Stage director Sam Mendes' Hollywood stock went up Jan. 23 when he won the Best Director Golden Globe Award for the 1999 picture, "American Beauty." The British Mendes directed the hit London and Broadway revival of Cabaret and was attached to the fall 1999 workshop of Stephen Sondheim's Wise Guys.

"American Beauty," the darkly comic vision of American suburbia, also won Best Picture (Drama) and Best Screenplay Golden Globes, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

When word came in fall 1999 that Wise Guys would not make a hoped-for commercial move, trade papers reported that Hollywood was thrilled: Hot director Mendes would be available to approach movie projects.

Janet McTeer, who won a Tony Award for A Doll's House, took home the Golden Globe for Best Actress (Musical or Comedy) for "Tumbleweeds."

Edie Falco, late of Broadway's Side Man, won as Best Actress (Drama) for TV's "The Sopranos."

Jack Lemmon won in the category of Best Actor, Miniseries or Movie Made for Television, for "Inherit the Win." He paid tribute to his co-star, the late George C. Scott.

Nancy Marchand, the regal actress who has starred in plays by A.R. Gurney, won in the category of Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie Made for Television, for "The Sopranos."

The awards honor films and TV programming and, in recent years, have been seen as the warmup for possible noms and wins in the Academy Awards.

-- By Kenneth Jones