Supporting Actors Tomei, Hackman Win

The 65th annual Academy Awards got off to a surprising start Monday night when the best supporting actress award was presented to Marisa Tomei for her role in the lighthearted “My Cousin Vinny.”

Gene Hackman won the best supporting actor award for his role as a sadistic sheriff in the Western, “Unforgiven.”

Tomei, a newcomer to films, was competing against four veteran actresses: Judy Davis in “Husbands and Wives,” Joan Plowright in “Enchanted April,” Vanessa Redgrave in “Howards End” and Miranda Richardson in “Damage.”

Hackman’s award, which many had predicted, came out of a field of nominees that included Jaye Davidson in “The Crying Game,” Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men,” Al Pacino in “Glengarry Glen Ross” and David Paymer in “Mr. Saturday Night.” As the Oscar show unfolded at the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Clint Eastwood’s brooding Western “Unforgiven” was bidding for the top Oscars in competition with the sexually provocative “The Crying Game” and stately “Howards End.”

Eastwood, a Hollywood icon who had never even been nominated for an Academy Award before this year, had a chance to score an unprecedented triple: as star, director and producer of the best picture.

Many observers, however, believed Al Pacino, as the misanthropic blind veteran in “Scent of a Woman,” would edge out Eastwood as best actor. Pacino, one of the industry’s most respected performers, has never won an Oscar despite being nominated six other times.

But it was best-picture nominee “The Crying Game,” an Irish-made tale of terrorism and sexual ambiguity, that attracted the most pre-Oscar discussion because of its graphic style and plot surprises.

The family saga “Howards End” also was in the running for best picture. The adaptation of an E.M. Forster story displayed the kind of meticulous filmmaking Academy voters have often rewarded. Others competing for best film were “Scent of a Woman” and Rob Reiner’s military courtroom drama, “A Few Good Men.”

Going into the ceremony, “Howards End” and “Unforgiven” led the nominations with nine apiece, followed by “The Crying Game” with six and the animated “Aladdin” with five.

Among best actor nominees, only Denzel Washington, star of Spike Lee’s epic “Malcolm X,” has won before. Also in the running were Robert Downey Jr., who played film legend Charlie Chaplin in “Chaplin,” and Stephen Rea, the disillusioned Irish Republican Army member in “The Crying Game.”

Besides Thompson, the woman most often cited as a contender for best actress was Susan Sarandon, who played the devoted mother of an ailing child in “Lorenzo’s Oil.” Others nominated were Michelle Pfeiffer, a JFK-obsessed housewife in “Love Field”; Mary McDonnell, the paralyzed soap diva of “Passion Fish,” and French star Catherine Deneuve, a plantation owner in “Indochine.”

“Unforgiven,” which would become just the third Western to win the Oscar for best picture, also received nominations for original screenplay, art direction, cinematography, film editing and sound.

Show producer Gil Cates recruited many former Oscar winners as presenters, including Barbra Streisand, Anthony Hopkins, Anjelica Huston, Joe Pesci, Jack Nicholson, Washington, Jane Fonda, Liza Minnelli, Kathy Bates, Jody Foster, Jack Palance, Whoopi Goldberg and Geena Davis.

Billy Crystal was enlisted as emcee for the fourth time.

The ceremonies featured one of the few posthumous awards in Academy history. Audrey Hepburn, who died of cancer earlier this year, was honored with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her efforts as UNICEF’s ambassador to the world’s children. Gregory Peck, co-star of her award-winning “Roman Holiday,” made the presentation of the award to her son, Sean Ferrer.

Angela Lansbury was the presenter of the Hersholt Award to Elizabeth Taylor, cited for her crusading efforts in the AIDS crisis. The two actresses appeared together in 1945’s “National Velvet,” when both were contract players at MGM.

Italian director Federico Fellini was another honorary award winner at this year’s event, chosen for “his cinematic accomplishments that have thrilled and entertained worldwide audiences.”

His attendance was questionable because of ill health, but Fellini finally announced he would fly from Rome. His presenters were two other Italian greats, Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.

The theme of the telecast was “Oscar Salutes Women and the Movies” and it featured a film, assembled by documentary maker Lynn Littman, depicting women in various industry roles.

Winners were selected by the 4,649 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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