Hackman, Connelly take supporting-actor honors

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Gene Hackman of "The Royal Tenenbaums" and Jennifer Connelly of "A Beautiful Mind" won supporting-actor honors Saturday at the first American Film Institute Awards.

Hackman won the non-lead actor honor for his role as an outcast patriarch who weasels his way back into the dysfunctional family he abandoned years earlier in "The Royal Tenenbaums."

Connelly won for her role as the conflicted wife of schizophrenic math genius John Nash (Russell Crowe) in "A Beautiful Mind," directed by Ron Howard.

Many nominees turned out for the awards show, but there were plenty of no-shows, including Hackman, Connelly and James Gandolfini, who won best actor on a TV series for "The Sopranos."

"Sopranos" co-star Edie Falco won the best TV series actress honor. The show also won for best drama series.

"Thanks for watching the show, which we love probably more than you guys," Falco said.

The AFI Awards included nominees in 12 movie and seven television categories.

In other early awards, Jeffrey Wright won the best actor award in a TV movie or miniseries as Martin Luther King Jr. in "Boycott." Judy Davis took the best actress honor in a TV movie or miniseries as Judy Garland in "Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows."

Garland's daughter, Lorna Luft, accepted the award on Davis' behalf.

"I would like to thank Judy Davis for her extraordinary courage, her exceptional talent and her love of my mother's memory," said Luft, a producer on the miniseries.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" won honors for digital effects and production design.

The military thriller "Black Hawk Down" and the stark family drama "In the Bedroom" led the crowded lineup of movie contenders for the AFI Awards. The movies had five nominations each, including best-picture honors.

Six other movies were right behind with four nominations apiece.

The new show is the first big ceremony of Hollywood's long awards season. The Golden Globes take place Jan. 20, actor and director guilds give out their awards in March and the Oscars cap things off March 24.

Besides "Black Hawk Down" and "In the Bedroom," nominees for movie of the year were "A Beautiful Mind," "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Man Who Wasn't There," "Memento," "Monster's Ball," "Moulin Rouge," "Mulholland Drive" and "Shrek."

"Black Hawk Down," a dramatization of a doomed American military operation in Somalia, also had nominations for director Ridley Scott and for cinematographer, editor and production designer.

"In the Bedroom," a low-budget independent film about a grieving husband and wife who turn to vengeance, earned lead-acting nominations for Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson, a directing nod for Todd Field and a screenwriting nod for Field and collaborator Rob Festinger.

Other best-actor contenders were Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind"; Billy Bob Thornton as a blackmailing barber in "The Man Who Wasn't There"; and Denzel Washington as a corrupt cop in "Training Day."

For best-actress, Spacek was up against Halle Berry as a death-row widow in "Monster's Ball"; Stockard Channing as a frazzled corporate leader in "The Business of Strangers"; and Naomi Watts as a delusional actress in "Mulholland Drive."

Nominees were chosen by two 13-member committees -- one each for movies and television -- which included AFI trustees, industry professionals, film and TV scholars, and critics. Winners were picked by a 100-member jury of industry insiders.

AFI, best known for its lists ranking all-time top American films or screen stars, provides industry training, holds film screenings and conducts movie-preservation efforts.