AND THE OSCAR DOESN'T GO TO . . .

Not one of these 21 revered actors, directors, screenwriters, and songwriters ever received an Oscar in a major competitive category. But they were happy just to be nominated, weren't they? Back row (with number of nominations in parentheses): John Barrymore (none), William Powell (3 ), Noel Coward (2), Peter Sellers (3), Glenn Close (6), Ernst Lubitsch (4), George Gershwin (1, posthumously), Arthur Miller (1), Deborah Kerr (6). Middle row: Carole Lombard (1), John Garfield (2), Alfred Hitchcock (5), Stanley Kubrick (13), Marlene Dietrich (1). Lront row: Lillian Gish (1), Edward G. Robinson (none), Greta Garbo (3), Peter O'Toole (8), Richard Burton (7), Cary Grant (2), Barbara Stanwyck (4). That's Katharine Hepbum on the wall, at right; with four Oscars, she is the Academy's all-time winningest performer. Consolation prizes: Lubitsch, Kerr, Gish, Robinson, Garbo, O'Toole, Grant, and Stanwyck received honorary Oscars; Hitchcock was given an Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his work as a producer; Kubrick won a special-effects Oscar for 2001: A Space Odyssey.