Golden Globes: No Crystal Ball

They call them the prelude to the Oscars. Sunday night the big stars came out for the big party full of excitement and glee.

The Early Show's Mark McEwen reports about the glitz and glamour of the 57th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

And while the film won, no decisive front-runner emerged for the Academy awards. "There wasn't one clear-cut film that stood out," said American Beauty co-producer Bruce Cohen.

The Golden Globe winners often provide a good indicator of upcoming Oscar nominations, scheduled to be announced Feb. 15. This year the Golden Globes favored projects based on true stories.

Oscar winner Denzel Washington took great pride in winning best dramatic actor for his role as a boxer wrongly convicted of murder in The Hurricane.

"I may be wrong but I think I'm the first African-American to win for supporting actor and actor in a motion picture, I think. Somebody will call in and tell us if I'm wrong," he noted. He was accompanied to the stage at the Beverly Hilton hotel by the real Hurricane Carter.

Hilary Swank won dramatic actress honors for Boys Don't Cry, the reality-based story of a Nebraska teen-ager killed after her masquerade as a man was uncovered.

"It's amazing when you get recognition for your work in a movie that you're so proud to be a part of," Swank said. "It's a very important story, and it's just amazing to me that people are embracing it."

Jim Carrey was named best movie comedy actor for his uncanny impersonation of Andy Kaufman in the movie Man on the Moon. He also won a Globe last year for best dramatic actor in The Truman Show.

"I'm the Tom Hanks of the Golden Globes," he said with laughter. He was not only happy, he burst into song.

Angelina Jolie of Girl Interrupted and Tom Cruise of Magnolia won motion-picture supporting-actor honors.

"My first thought was, 'what?' I said, 'what?' I was, like, wow, wow, OK. There's always those moments that are fun and surreal and, you know, exciting, very exciting and I thought, well, I wish Nic was here," said Cruise, referring to Nicole Kidman, his wife.

Kidman is in Australia shooting a film, but, thanks to technology, they got to celebrate over the phone, and why shouldn't they?

If the Cruise from Risky Business could see the one acting in Magnolia, Cruise said he would have thought: "You've come a long way, baby. You know? That's about what I think he would say. It's been a long way, and I think, you know what? You never gave up. You never quit."

Halle Berry also won for best actress in a TV miniseries for Introducing Dorothy Dandidge, about the first black woman to be nominated for a best-actress Academy Award.

"People often say, well awards don't matter," she said. "It's the work, but on the flip side, the business side of it, it does matter and say, we welcome you and accept you and make you one of Hollywood."

"For 10 years I've worked so hard, and Dorothy never got that in her life, so it says that I'm a part - she's a part, that as a black woman in this industry, I've made a place for myself. And for every woman, black woman that follows behind me and I carry the ball that Dorothy passed to me. That's what this means to me," she added.

Janet McTeer, a British actress who played a Southern mom in Tumbleweeds, won best actress in a musical or comedy film.

Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar won the foreign language movie award for All About My Mother.

"I didn't prepare anything, and I don't speak English so it doesn't matter," a smiling Almodovar said. "Just look at me, and see how happy I am."

One that was surprised, more like shocked, was Sarah Jessica Parker.

"I've never won anything in my life," she said. Though she almost missed her opportunity to accept her award as best actress in HBO's Sex and the City, she was backstage during the CBS News interview.

Cable channel HBO dominated the television categories, winning eight of 11 awards. Sex and the City won best TV comedy. And virtually overlooked at the Emmys last year, The Sopranos was named best drama series. It also nabbed dramatic acting trophies for Edie Falco and James Gandolfini and supporting actress Nancy Marchand.

In addition, RKO 281 won as best miniseries or made for TV movie.

Michael J. Fox was named best comedy series actor for Spin City, which he is leaving as a result of his Parkinson's disease. (See the related story.) But he handled it lightly.

"Actor out of work - news at 11," Fox said.

Among other TV winners, Jack Lemmon was named best miniseries or TV movie actor for Showtime's Inherit the Wind, and Peter Fonda was best supporting actor for the Showtime miniseries Passion of Ayn Rand.

And Barbra Streisand, winner of more Golden Globe trophies than any other entertainer, including best actress for Funny Girl and A Star is Born, received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field."

The annual awards were selected by reporters from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

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©2000 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report