1999 Oscar: 'American Beauty'

American Beauty came up roses at the 1999 Oscars Sunday night, winning as best picture and bringing Kevin Spacey the award for performance by a leading actor.

But Spacey's co-star, Annette Bening, lost to Hilary Swank, who won the Academy Award for performance by a leading actress for Boys Don't Cry.

Angelina Jolie, the daughter of actor Jon Voight, won the Oscar Sunday night for her supporting role in Girl, Interrupted.

"Dad, you're a great actor but a better father," she said in her acceptance speech.

In his traditional opening medley, Oscar host Billy Crystal skewered all five nominees for best pictures, including a special tribute to The Cider House Rule's Michael Caine to the tune of Mame. Caine later won the Oscar for performance by an actor in a supporting role.

Winning the Oscar for best song was Phil Collins for You'll Be In My Heart from Tarzan.

Other early awards went to Topsy-Turvy (for costume design and makeup) and to The Matrix (for sound and sound effects editing). But American Beauty had already topped most critic lists going into the weekend. Then came its best picture win in Friday's controversial Wall Street Journal poll of 356 of the 5,607 voting Academy members.

Scientific or not, the survey was American Beauty's clincher for best buzz going into the four-hour Oscar show.

The poll's other favorites also seemed to reflect pre-Oscar conventional wisdom: Denzel Washington for leading actor in The Hurricane, Hilary Swank for leading actress in Boys Don't Cry, Michael Caine for supporting actor in The Cider House Rules, and Angelina Jolie for supporting actress in Girl, Interrupted.

On Sunday, hours before the Oscar telecast, it was announced that American Beauty was the top vote-getter in an informal online survey conducted by CBSNews.com. Spacey and Washington tied for best actor in that survey.

The awards show is capping one of the most bizarre Oscar seasons.

First, Academy voters complained that they hadn't received their ballots for the final vote. By the time a large supply of the ballots was found in a post office, the Academy had printed new ballots. The Academy also extended the voting deadline a few days to last Thursday, meaning the accountants had to work overtime on awards weekend.

Then came The Mystery of the Missing Oscars.

A shipment of 55 shiny new Oscar statuettes from the Chicago manufacturer disappeared from a loading dock at Roadway Express on March 8. Salvage man Willie Fulgear stumbled across 52 of the missing awards while rummaging through a trash container. Three Oscars remain missing.

Fulgear, 61, became an instant celebrity. He was given a $50,000 reward by the shipping company and two tickets to Sunday's show.

A Roadway trucker was charged with stealing the statuettes.

Weeks before the awards presentations, the Academy announced the evening's special awards: Warren Beatty was named for the Irving Thalberg Award for a high level of producing. Among his producer credits: Bonnie and Clyde, Shampoo, Reds and Dick Tracy.

Andrzej Wajda, premier director of Poland, won an honorary award "for showing both the loftiest heights and the darkest depths of the European soul." His films include Landscape After Battle, Man of Marble and Man of Steel.