Oscar (The Rascal!)

CBSNews.com's Ellen Crean has the skinny on Tinsel Town's big night.

This year, you're reading a lot about the fact that three African Americans are nominated in the major acting categories. Also, John Nash and the makers of "A Beautiful Mind" are fending off a barrel of nasty accusations. Nash has been labeled an anti-Semite and the filmmakers have been accused of covering up his alleged homosexuality and adultery to avoid tarnishing box-office potential.

But even that could fall by the wayside in a moment on Sunday night's telecast if someone wears a particularly daring gown, or if someone makes a particularly controversial political statement, or even if someone trips on his or her way to the podium.

For the first time since 1960, the big show takes place in Hollywood itself, inside the spanking new, 3,100-seat Kodak Theatre. Security (in this post-Sept. 11 world) will be the tightest in Oscar history. Fans who traditionally camped out for bleacher seats near the red carpet had to formally apply and undergo background checks.

"A Beautiful Mind" chronicles Nobel winner Nash's battle against schizophrenia. Its uplifting message of love conquers all - even mental illness - seems a sure-fire bet for Oscar gold. The charge of anti-Semitism reared its head in recent weeks and might have had serious repercussions in an industry with a strong Jewish presence. Nash, 77, personally rejected the charges on CBS News' 60 Minutes.

At a recent Beverly Hills luncheon, Ron Howard, the movie's Oscar-nominated director, said he took the attacks personally, which surely resonated with Oscar voters who saw him grow up in the business, as a kid actor on "The Andy Griffith Show" then on 1970s sitcom "Happy Days."

Australian-raised actor Russell Crowe, who plays Nash, is hoping for a second consecutive best actor Oscar, a feat previously accomplished by only Tom Hanks and Spencer Tracy.

But a big question is whether hard-driving Crowe committed Oscar suicide last month when he savaged a BBC producer for cutting out a poem he read when accepting the British Academy Film Award for best actor. The outburst seemed to confirm industry gossip about Crowe's reputation for loutish behavior.

Crowe is up against Denzel Washington, who is acting against type in a bravado performance as a corrupt cop in "Training Day," Will Smith in "Ali," Sean Penn in "I Am Sam," and the understated Tom Wilkinson in "In the Bedroom." Wilkinson recently told The Early Show that he has not pinned his hopes on an Oscar win. "I'm happy that the film has done well," he said, "and people have been kind about what I do, and what everybody else does in the film, and that's good. Anything else is a nice bonus."

Washington, a leading African-American actor, won a best supporting actor Oscar for 1989's "Glory." Insiders think he may win this year for a body of work that includes 1992's "Malcolm X" and 1999's "The Hurricane." If he does, he will be the first African American to claim the best actor Oscar since Sidney Poitier in 1963's "Lilies of the Field."

Likewise, among actresses, a win by Halle Berry as a waitress in "Monster's Ball" would make her the first African American woman ever to claim best actress honors. Whoopi Goldberg and Hattie McDaniel earned supporting actress Oscars. (Incidentally, Goldberg, who won the Academy Award in 1990 for her performance in "Ghost," will be host of the Oscar telecast this year - her fourth time.)

Only two weeks ago, Sissy Spacek, playing a grieving mom in "In the Bedroom," was the clear front-runner for best actress, having raked in the lion's share of pre-Oscar honors. She has been nominated four times before this, and won for her performance as country singer Loretta Lynn in "Coal Miner's Daughter."

Still, Spacek told CBS News Sunday Morning, Oscar nominations never become mundane: "After your first nomination, it changes your entire career, because it gives you credibility," she explains. "And it's daunting… With that, comes responsibility – and sheer terror."

But Berry has surprised Oscar watchers this year with best female actor honors from the Screen Actors Guild, and in five of seven years, the SAG winner has also claimed the Oscar.

Nicole Kidman has an outside chance as the nightclub singer Satine in "Moulin Rouge," and farther back are Renee Zellweger in "Bridget Jones's Diary" and Dame Judi Dench for "Iris." But Dench, who is 67, recently told 60 Minutes, "[Winning awards counts] if you're [in your] 20s and 30s and perhaps early 40s. But after that, it becomes difficult to cast you."

In the supporting actor category, Sir Ian McKellen is favored to win for his role as the wizard Gandalf in "The Lord of the Rings." Even so, he told 60 Minutes II, that he does not consider himself part of Hollywood's inner circle. "It's lovely to join in. But I do feel I'm an outsider who's been allowed inside. Of course, it's very alluring when your friends turn out to be Tom Hanks and Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. People who you wouldn't normally think of yourself as being an equal of."

McKellen is up against Jim Broadbent ("Iris"), Ethan Hawke ("Training Day"), Ben Kingsley ("Sexy Beast"), and Jon Voight ("Ali").

Among the nominated supporting actresses, Jennifer Connelly of "A Beautiful Mind" is the favored one. Her competition: Helen Mirren ("Gosford Park"), Marisa Tomei ("In The Bedroom"), Kate Winslet ("Iris") and Maggie Smith ("Gosford Park").

True Oscar fans have already taken note of the robust competition in the major categories. But even Laura Ziskin, the Oscar show's producer, admits that there's no telling whether the big night will be a big deal or a big dud.

Says she, "The show is made or broken by the winners and what they say or do. I can do everything right, and if they're not interesting or come with their laundry list of 'thank yous,' then the show will be boring."