Loser's Club

Russell Crowe did it with style and - apparently - good manners. So did Nicole Kidman, Sissy Spacek, Will Smith and an impressive list of other A-list Hollywood faces.

The achievement: being a good loser.

If you consider how elite even the loser's circle is at the Oscars, it's maybe understandable how so many managed to crack a smile as the coveted statue slipped away into other hands.

Some of Hollywood's most famous and powerful figures were on the loser's list Sunday night, forced to drift back to their limousines undeniably empty-handed.

Perhaps the biggest blowout of the night was "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring", the fantasy blockbuster tipped as one of the strongest contenders for best picture and nominated in 13 categories.

But all its hobbits, elves, trolls and wizards couldn't conjure up a major Oscar for "Rings", which ended up with a scant four awards in secondary categories as psycho-drama "A Beautiful Mind" walked away with top honors.

Voters also gave thumbs down to legendary director Robert Altman, who was up for an Oscar for "Gosford Park," an upstairs-downstairs costume piece skewering the British class system.

With a maverick reputation cemented by such classics as "MASH", "Nashville" and "The Player", the 77-year-old Altman has had wild ups and downs with Hollywood and a Best Director award would have been a perfect late career-capper.

But in the end former child star Ron Howard was given the best director nod for "Beautiful Mind," sending Altman home yet again without an Oscar to put on his mantelpiece.

Oscar hopes were dashed for actor Russell Crowe, who came into Sunday's award ceremony hoping to join Tom Hanks and Spencer Tracy as one of the few male stars to win back-to-back in the best actor category following his swaggering victory last year for "Gladiator."

Crowe's portrayal of troubled math genius John Nash in "A Beautiful Mind" won critical raves and stoked the buzz surrounding him as one of Hollywood's hottest celebrities, but in the end the hulking Australian-raised actor was left to stand and applaud with the rest of the audience as Denzel Washington grabbed the prize.

Losing was in the cards for two of the film industry's most respected female stars as Nicole Kidman and Sissy Spacek were passed over in the best actress category.

Kidman, who played a consumptive chanteuse in the wild musical "Moulin Rouge", was seen as having an outside chance at the top award - which would have crowned a year of personal woes and professional triumph as her career took off just as she broke up with husband Tom Cruise.

Spacek, the kind of serious, cerebral actress that Hollywood loves to love, was also seen as tight in the running with her portrayal of a tortured mother in the family tragedy "In the Bedroom."

But in the end the crown went to Halle Berry, who made history as the first black woman to win the best actress Oscar for her role in "Monster's Ball."

Several of Britain's best-loved actors - who often clean up at the Oscars - were sent home empty-handed this year.

Sir Ian McKellen, tipped as the front-runner for his role as the wizard Gandalf in "Rings", did not have enough magic to win the award, which went to fellow Brit Jim Broadbent for his portrayal of the husband of English writer Iris Murdoch in "Iris".

And Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench never made it to the stage.

The foreign language film category also delivered a nasty surprise to front-runner "Amelie", a romantic French confection which many critics expected to win.

But the Oscar voters turned up their collective nose at Amelie's gallic charm and went to "No-Man's Land" - a grim tragedy about the devastation and futility of Bosnia's civil war.

Overall, Amelie proved to be one of the weakest performers of the night, failing to win a single award despite five nominations - a depressing 0-5 showing matched by "In the Bedroom."

"Gosford Park" fared only slightly better with one Oscar out of seven nominations.

Despite the waves of loss washing over the audience at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre, the high-wattage smiles were undimmed as the film industry's great and not-so-great headed home after yet another Oscar ceremony that stretched into the wee hours of the night.

And many of the losers could take consolation that most of America went to bed long before their humiliation made it to the television screen.