‘Fourth,’ ‘Harry/Sally,’ ‘Glory’ Lead Globes Nods

“Born on the Fourth of July,” “Glory,” and “When Harry Met Sally” --with five nominations each--were the clear favorites this year among the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., which announced the nominees for its annual Golden Globe Awards Wednesday morning in Beverly Hills.

Following close behind with four nominations each were ‘Dead Poets Society,” “Do the Right Thing” (tapped by the L.A. Film Critics as the year’s best picture), and Disney’s animated fairy tale, “The Little Mermaid.” On the television side, NBC’s “L.A. Law” walked away with eight nominations, while NBC’s “Cheers” received four, and ABC’s “thirtysomething”--which won last year’s Golden Globe Award for best dramatic series--earned three.

The most popular TV miniseries or made for TV movies were “Lonesome Dove,” with four nominations, and “Roe vs. Wade,” with three.

The Golden Globe Awards, which will be handed out Jan. 20, often provide a good indicator of what direction the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will take in awarding its coveted Oscars each year. In the past 11 years, eight Golden Globe winners in the dramatic film category--including last year’s winner, “Rain Man”--went on to win Academy Awards for best picture.

The 84 Hollywood-based foreign reporters who voted did shut out a handful of films considered possible Oscar candidates, including two Holocaust-themed films, “Triumph of the Spirit” and “Enemies, a Love Story,” whose director Paul Mazursky was named the year’s best director last week by the New York Film Critics Cirle; Kenneth Branagh’s widely acclaimed “Henry V,” and Phil Alden Robinson’s baseball fantasy, “Field of Dreams.” The latter omission is not surprising because, as a rule, baseball films are rarely popular overseas--”Field of Dreams” was no exception at the foreign box office.

The Golden Globe nominees for best dramatic picture were “Born on the Fourth of July,” in which Tom Cruise portrays Vietnam vet Ron Kovic; Woody Allen’s morality play, “Crimes and Misdemeanors”; “Dead Poets Society,” starring Robin Williams as a teacher who brings his iconoclastic style to a strict boys prep school; “Do the Right Thing,” Spike Lee’s controversial look at the makings of an urban race riot, and “Glory,” a Civil War film about the fate of an all-black regiment.

“Born on the Fourth of July” also earned a best actor nomination for Cruise, a best director nomination for Oliver Stone, a best screenplay nomination for Stone and Kovic (on whose life the film is based), and a best original score nomination for John Williams.

“Glory’s” other nominees included Denzel Washington for his supporting role; Edward Zwick for direction; Kevin Jarre for his screenplay and James Horner for his original score. Another star of “Glory,” Morgan Freeman, was overlooked for that film, but received a best actor nomination for his performance in “Driving Miss Daisy.”

The Golden Globe Awards touch a broader array of films than the Academy Awards because nominees are named in two separate motion-picture categories--drama and musical/comedy.

“When Harry Met Sally,” a best picture nominee in the musical/comedy category, also earned nominations for stars Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, director Rob Reiner and screenwriter Nora Ephron.

The other nominees for best musical/comedy were: “Driving Miss Daisy,” which also drew a best actress nomination for Jessica Tandy; “Shirley Valentine,” which garnered a best actress nomination for Pauline Collins; “The War of the Roses,” which brought nominations for co-stars Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas, and “The Little Mermaid,” which earned another three nominations for its music.

“My Left Foot,” the New York film critics’ choice as the year’s best picture, was ignored in the best dramatic picture category. But its star, Daniel Day-Lewis, was nominated for best actor in a dramatic film.

In addition to Cruise and Day-Lewis, the foreign reporters nominated Jack Lemmon (“Dad”); Al Pacino (“Sea of Love”), and Robin Williams (“Dead Poets Society”) in the best actor category for dramatic pictures.

The best actors nominated in the musical/comedy category were Crystal, Douglas, Freeman, Steve Martin (“Parenthood”) and Jack Nicholson (“Batman).

The best actress nominees in the dramatic category were Sally Field (“Steel Magnolias”); Jessica Lange (“Music Box”); Andie MacDowell (“sex, lies and videotape”); Michelle Pfeiffer (“The Fabulous Baker Boys”), and Liv Ullmann (“The Rose Garden.”)

Best actress nominees in the musical/comedy category were Collins, Ryan, Tandy, Turner and Meryl Streep (“She-Devil”).

The nominees:

FILM

Best motion picture--drama: “Born on the Fourth of July,” “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” “Dead Poets Society,” “Do the Right Thing,” “Glory.”

Best actress--drama: Sally Field, “Steel Magnolias”; Jessica Lange, “Music Box”; Andie MacDowell, “sex, lies and videotape”; Michelle Pfeiffer, “The Fabulous Baker Boys”; Liv Ullmann, “The Rose Garden.”

Best actor--drama: Tom Cruise, “Born on the Fourth of July”; Daniel Day-Lewis, “My Left Foot”; Jack Lemmon, “Dad”; Al Pacino, “Sea of Love”; Robin Williams, “Dead Poets Society.”

Best motion picture--musical/comedy: “Driving Miss Daisy,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Shirley Valentine,” “The War of the Roses,” “When Harry Met Sally.”

Best actress--musical/comedy: Pauline Collins, “Shirley Valentine”; Meg Ryan, “When Harry Met Sally”; Meryl Streep, “She-Devil”; Jessica Tandy, “Driving Miss Daisy”; Kathleen Turner, “The War of the Roses.”

Best actor--musical/comedy: Billy Crystal, “When Harry Met Sally”; Michael Douglas, “The War of the Roses”; Morgan Freeman, “Driving Miss Daisy’; Steve Martin, “Parenthood”; Jack Nicholson, “Batman.”

Best foreign-language film: “Camille Claudel” (France); “Cinema Paradiso” (Italy); “Jesus of Montreal” (Canada); “My Uncle’s Legacy” (Yugoslavia); “Story of Women” (France).

Best supporting actress: Bridget Fonda, “Scandal”; Brenda Fricker, “My Left Foot”; Julia Roberts, “Steel Magnolias”; Laura San Giacomo, “sex, lies and videotape”; Dianne Wiest, “Parenthood.”

Best supporting actor: Danny Aiello, “Do the Right Thing”; Marlon Brando, “A Dry White Season”; Sean Connery, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”; Ed Harris, “Jacknife”; Denzel Washington, “Glory”; Bruce Willis, “In Country.”

Best director: Spike Lee, “Do the Right Thing”; Rob Reiner, “When Harry Met Sally”; Oliver Stone, “Born on the Fourth of July”; Peter Weir, “Dead Poets Society”; Edward Zwick, “Glory.”

Best screenplay: Nora Ephron, “When Harry Met Sally”; Kevin Jarre, “Glory”; Spike Lee, “Do the Right Thing”; Tom Schulman, “Dead Poets Society”; Steven Soderbergh, “sex, lies and videotape”; Oliver Stone and Ron Kovic, “Born on the Fourth of July.”

Best original score: John Williams, “Born on the Fourth of July”; Ennio Morricone, “Casualties of War”; Dave Grusin, “The Fabulous Baker Boys”; James Horner, “Glory”; Alan Menken, “The Little Mermaid.”

Best song: “After All” (from “Chances Are”); “The Girl Who Used to Be Me” (from “Shirley Valentine”); “I Love to See You Smile” (from “Parenthood”); “Kiss the Girl” (from “The Little Mermaid”); “Under the Sea” (from “The Little Mermaid”).

TELEVISION

Best series--drama: “China Beach,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “L.A. Law,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “thirtysomething,” “Wiseguy.”

Best actress--drama: Dana Delaney, “China Beach”; Susan Dey, “L.A. Law”; Jill Eikenberry, “L.A. Law”; Mel Harris, “thirtysomething”; Angela Lansbury, “Murder, She Wrote.”

Best actor--drama: Corbin Bernsen, “L.A. Law”; Harry Hamlin, “L.A. Law”; Carroll O’Connor, “In the Heat of the Night”; Ken Olin, “thirtysomething”; Ken Wahl, “Wiseguy.”

Best series--musical/comedy: “Cheers,” “Designing Women,” “Empty Nest,” “The Golden Girls,” “Murphy Brown,” “The Wonder Years.”

Best actress--musical/comedy: Kirstie Alley, “Cheers”; Stephanie Beacham, “Sister Kate”; Candice Bergen, “Murphy Brown”; Jamie Lee Curtis, “Anything but Love”; Tracey Ullman, “The Tracey Ullman Show.”

Best actor--musical/comedy: Ted Danson, “Cheers”; John Goodman, “Roseanne”; Judd Hirsch, “Dear John”; Richard Mulligan, “Empty Nest”; Fred Savage, “The Wonder Years.”

Best miniseries/TV movie: “I Know My First Name Is Steven,” “Lonesome Dove,” “My Name Is Bill W.,” “Roe vs. Wade,” “Small Sacrifices.”

Best actress--miniseries/TV movie: Farrah Fawcett, “Small Sacrifices”; Holly Hunter, “Roe vs. Wade”; Christine Lahti, “No Place Like Home”; Jane Seymour, “War and Remembrance Part VIII-XII”; Loretta Young, “Lady in a Corner.”

Best actor--miniseries/TV movie: Robert Duvall, “Lonesome Dove”; John Gielgud, “War and Remembrance, Part VIII-XII”; Ben Kingsley, “Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story”; Lane Smith, “Final Days”; James Woods, “My Name Is Bill W.”

Best supporting actress--miniseries/TV movie: Anjelica Huston, “Lonesome Dove”; Amy Madigan, “Roe vs. Wade”; Rhea Perlman, “Cheers”; Susan Ruttan, “L.A. Law”; Julie Sommars, “Matlock.”

Best supporting actor--miniseries/TV movie: Christopher Burke, “Life Goes On”; Larry Drake, “L.A. Law”; Tommy Lee Jones, “Lonesome Dove”; Dean Stockwell, “Quantum Leap”; Michael Tucker “L.A. Law.”