Hollywood Digest

NUMBERS NOT GREAT FOR OSCAR

Preliminary TV ratings indicate that the 75th Anniversary Academy Awards were not a hit for ABC -- down 15 percent from last year's numbers.

The network reported Monday that the telecast managed just a 25.5 household rating and 37 audience share in Nielsen's overnight measure in the 55 biggest U.S. cities.

The ratings were likely to be even weaker when the final national numbers are reported, because the telecast is typically less popular in rural homes than in cities.

ABC estimated that 62 million viewers watched some part of the telecast -- and that 37 million people were watching when the Best Picture Oscar went to "Chicago." Analysts said TV coverage of the war in Iraq cut into the audience.

Still, the show is likely to be one of the year's highest-rated entertainment shows.

IS IT ACTING, OR IS IT MUSIC?

Meryl Streep didn't win an Oscar Sunday, but she did add to her growing list of honors -- a generous compliment from her "Adaptation" co-star Chris Cooper.

In his acceptance speech, the Best Supporting Actor described working with Streep in musical terms.

"Working with this woman was like making great jazz," said Cooper.

The veteran supporting player has built his reputation in Hollywood slowly and gradually, with highly regarded performances in such projects as "Lonesome Dove" (1989), "A Time to Kill" (1996), "October Sky" (1999) and "American Beauty" (1999). He has also appeared in several John Sayles movies, including "Matewan" (1987), "City of Hope" (1991) and "Lone Star" (1996).

Cooper might become a well-recognized actor, now that he has an Oscar and a starring role in this summer's high-profile "Seabiscuit" -- but he relished his anonymity while it lasted. At the Screen Actors Guild Awards on March 9, when his name was announced as a nominee for the supporting actor award, the TV camera was trained on someone else at Cooper's table.

He said the next day he was not offended at all -- rather, he took it as a badge of honor that he wasn't recognizable outside of his roles.

WHAT NEXT FOR NICOLE KIDMAN?

Nicole Kidman is now an Oscar-winning actress for a heavy dramatic role, but don't expect her to just do the heavy stuff from now on.

"I love what I do," said Kidman backstage at the Oscars, "and that means you do comedy, you do drama -- you do it all."

Upcoming projects for Kidman include a movie version of the classic TV comedy "Bewitched," and a darkly comic remake of "The Stepford Wives." Kidman also appears later this year in the Civil War drama "Cold Mountain" and has other dramas -- "Dogville" and "Birth" on her slate.

Even before the Oscar, Kidman was one of the busiest actresses in the movies. If she wasn't already getting first pick of the best projects, she's sure to have them coming her way now.

CHARMING, ENCHANTING

Peter O'Toole may have seemed reluctant in January to receive an Honorary Oscar, but he enjoyed the moment on Sunday when the statuette was put in his hand.

"Always a bridesmaid, never a bride -- my foot," said O'Toole at the 75th Anniversary Academy Awards. "I have my Oscar now, 'til death do us part."

The Academy announced its intention in January to honor O'Toole for a body of work that includes seven nominations, but no wins, for the Best Actor Oscar -- for "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), "Becket" (1964), "The Lion in Winter" (1968), "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1969), "The Ruling Class" (1972), "The Stunt Man" (1980) and "My Favorite Year" (1982).

After the announcement, however, O'Toole said he was not sure he wanted to accept. He sent a handwritten open letter to the academy saying he was "enchanted" by the gesture, but insisting that he is "still in the game and might win the lovely bugger outright."

The 70-year-old actor wondered whether the academy would "please defer the honor until I am 80?"

WHERE WAS LIZ?

Elizabeth Taylor was scheduled to appear at the 75th Academy Awards on Sunday, but she was nowhere in sight when past Oscar winners appeared onstage en masse.

Taylor had told "Access Hollywood" that the appearance was to be her "swan song on the stage." She said she plans to dedicate the rest of her life to activism on behalf of AIDS-related causes.

"I've retired from acting," she said. "It doesn't really interest me much anymore. It seems kind of superficial because now my life is AIDS, not acting."

Taylor won the Best Actress Oscar twice -- for "Butterfield 8" (1960) and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966).