who last week compared his bad luck with the Academy Awards to unsuccessfully courting a beautiful lady, will get another chance this year. Newman, who has been nominated six times but has never won, today was nominated as best actor for a seventh time, for his work in “The Color of Money.”

The 62-year-old star, who was first nominated for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” in 1958, said in London last week that his affair with the Oscar was “like chasing a beautiful woman for 80 years. Finally, she relents and you say, ‘I am terribly sorry. I am tired.’ ”

Newman’s nomination, announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is his second as pool shark Fast Eddie Felson. Newman played Eddie as a revved-up punk in Robert Rossen’s 1961 “The Hustler,” and returned for the sequel 25 years later, playing Eddie as a middle-aged liquor salesman reliving his past through a protege.

Most insiders rank Newman and England’s Bob Hoskins, who was nominated for “Mona Lisa,” as this year’s favorites to take the Oscar. The other actor nominees are William Hurt (“Children of a Lesser God”), Dexter Gordon (“‘Round Midnight”), and James Woods (“Salvador”).

‘Platoon’ and ‘Room’

In a day with few surprises, Oliver Stone’s “Platoon,” a gritty anti-war film about an American combat unit in Vietnam, and James Ivory’s “A Room With a View,” adapted from E. M. Forster’s novel about romance and manners in Edwardian England, led the way with eight nominations each.

The films were both among the best picture nominees--with Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters,” Randa Haines’ “Children of a Lesser God,” and Roland Joffe’s “The Mission”--and Stone and Ivory made the final five on the best director ballot.

Allen and Joffe also won nominations for directing, and Haines, who would have been the only American woman director ever nominated, was overlooked for David Lynch, the lone nominee from the controversial mystery “Blue Velvet.”

“Blue Velvet” received no other nominations.

“Hannah and Her Sisters,” “The Mission” and “Aliens” each received seven nominations.

Role of Call Girl

Jane Fonda also received her seventh career best actress nomination, this one for her performance as a boozy call girl in Sidney Lumet’s “The Morning After.” The other best actress nominees are Marlee Matlin (“Children of a Lesser God”), Sissy Spacek (“Crimes of the Heart”), Kathleen Turner (“Peggy Sue Got Married”) and Sigourney Weaver (“Aliens”).

Weaver is the first actress in the history of the Oscars to be nominated for the lead performance in an action-adventure or horror film.

The day’s biggest winner was Stone, who received three nominations in all--one for directing “Platoon,” and one each for the screenplays for “Platoon” and “Salvador.”

Woody Allen was the only other multiple nominee. Allen received a writer’s nomination to go with his director’s nomination for “Hannah and Her Sisters.”

Best Supporting Actress

Dianne Wiest, who swept the major critics’ awards as best supporting actress for “Hannah and Her Sisters,” showed up on the academy’s ballot as well. The other best supporting actress nominees: Tess Harper (“Crimes of the Heart”), Piper Laurie (“Children of a Lesser God”), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (“The Color of Money”) and Maggie Smith (“A Room With a View”).

The best supporting actor nominees are Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe (“Platoon”), Michael Caine (“Hannah and Her Sisters”), Denholm Elliott (“A Room with a View”) and Dennis Hopper (“Hoosiers”).