The epic six-hour miniseries was named Best Miniseries/Motion Picture Made for Television. Its competitors included "My House in Umbria" (HBO), "Normal" (HBO), "Soldier's Girl" (Showtime), and "Tennessee Williams' The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" (Showtime). “Angels in America” co-stars Meryl Streep, Jeffrey Wright, Mary Louise-Parker and Al Pacino were all awarded for their performances. In his acceptance speech Pacino acknowledged the work of both Ron Leibman and F. Murray Abraham who played the role of Roy Cohn on Broadway. Pacino portrayed Cohn, the lawyer dying of AIDS, in the HBO film.
Other winners of interest to theatregoers: Frances Conroy, a theatre veteran who has appeared on Broadway in The Little Foxes, Ring Round the Moon and The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, was named Best Actress in a Television Series/Drama for her work in the HBO funeral-parlor series “Six Feet Under”; and former Annie and Once Upon a Mattress star Sarah Jessica Parker was voted Best Actress in a Television Series/Musical or Comedy for the HBO series “Sex and the City,” which concludes its lengthy run this season.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" was named Best Motion Picture/Drama; the third part of the epic trilogy also picked up awards for Best Director/Motion Picture (Peter Jackson), Best Original Score (Howard Shore) and Best Original Song ( Shore, Fran Walsh and Annie Lennox for "Into the West"). Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation" was named Best Motion Picture/Musical or Comedy; the independent film also won awards for Best Screenplay/Motion Picture (Coppola) and Best Actor in a Motion Picture/Musical or Comedy (Bill Murray).
Produced by Dick Clark Productions, presenters for the awards ceremony included Tyra Banks, Jeff Bridges, Pierce Brosnan, Brittany Murphy, Mark Ruffalo, Molly Sims, Jennifer Anniston, Antonio Banderas, Jim Belushi, Ellen Burstyn, Jim Carrey, Kim Cattrall, Chris Cooper, Kristin Davis, Ellen DeGeneres, Josh Duhamel, Sarah Ferguson, Richard Gere, Melanie Griffith, Marg Helgenberger, Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman, Justin Kirk, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Lopez, Eva Mendes, Jack Nicholson, Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Keanu Reeves, Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon, Gwen Stefani, Meryl Streep, Uma Thurman, Robin Williams, Elijah Wood and Renee Zellweger.
The evening also included the presentation of the Cecil B. DeMille Award to Michael Douglas. Danny DeVito and Sharon Stone presented Douglas with the award for his “outstanding contribution to the entertainment field.” For a complete list of this year's winners, visit www.hfpa.org.
