Lauren Bacall, Madonna Win Golden Globe Awards

Film legend Lauren Bacall, who plays the possessive mother of Barbra Streisand in “The Mirror Has Two Faces,” joined singer Madonna and actor Tom Cruise in winning Golden Globe awards for their film performances.

Madonna, star of the film “Evita,” received the Golden Globe Award for best actress in a musical or comedy motion picture, and Tom Cruise, star of the film “Jerry Maguire,” received the Golden Globe Award for best actor in the same category.

Milos Forman won a Golden Globe as director of the film “The People vs. Larry Flynt.”

“I’m in a state of shock,” Bacall told the crowd that had gathered at the Beverly Hilton for the 54th Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. ceremony to hand out the 24 awards. “This is the first time I’ve been nominated for an award in any role.”

Bacall, an acclaimed actress since her movie debut at age 19 with future husband Humphrey Bogart, came to the microphone to a standing ovation and waved her award for best supporting actress aloft to cheers.

She thanked presenter Jeff Bridges, another star in “The Mirror Has Two Faces,” and especially Streisand, “without whom the picture would not have been made.”

Bacall then said: “It’s taken a long time to get here and I’m not giving it [the Golden Globe] back.”

“Last time I got a cigar from Mel. This is better,” Forman told the audience as he took the award from presenter Mel Gibson, who won it last year for directing “Braveheart.”

Edward Norton won best supporting actor for his role as the manipulative killer in the feature film “Primal Fear.” He came to the stage declaring, “It puts me on the floor to be included with the other nominees”--Paul Scofield, James Woods, Samuel L. Jackson and Cuba Gooding Jr.

NBC-TV’s “3rd Rock From the Sun” won for top television musical or comedy series.

John Lithgow received the Golden Globe for best actor in the musical or comedy TV series category for “3rd Rock From the Sun,” and Helen Hunt was the top female star in that category for “Mad About You.”

Among the evening’s first winners were Ian McKellen, who played Tsar Nicholas II in “Rasputin,” for best supporting actor in a miniseries or a motion picture made for television. “Rasputin” also won as best miniseries or motion picture made for television.

Kathy Bates won for best supporting actress in a miniseries or a motion picture made for television for her role in “The Late Shift.”

The Golden Globe Awards, which often presage the Oscars, launched the movie awards season Sunday with a strong emphasis on foreign films and works by American independents.

Receiving the most nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. was “The English Patient,” the critically acclaimed, British drama which garnered seven mentions.

Three of the five nominees for best actress in a drama came from abroad: Brenda Blethyn for “Secrets and Lies,” Kristin Scott-Thomas for “The English Patient” and Emily Watson for “Breaking the Waves.”

Australia’s Geoffrey Rush, the mentally disturbed pianist in “Shine,” was favored for best actor in a drama. Ralph Fiennes for “The English Patient” and Liam Neeson for “Michael Collins” were also in the running in that category.

“This is overwhelming. I feel drunk, really,” said Scott-Thomas as she talked with reporters outside the Beverly Hilton just before the ceremonies began.

“The English Patient” drew honors early in the evening when Gabriel Yared won the Golden Globe Award for best original score in a motion picture.

After years of struggling for respect because of charges of voting corruption, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. finally achieved a degree of respectability last year with a prime-time TV broadcast of its awards ceremony.

Sunday’s show on NBC added new stature, despite this year’s appearance of a competing foreign press association which bestowed its own awards.

The newcomer, the International Press Academy, handed out the Golden Satellite Awards last Wednesday.

Those honors went to “Fargo” as best drama, its star Frances McDormand as dramatic actress, and Joel Coen was honored for directing. Geoffrey Rush of “Shine” and James Woods of “Killer: A Journal of Murder” tied for best dramatic actor.

This year’s three-hour Globes show in Beverly Hills was to deviate from the usual -- and often boring -- guest host or hosts.

Presenters were scheduled to do their own hosting, and they were some of the biggest names in film and television. Among them were Mel Gibson, Melanie Griffith, Holly Hunter, Liam Neeson, Lauren Bacall, Antonio Banderas, Nicolas Cage, Tom Cruise, Faye Dunaway, Sharon Stone, John Travolta and others.

One award was announced before Sunday’s ceremony: Dustin Hoffman, the Cecil B. DeMille award for service to the cinema.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.’s primetime network deal may have earned more money for the group, but it has also robbed the Golden Globes of some of the spontaneity and fun of earlier, non-network days.

Off-color remarks often added spice to the dinner. Robin Williams once expressed his gratitude for an award by grabbing his crotch. Then there was the time Mike Connors of “Mannix” lost the award for best actor in a TV drama. He threw dinner rolls at the winner.