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13 films that swept acting nomations

This year, the movies "In the Bedroom" and "Iris," with three acting nominations apiece, account for six of the 20 Academy Award nominations in acting categories.

"In the Bedroom" and "Iris" serve the kind of acting feast that Oscar loves to honor. But they're hardly unique.

Since 1936, when the first Academy Awards were presented in supporting acting categories, 13 movies have received Oscar nominations in all four acting categories: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

A look at the 13 movies:

- "My Man Godfrey" (1936) William Powell (Actor); Carole Lombard (Actress); Mischa Auer (Supporting Actor); Alice Brady (Supporting Actress).

In this classic screwball comedy, a dizzy debutante hires a derelict as the family butler and then falls in love with him. Powell, Lombard and Auer never won an Oscar. Alice Brady would win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1937 as Mrs. O'Leary in "In Old Chicago."

- "Mrs. Miniver" (1942) Walter Pidgeon (Actor); Greer Garson (Actress, winner); Henry Travers (Supporting Actor); Dame May Whitty (Supporting Actress); Teresa Wright (Supporting Actress, winner).

This shameless piece of World War II propaganda from MGM appealed to wartime audiences. Nominated for 12 Oscars, it won six. That same year, Wright was nominated for Best Actress, for "Pride of the Yankees," but lost in that category. Pidgeon, Travers and Whitty never won.

- "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1943) Gary Cooper (Actor); Ingrid Bergman (Actress); Akim Tamiroff (Supporting Actor); Katina Paxinou (Supporting Actress, winner).

This version of the Ernest Hemingway novel about the Spanish Civil War was one of the highest-grossing films of the 1940s. Cooper took home Oscars twice, for "Sergeant York" (1941) and "High Noon" (1952). Bergman won for "Gaslight" (1944), "Anastasia" (1956) and "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974 Supporting Actress). Tamiroff never won.

- "Johnny Belinda" (1948) Lew Ayres (Actor); Jane Wyman (Actress, winner); Charles Bickford (Supporting Actor); Agnes Moorehead (Supporting Actress).

Wyman took home the Oscar playing a deaf-mute woman who is raped, has a baby boy and then has to fight for custody of the child against the man who raped her. Her co-stars never won.

- "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) William Holden (Actor); Gloria Swanson (Actress); Erich Von Stroheim (Supporting Actor); Nancy Olson (Supporting Actress).

This macabre slice of Hollywood ranks No. 12 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest American movies. Bette Davis in "All About Eve" and Swanson both gave brilliant performances, split the vote, and saw Judy Holliday take home the prize for "Born Yesterday." Holden would win for "Stalag 17" (1953). Swanson, Von Stroheim and Olson never won.

- "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) Marlon Brando (Actor); Vivien Leigh (Actress, winner); Karl Malden (Supporting Actor, winner); Kim Hunter (Supporting Actress, winner).

No. 45 on the AFI list, this powerful adaptation of the Tennessee Williams classic bowdlerized the play's original ending, but the acting is perfection. Brando - the definitive Stanley Kowalski - lost to Humphrey Bogart in "The African Queen" but later won for "On the Waterfront" (1954) and "The Godfather" (1972). Leigh had won previously for "Gone with the Wind" (1939).

- "From Here to Eternity" (1953) Montgomery Clift (Actor); Burt Lancaster (Actor); Deborah Kerr (Actress); Frank Sinatra (Supporting Actor, winner); Donna Reed (Supporting Actress, winner).

This unforgettable version of the James Jones novel has a classic steamy love scene on the beach; its other climax is the attack on Pearl Harbor. Nominated for 13 Oscars, it won eight. It ranks No. 52 on the AFI list. Lancaster would win for "Elmer Gantry" (1960). Clift and Kerr are among the most deserving performers who never won.

- "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966) Richard Burton (Actor); Elizabeth Taylor (Actress, winner); George Segal (Supporting Actor); Sandy Dennis (Supporting Actress, winner).

This stunning adaptation of the Edward Albee play broke down the barriers to profane language on the screen. Taylor already had an Oscar for "Butterfield 8" (1960). Burton and Segal never won.

- "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967) Spencer Tracy (Actor); Katharine Hepburn (Actress, winner); Cecil Kellaway (Supporting Actor); Beah Richards (Supporting Actress).

No. 99 on the AFI list, it's the last of the nine Tracy-Hepburn collaborations; although Sidney Poitier also starred in "In the Heat of the Night" that year, he was nominated for neither movie. Tracy had Oscars for "Captains Courageous" (1937) and "Boys Town" (1938). Hepburn won three other Best Actress Oscars, for "Morning Glory" (1932-33), "The Lion in Winter" (1968) and "On Golden Pond" (1981). Kellaway and Richards never won.

- "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) Warren Beatty (Actor); Faye Dunaway (Actress); Gene Hackman (Supporting Actor); Michael J. Pollard (Supporting Actor); Estelle Parsons (Supporting Actress, winner).

This Depression-era gangster movie opened the floodgates to movie violence; it's No. 27 on AFI list. Beatty never won an acting Oscar; Dunaway would win for "Network" (1976). Hackman would win for "The French Connection" (1971) and "Unforgiven" (1992 Supporting Actor). Pollard has never won.

- "Network" (1976) Peter Finch (Actor, winner); William Holden (Actor); Faye Dunaway (Actress, winner); Ned Beatty (Supporting Actor); Beatrice Straight (Supporting Actress, winner).

This satire of network TV and ratings, with its catch-phrase "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" ranks No. 66 on the AFI list. Finch won the first posthumous acting Oscar; he literally died while campaigning for it. Beatty has never won.

- "Coming Home" (1978) Jon Voight (Actor, winner); Jane Fonda (Actress, winner); Bruce Dern (Supporting Actor); Penelope Milford (Supporting Actress).

This drama about how the Vietnam War affected veterans and the women who loved them won Fonda her second Oscar (after "Klute" in 1971). Voight is up for Best Supporting Actor this year in "Ali." Dern and Milford have never won.

"Reds" (1981) Warren Beatty (Actor); Diane Keaton (Actress); Jack Nicholson (Supporting Actor); Maureen Stapleton (Supporting Actress, winner). Keaton had won for "Annie Hall" (1977). Beatty won Best Director for "Reds" but has never won Best Actor. Nicholson has three acting Oscars, for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975), "Terms of Endearment" (1983 Supporting Actor) and "As Good As It Gets" (1998).

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com)



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