by Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Six decades after Hattie McDaniel broke the Oscar color barrier in Gone with the Wind, black performers have largely remained token fixtures at the Academy Awards -- until now.
Denzel Washington, Will Smith and Halle Berry are all candidates for the film industry's highest honors, marking the first time since 1973 that three African Americans were nominated for lead roles and the first instance ever of two blacks being nominated for best actor in the same year.
"I don't really know how it will transform the industry, but ... it (may) instill hope in other people of color," said Berry, nominated for best actress for the racially charged Monster's Ball, at an Oscar nominee lunch last week.
Industry observers, too, say it remains to be seen whether this year marks a turning point for African Americans in Hollywood. The fact that Washington, Smith and Berry are already A-list stars in their own right is a measure of the strides minorities have made on the big screen.
Yet, meaty, dramatic roles in mass market films remain relatively scarce for minorities and women, accounting for the paucity of racial diversity at Oscar time. In 74 years of Academy Award history, only 26 African Americans have been nominated for acting, starting with McDaniel for her supporting role as Mammy in the 1939 classic Gone with the Wind.
Only six, including McDaniel, have won. That's not counting the honorary Oscar bestowed on James Baskett in 1948 for playing Uncle Remus in Disney's Song of the South.
"The fact that Hattie McDaniel could win that year is pretty amazing. But it's just as astounding that there have been so few winners since," said George Alexander, author of an upcoming book about black filmmakers, "Why We Make Movies".
"We haven't, perhaps, progressed as far as one might think," he said.
Blacks have fared even less well behind the camera. Only one, John Singleton, has been nominated as best director, for Boys N the Hood, while Spike Lee, arguably the best known African American filmmaker, has received nominations only in the documentary and screenplay categories (for 4 Little Girls and Do the Right Thing, respectively).
It took 10 years after McDaniel's triumph for a second black performer to even be nominated -- Ethel Waters in 1950 for playing Granny in the racial drama Pinky -- and nearly a quarter century for Sidney Poitier to win his landmark Oscar for his leading role in 1963's Lilies of the Field.
The four other African American winners came in the 1980s and '90s for supporting roles: Louis Gossett Jr. as a sergeant in An Officer and a Gentleman, Denzel Washington as a Civil War soldier in Glory, Whoopi Goldberg as a spiritualist in Ghost and Cuba Gooding Jr. as the football player with the catch phrase "Show me the money!" in Jerry Maguire.
Alexander said the landscape will change gradually as black stars continue to prove their "bankability", as society itself grows more diverse, and as studios, in turn, expand their casting habits. Many black performers end up relegated to broad comedies, which tend to be overlooked at Oscar time.
"It also goes to the question of bankability overseas, and whether they (are recognized in) foreign markets," he said.
Civil rights leader Kwesi Mfume, president of the NAACP and leader of a multiethnic coalition that has been pressing for greater racial diversity in Hollywood, has said he was encouraged by blacks' high profile at this year's Oscars.
The stars, themselves, are guarded in their assessments.
"I feel that it is a step in the right direction," said Berry, who is only the seventh black performer nominated as best actress. None has ever won.
Ironically, Berry won an Emmy Award in 2000 for her TV movie portrayal of Dorothy Dandridge, the first black ever to vie for a best- actress Oscar. Dandridge was nominated for her title role in the all- black 1955 musical Carmen Jones.
Smith, nominated for his title role in Ali, said the overwhelming prevalence of whites among Oscar contenders was no mystery given the mostly white makeup of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which presents the awards.
"You can't allow an award to be the validation of your work. Halle's work, Denzel's work and my work was good work this year. I think we all just want to be judged as human beings, period," he said.
Washington, too, stressed the importance of good roles being made available to minorities, citing last year's Oscar victory of Puerto Rican-born Benicio Del Toro for Traffic.
"I think, in this case, everybody voted for the people they thought were best, and it happened to be three African Americans," said Washington, who earned the latest of his five Academy Award nominations as a corrupt cop in Training Day.
The last time three African Americans were nominated in lead roles was in 1973, when the lineup was two actresses and one actor -- Diana Ross for Lady Sings the Blues and Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield for Sounder. None won.
© 2002 Reuters/Variety