Brandon Sun
Bugsy tops list of Oscar nominations
February 19, 1992
Respected Canadian actress Kate Nelligan won an Oscar nomination today for best supporting actress for her portrayal of an ambitious southern matriarch in the f i lm the Prince of Tides.
Bugsy, Wa r r en Beatty’s icy look at an equally c h a rmi ng and deadly mobster, collected a leading 10 nominations for the 64th a n n u al Academy Awards.
The film was nominated for best picture and actor for Beatty and received two supporting actor selections for Ben Kingsley and Harvey Keitel.
Beauty and the Beast, the animated classic story from Disney about love conquering all, became the first animated film in Oscar history to be nominated for best picture.
The other nominations for best picture were JFK, The Prince of Tides and the psychological thriller The Silence of the Lambs.
Joining Beatty in the best actor competition were Robert De Niro for Cape Fear, Anthony Hopkins from The Silence of the Lambs, Nick Nolte in The Prince of Tides and Robin Williams in The Fisher King.
Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, the two stars of the female b u d dy p i c t u re T h e l ma a nd Louise, were both best actress nominees. Also nominated were Laura Dern f r om R a m b l i ng Rose, Jodi Foster for The Silence of the Lambs and in a mild surprise, Bette Midler from the commercially unsuccessful For the Boys.
Among films with the highest n o m i n a t i o n s, J FK collected eight, followed by seven each for The Prince of Tides and The Silence of the Lambs.
Oscar polls close March 24 for the Ac ademy’s 4,900 voting members. The awards ceremony March 30 at the Los Angeles Music Centre will be hosted by comedian Billy Crystal and carried live by ABC.
Nelligan, 40, was born in London, Ont., but left Canada in her teens to study acting in England. Prince of Tides director Barbra Streisand was originally looking for two actresses to play the part of Lila Wingo, who ages in the film from her 20s to her 70s.
But she c o u l d n ‘t f i nd two women of d i f f e r e nt ages whc could pull it o f f, so she hired Nelligan to age half a c e n t u ry as the emotionally crippled, controlling wife of a South Carolina shrimper.
Dern’s mother, Diane Ladd, was also nominated for best supporting actress for Ramblin Rose, the f i r st t ime a mother and daughter h a ve been n omi n a t ed in the same year.
Other supporting actress nominees were Juliette Lewis for Cape Fear, Mercedes Ruehl for The Fisher King and Jessica Tandy from Fried Green Tomatoes.
Competing against Keitel and Kingsley for best s u p p o r t i ng actor will be Tommy Lee Jones f r om JFK, M i c h a el Lerner of Barton F i nk and Jack Palance from City Slickers.
J o hn Singleton, who directed Boyz N the Hood at age 23, became the youngest director to be nominated. Other best director nominees were Barry Levinson for B u g s y, Oliver Stone for JFK, R i d l ey Scott for Thelma and Louise and J o n a t h an Demme for The Silence of the Lambs.
