Realism the Focus of Nominees for Annual SAG Picks

Gritty, realistic films and television programs dominated as “Nixon,” “Dead Man Walking” and “Leaving Las Vegas” topped the film portion of the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations announced Thursday, while “E.R.” and “NYPD Blue” led the TV pack.

The only individuals nominated twice were Anjelica Huston, cited for her supporting role in the film “The Crossing Guard” and for a lead role in the TV movie “Buffalo Girls,” and Sela Ward, for her roles in the series “Sisters” and the TV movie “Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story.”

A minor controversy arose when Joan Allen, who played Pat Nixon in “Nixon,” was nominated for outstanding performance in a leading role. Her publicist, Simon Halls, said her role was clearly supporting and that she would have stood a better chance of winning in that category.

Allen was named best supporting actress by the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. and the National Society of Film Critics. Halls called her submission as lead actor by Disney’s Hollywood Pictures, which released “Nixon,” a “clerical error.”

Disney officials did not return phone calls by press time.

The 84,000-member guild will vote on the nominees and the winners will be announced in an NBC live broadcast Feb. 24, which will also honor Robert Redford with the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award.

The nominations include:

* Outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role: Nicolas Cage (“Leaving Las Vegas”), Anthony Hopkins (“Nixon”), James Earl Jones (“ Cry the Beloved Country”), Sean Penn (“Dead Man Walking”), Massimo Troisi (“The Postman/Il Postino”).

* Outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role: Joan Allen (“Nixon”), Susan Sarandon (“Dead Man Walking”), Elisabeth Shue (“Leaving Las Vegas”), Meryl Streep (“The Bridges of Madison County”), Emma Thompson (“Sense and Sensibility”).

* Outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role: Kevin Bacon (“Murder in the First”), Kenneth Branagh (“Othello”), Don Cheadle (“Devil in a Blue Dress”), Ed Harris (“Apollo 13”), Kevin Spacey (“The Usual Suspects”).

* Outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role: Stockard Channing (“Smoke”), Anjelica Huston (“The Crossing Guard”), Mira Sorvino (“Mighty Aphrodite”), Mare Winningham (“Georgia”), Kate Winslet (“Sense and Sensibility”).

* Outstanding performance by a cast in a theatrical motion picture: “Apollo 13,” “Get Shorty,” “How to Make an American Quilt,” “Nixon” and “Sense and Sensibility.”

* Outstanding performance by a male actor in a television movie or miniseries: Alec Baldwin (“A Streetcar Named Desire”), Laurence Fishburne (“The Tuskegee Airmen”), James Garner (“The Rockford Files”), Tommy Lee Jones (“The Good Old Boys”), Gary Sinise (“Truman”).

* Outstanding performance by a female actor in a television movie or miniseries: Glenn Close (“Serving in Silence”), Sally Field (“A Woman of Independent Means”), Anjelica Huston (“Buffalo Girls”), Sela Ward (“Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story”), Alfre Woodard (“The Piano Lesson, Hallmark Hall of Fame.”).

* Outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series: George Clooney (“E.R.”), David Duchovny ( “The X-Files”), Anthony Edwards (“E.R.”), Dennis Franz (“NYPD Blue”), Jimmy Smits (“NYPD Blue”).

* Outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series: Gillian Anderson (“The X-Files”), Christine Lahti (“Chicago Hope”), Sharon Lawrence (“NYPD Blue”), Julianna Margulies ( “E.R.”), Sela Ward (“Sisters).

* Outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy series: Jason Alexander (“Seinfeld”), Kelsey Grammar (“Frasier”), David Hyde-Pierce (“Frasier”), Paul Reiser (“Mad About You”), Michael Richards (“Seinfeld”).

* Outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series: Christine Baranski (“Cybill”), Candice Bergen (“Murphy Brown”), Helen Hunt (“Mad About You”), Lisa Kudrow (“Friends”), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Seinfeld”).

* Outstanding ensemble performance in a drama series: The casts of: “Chicago Hope,” “E.R.,” “Law and Order,” “NYPD Blue,” “Picket Fences.”

* Outstanding ensemble performance in a comedy series: “Cybill,” “Frasier,” “Friends,” “Mad About You,” “Seinfeld.”