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'Rings,' 'Translation' Rule the Globes

By Mark Armstrong

Sunday January 25, 2004 01:00 PM EST

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9 p.m.: Bill, Renee Score Globes
Bill Murray, Renee Zellweger, Diane Keaton and HBO's acclaimed miniseries "Angels in America" emerged as the big winners during the first hour of Sunday's 61st annual Golden Globe Awards.

Murray, a crowd favorite and Oscar front-runner for Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation," was named best actor in a musical or comedy. "You can all relax. I fired my agents a couple months ago," the star joked, before thanking Coppola "for writing a film that was so good that every actor in this room says, 'That lucky son of a bitch.' "

Keaton, meanwhile, scored best actress for "Something's Gotta Give," Tim Robbins picked up best supporting actor for Clint Eastwood's drama "Mystic River," and Zellweger was named best supporting actress -- her third win in four years -- for the Civil War romance "Cold Mountain" (which came into the evening with a leading eight nominations).

Zellweger thanked her costars, including nominee Nicole Kidman, saying, "It was a privilege to shovel out the barn with you."

But the biggest winner of the first hour was "Angels," the two-part HBO drama based on Tony Kushner's play about AIDS in the Reagan era that racked up three wins: best miniseries or TV movie, best actress for Meryl Streep and best supporting actor for Jeffrey Wright.

Among the night's surprises (aside from the censors missing Diane Keaton uttering "s--t" during her acceptance) was in the best TV comedy category, as BBC America's biting British import, "The Office," beat out such American faves as "Sex and the City" and "Will & Grace."

"I'm not from these parts," joked creator and star Ricky Gervais. "We're from England. A little place that ran the world before you."

Other winners from the first hour: Anthony LaPaglia was named best actor in a TV drama for CBS's "Without a Trace," Frances Conroy was named best actress in a TV drama for HBO's "Six Feet Under" and Sarah Jessica Parker picked up her fourth best comedic actress trophy in five years for "Sex and the City."

In keeping with the Globes' casual, waste-no-time approach, the celebs were barely seated when Robbins picked up his trophy for "Mystic River." He cracked, "Wow, we just sat down! Good thing about getting this early is I get to drink now."

Go to the winner's tally