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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2005)
Îlîc ÿlortlanh © b seru e r___________________________ Page as M a rc h 2. 2 0 0 5 Black Actors Make Oscar History Foxx wins for ‘Ray’; Freeman for ‘Million Dollar Baby’ Academy Awards Host Chris Rock backstage at the 77th Academy Awards. (AP Photo) (A P )-Jam ie Foxx and Morgan Freeman made it another record night for black actors at the Academy Awards, their wins coming just three years after Denzel W ashington and Halle Berry shattered the O scars’ racial ceiling. “ It means that Hollywood is continu ing to make history,” Freeman said back- stage. “W e’re evolving with the rest of the world.” Foxx, who went into Sunday ’ s com pe tition as one o f the most certain front runners in O scar history, won the best- actor prize for his extraordinary em ula tion of Ray Charles in the biopic “Ray.” Freeman took the supporting-actor honor for his role in “M illion Dollar Baby.” In an acceptance speech both funny and emotional, Foxx recalled being intro duced years ago to pioneering black ac tor Sidney Poitier. “He said, ‘I give you responsibility.’ So I’m taking that responsibility tonight,” Foxx said. “Thanks, Sidney.” Foxx also paid tribute to his late grand mother Estelle, the person he has cred ited often with shaping his life. “She still talks to me now, only now she talks to me in my dream s,” he said, breaking into tears. “And I can’t wait to go to sleep tonight because we have a lot to talk about. 1 love you.” It was only the second time in the Oscars’ 77-year history that blacks earned two o f the four acting awards, following Washington and Berry’s lead-acting wins Visit Safeway's Web site at www.safeway.com Beyonce ' Knowles arrives for the Vanity Fair post- Oscars party at Morton's in West Hollywood, Calif. Sunday Knowles performed two nominated songs at the awards show. (AP photo) 88 Fresh Asparagus Delicious when sauteed in butter and garlic. SAVE up to $3.00 lb. 99< 1 lb Safeway Club Price Safeway Club Price Kelloggs Cereal Safeway SELECT Bath Tissue MONEY TRANSFER Sun Mon Tue Wed Ttmr 2 7 ceived a steady trickle of nomi nations, with two winning the supporting-actor prize (Louis Gossett Jr. for 1982’s “An O f ficer and a Gentlemen” and W a sh in g to n fo r 1 9 8 9 ’s “Glory”). The 1990s brought two more wins, Whoopi Goldberg as sup- p o rtin g a c tre ss in 1990’s “Ghost” and Cuba Gooding Jr. as supporting actor in 1996’s “Jerry M aguire.” Berry and W ashington’s wins were viewed as a sign of progress, though at the time doubters said they would wait to see if those triumphs sig naled real change or were merely an aberration. “T h in g s are c h a n g in g ,” Berry said before the ceremony. “I knew that three years ago.” Frozen. Individually Quick Frozen. Sold in a 4-lb. bag for $7.52 ea. PRICES EFFECTIVE MARCH 2005 6 Jamie Fox (left) and Morgan Freeman celebrate their winning Oscars. Fox was voted best actor and Freeman best supporting actor. (AP photo) Manor House Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts Available at Safeway: W ESTERN U N IO N for “Training Day” and “M onster’s Ball.” W ith a supporting actor nomination for the hit-man thriller “Collateral,” Foxx, 37, also became the first black actor to com pete in tw o categories in the same year. This time out, blacks overall had their best year ever at the O scars, earning a record five o f 20 acting nominations, including the two for Foxx. Don Cheadle was nominated as best actor and Sophie O konedo as best sup porting actress for “Ho tel Rwanda.” “It’s kinda like Def O scar Jam tonight,” ir re v e re n t h o st C h ris Rock said during his opening monologue. N o m in a te d th ree times previously, Free man, 67, won for his role as a worldly wise ex-boxer doing odd jobs at a gym run by his best pal (Clint Eastwood). The role was tradem ark Freem an, an under stated mix of rascally humor, wispy melancholy, untarnished decency and towering inner strength. For most of their history, the O s cars have largely been a whites- only affair. Blacks account for just 3.2 percent of the acting nomina tions, and while that figure is up from 2.8 percent three years ago, it remains a weak track record, consid ering blacks make up 13 percent of the U.S. population. Until recent years, black actors had few opportunities to appear in serious films that might catch O scar attention. “Black movies don’t have real names, they have names like ‘Barbershop,’” Rock quipped. "T hat’s not a name, that’s just a location.” There were only a handful of black nominees in the first four decades of the Oscars and just two winners, supporting actress Hattie McDaniel for 1939’s “Gone W ith the W ind” and best actor Poitier for 1963’s “Lilies of the Field.” A surge o f nominations for blacks in the early 1970s was followed by a long drought. In the 1980s, black actors re- 3 Fri Sí 4 5 12.6 to 17.5-oz. Selected varieties 8 SAVE up to $ 4 .79 on 2 BUY ONE GET ONE Item» » p n c M in th u ad a n »v»H«bte X your local FREE Saiaw ay , tores No M le e to daaler» restaurant» or institutions Sales m retail quantities only Quantities of som e Items m ay be limsed and subtect to availability Not reeponsIWe tor typographical or pictonal errors W e reserve the right to correct all printed error» O n Buy One. 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