‘Godfather’ Wins 7 Golden Globe Nominations : Awards: Foreign press recognizes ‘Dances With Wolves’ and ‘L.A. Law’ but ignores ‘Civil War’ and ‘Simpsons.’

Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather Part III,” Kevin Costner’s “Dances With Wolves” and such mass-appeal hits as “Dick Tracy,” “Ghost” and “Pretty Woman” led the nominations for the annual Golden Globe Awards for motion pictures announced Thursday morning in Beverly Hills.

Although the nominations were widely spread among 32 movies, it was “Godfather Part III,” with nods in seven categories, that topped the list.

On the television side, NBC’s “L.A. Law” led with five nominations, while ABC’s “Twin Peaks”--which was mostly snubbed by the TV industry’s Emmy Awards--took four. The widely acclaimed “The Civil War” received no nominations because there is no documentary category, a Golden Globes spokesman said. And Fox Television’s highly popular “The Simpsons” was shut out completely.

The Golden Globes are regarded by some in the entertainment industry as a weather vane for the Oscars, even though there are only 86 voting members in the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., the Globes’ governing body. The Golden Globes will be awarded on Jan. 19, during a telecast by Turner Broadcasting System. (The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Academy Award nominations are due Feb. 13 and will be presented March 25.)

The 86 members representing 46 countries, also nominated “Dances With Wolves” in six categories, “GoodFellas” in five and “Dick Tracy,” “Ghost,” “Pretty Woman” and “Reversal of Fortune” in four each.

Warner Bros., which released “Reversal of Fortune” and “GoodFellas,” led motion picture distribution companies with 12 nominations. Walt Disney Pictures, which released “Dick Tracy” and “Pretty Woman,” and Paramount Pictures, which released “Godfather III” and “Ghost,” shared 11 nominations each for a second-place tie.

The strong showing by Martin Scorsese’s “GoodFellas,” follows its double victory earlier this month among the Los Angeles and New York film critics groups as best picture. That factor, plus the even stronger showings in the Globe contest for best movie drama by “Godfather III” and “Dances With Wolves,” is sure to draw attention to that Globe category as an Oscar indicator. Also nominated in that category are “Reversal of Fortune” and “Avalon.”

The tightness of the dramatic film competition is further seen in the best-director category. With the exception of Barry Levinson’s work for his personal story of an immigrant family in “Avalon,” the four other nominees for best motion picture--drama all received nominations for their directors: Coppola, Costner, Scorsese and Barbet Schroeder for “Reversal of Fortune.” The fifth nominee for best director is Bernardo Bertolucci for “The Sheltering Sky.”

Coppola’s widely awaited “Godfather” sequel to the first two Oscar-winning films, garnered nominations for himself as director and as co-writer of the screenplay with Mario Puzo. Al Pacino, who portrays godfather Michael Corleone, was nominated for best actor, and Andy Garcia, who has won rave reviews for his performance as Corleone’s nephew and godfather successor, was nominated for best supporting actor.

The large showing by “Godfather III” comes following a special screening that Paramount Pictures set up for members of the foreign press on Dec. 12 in Westwood, hours before the rest of the media was allowed to see the film. Coppola himself attended the foreign press showing.

“Dances With Wolves,” Costner’s frontier epic about native Americans, earned him nominations for best actor and best director, plus a supporting actress nomination for Mary McDonnell as the Sioux-raised woman who serves as a bridge between Costner and the Indians.

Pacino is in the unusual situation of being nominated not only for best actor as the Mafia chieftain, but also in the supporting actor category for his underworld comic role in “Dick Tracy.”

Besides Pacino and Costner, the other nominees for best actor in a drama are Richard Harris for “The Field,” Jeremy Irons for “Reversal of Fortune” and Robin Williams for “Awakenings.” Williams’ “Awakenings” co-star, Robert De Niro, was overlooked. De Niro, also was ignored for his starring role in “GoodFellas,” as was another highly praised performance in that film by Ray Liotta.

Best actress nominees for a dramatic film are Kathy Bates in “Misery,” Anjelica Huston in “The Grifters,” Michelle Pfeiffer in “The Russia House,” Susan Sarandon in “White Palace” and Joanne Woodward for “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge.”

In the musical or comedy category for best picture, the nominees include some of the biggest grossing films of the year, “Ghost,” “Pretty Woman,” “Home Alone” and “Dick Tracy,” as well as the just-released “Green Card.” None of the year’s action/tough-guy pictures, such as “Rocky V,” “Total Recall” or “Die Hard 2,” showed up among the Globe nominations.

In the competition for best actor in a musical or comedy, 10-year-old Macaulay Culkin, the besieged kid in “Home Alone,” is pitted against such major names as Gerard Depardieu in “Green Card,” Johnny Depp in “Edward Scissorhands,” Richard Gere in “Pretty Woman” and Patrick Swayze in “Ghost.”

In the television competition, Roseanne Barr, whose top-rated TV series “Roseanne” was ignored in the Emmys, was nominated for best actress in a musical or comedy series and her co-star John Goodman also received a nod.

In network competition, NBC led with 22 nominations, ABC 19, CBS 14 and Fox 2.

The complete list of Golden Globe nominations follows:

Movies

Best motion picture, drama: “Avalon,” “Dances With Wolves,” “The Godfather Part III,” “GoodFellas,” “Reversal of Fortune.”

Best actress, drama: Kathy Bates, “Misery”; Anjelica Huston, “The Grifters”; Michelle Pfeiffer, “The Russia House”; Susan Sarandon, “White Palace”; Joanne Woodward, “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge.”

Best actor, drama: Kevin Costner, “Dances With Wolves”; Richard Harris, “The Field”; Jeremy Irons, “Reversal of Fortune”; Al Pacino, “The Godfather Part III”; Robin Williams, “Awakenings.”

Best motion picture, musical/comedy: “Dick Tracy,” “Ghost,” “Green Card,” “Home Alone,” “Pretty Woman.”

Best actress, musical/comedy: Mia Farrow, “Alice”; Andie MacDowell, “Green Card”; Demi Moore, “Ghost”; Julia Roberts, “Pretty Woman”; Meryl Streep, “Postcards From the Edge.”

Best actor, musical/comedy: Macaulay Culkin, “Home Alone”; Gerard Depardieu, “Green Card”; Johnny Depp, “Edward Scissorhands”; Richard Gere, “Pretty Woman”; Patrick Swayze, “Ghost.”

Best foreign-language film: “Cyrano de Bergerac” (France); “Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams” (Japan); “The Nasty Girl” (Germany); “Requiem for Dominic” (Austria); “Taxi Blues” (Soviet Union).

Best supporting actress: Lorraine Bracco, “GoodFellas”; Whoopi Goldberg, “Ghost”; Diane Ladd, “Wild at Heart”; Shirley MacLaine, “Postcards From the Edge”; Mary McDonnell, “Dances With Wolves”; Winona Ryder, “Mermaids.”

Best supporting actor: Armand Assante, “Q & A”; Bruce Davison, “Longtime Companion”; Hector Elizondo, “Pretty Woman”; Andy Garcia, “The Godfather Part III”; Al Pacino, “Dick Tracy”; Joe Pesci, “GoodFellas.”

Best director: Bernardo Bertolucci, “The Sheltering Sky”; Francis Ford Coppola, “The Godfather Part III”; Kevin Costner, “Dances With Wolves”; Barbet Schroeder, “Reversal of Fortune”; Martin Scorsese, “GoodFellas.”

Best screenplay: Michael Blake, “Dances With Wolves”; Nicholas Kazan, “Reversal of Fortune”; Barry Levinson, “Avalon”; Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese, “GoodFellas”; Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, “The Godfather Part III.”

Best original score: Randy Newman, “Avalon”; John Barry, “Dances With Wolves”; Carmine Coppola, “The Godfather Part III”; Dave Grusin, “Havana”; Ryuichi Sakamoto and original North African music by Richard Horowitz, “The Sheltering Sky.”

Best song: “Blaze of Glory” (from Young Guns II”); “I’m Checking Out” (from “Postcards From the Edge”); “Promise Me You’ll Remember” (from “The Godfather Part III”); “Sooner or Later” (from “Dick Tracy”); “What Can You Lose?” (from “Dick Tracy”).

Television

Best series, drama: “China Beach,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “L.A. Law,” “thirtysomething,” “Twin Peaks.”

Best actress, drama: Dana Delany, “China Beach”; Susan Dey, “L.A. Law”; Jill Eikenberry, “L.A. Law”; Sharon Gless, “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill”; Angela Lansbury, “Murder, She Wrote”; Patricia Wettig, “thirtysomething.”

Best actor, drama: Scott Bakula, “Quantum Leap”; Peter Falk, “Saturday Night Mystery Series”; James Earl Jones, “Gabriel’s Fire”: Kyle MacLachlan, “Twin Peaks”; Carroll O’Connor, “In the Heat of the Night.”

Best series, musical/comedy: “Cheers,” “Designing Women,” “The Golden Girls,” “Married . . . With Children,” “Murphy Brown.”

Best actress, musical/comedy: Kirstie Alley, “Cheers”; Roseanne Barr, “Roseanne”; Candice Bergen, “Murphy Brown”: Carol Burnett, “Carol & Company”: Katey Sagal, “Married . . . With Children.”

Best actor, musical/comedy: Ted Danson, “Cheers”; John Goodman, “Roseanne”; Richard Mulligan, “Empty Nest”: Burt Reynolds, “Evening Shade”; Fred Savage, “The Wonder Years.”

Best miniseries/TV movie: “Caroline?,” “Decoration Day,” “Family of Spies,” “The Kennedys of Massachusetts,” “The Phantom of the Opera.”

Best actress, miniseries/TV movie: Barbara Hershey, “A Killing in a Small Town”; Annette O’Toole, “The Kennedys of Massachusetts”; Lesley Ann Warren, “Family of Spies”; Stephanie Zimbalist, “Caroline?”

Best actor, miniseries/TV movie: Steven Bauer, “Drug Wars: The Camarena Story”: Michael Caine, “Jekyll & Hyde”; James Garner, “Decoration Day”; Tom Hulce, “Murder in Mississippi”; Burt Lancaster, “The Phantom of the Opera”; Rick Schroder, “The Stranger Within.”

Best supporting actress, series/miniseries/TV movie: Sherilyn Fenn, “Twin Peaks”; Faith Ford, “Murphy Brown”; Marg Helgenberger, “China Beach”; Piper Laurie, “Twin Peaks”; Park Overall, “Empty Nest.”

Best supporting actor, series/miniseries/TV movie: Charles Durning, “The Kennedys of Massachusetts;” Barry Miller, “Equal Justice”; Jimmy Smits, “L.A. Law”; Dean Stockwell, “Quantum Leap”; Blair Underwood, “L.A. Law.”

Times staff writers Elaine Dutka and Diane Haithman contributed to this report.