Globes Favor <i>American Beauty</i>

American Beauty, a dark satire of suburbia and family dysfunction, received six Golden Globe nominations Monday to lead all film contenders.

The Insider, based on the true story of tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wygand, and The Talented Mr. Ripley, a tale of a high society murder plot, were right behind with five nominations each.

American Beauty received nominations for dramatic picture, dramatic actress for Annette Bening, dramatic actor for Kevin Spacey, director for Sam Mendes, screenwriter for Alan Ball and score for Thomas Newman.

The Insider was nominated for dramatic picture, dramatic actor for Russell Crowe, director for Michael Mann, screenplay by Mann and Eric Roth and best score by Lisa Gerraro and Pieter Bourke.

The Talented Mr. Ripley was also nominated for dramatic picture, dramatic actor for Matt Damon, supporting actor for Jude Law, director for Anthony Minghella and score for Gabriel Yared.

The other nominees for dramatic picture were The End of the Affair and The Hurricane.

Perennial award nominee Tom Hanks was shut out for a widely acclaimed performance as a death row prison guard in The Green Mile. The film received only one nomination, for supporting actor for Michael Clarke Duncan.

The nominations for motion picture musical or comedy were Analyze This, Being John Malkovich, Man on the Moon, Notting Hill, and Toy Story 2.

Though chosen by the relatively small Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which has about 100 members, the Golden Globes often serve as a predictor for the Academy Awards in March. Saving Private Ryan and Shakespeare in Love, the eventual Oscar winner, each walked away with Golden Globes for best picture in the last awards.

The Golden Globes will air on NBC on Jan. 23.

Other nominees for dramatic actress were Julianne Moore for The End of the Affair, Meryl Streep for Music of the Heart, Hilary Swank for Boys Don't Cry, and Sigourney Weaver for A Map of the World.

The other nominees for dramatic actor were Richard Farnsworth for The Straight Story and Denzel Washington for The Hurricane.

Jim Carrey, who won as dramatic actor a year ago, was nominated for his role as the late comic Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon. The other nominees were Robert De Niro for Analyze This, Rupert Everett for An Ideal Husband, Hugh Grant for Notting Hill, and Sean Penn for Sweet and Lowdown.

Nominees for musical or comedy actress were Janet McTeer for Tumbleweeds, Julianne Moore for An Ideal Husband, Julia Roberts for Notting Hill, Sharon Stone for The Muse, and Reese Witherspoon for Election.

The nominations, announced at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, were also given out in 11 television categories.

he nominees for dramatic TV series were ER, Once and Again, The Practice, The Sopranos, and The West Wing.

Nominees for musical or comedy TV series were Ally McBeal, Dharma & Greg, Sex and the City, Spin City, and Will & Grace.

HBO had the most TV nominations with 18, followed by ABC with 14, NBC with 11 and CBS with seven.

Written by David Germain