03/26/2001

By Lynn Elber / Associated Press

LOS ANGELES – When nominees Randy Newman and Kevin O'Connell failed to win Oscars on Sunday, it was definitely a case of deja vu: The songwriter and the sound expert each have lost 14 times.

That puts them within one loss of the all-time record, 15 nominations without a trophy.

Newman, whose previous bids are for score and song, was nominated this time for the song A Fool in Love from Meet the Parents. O'Connell, a re-recording sound mixer, was nominated for The Patriot.

Gladiator won for sound Sunday; Bob Dylan won the best song Oscar for Things Have Changed from Wonder Boys.

"My family is running out of cliches like `Third time's the charm' or `No. 13, maybe it's a lucky number for you this year,''' O'Connell said before the ceremony.

O'Connell's previous nominations were for films including Top Gun, A Few Good Men and Twister. He's working now on the Memorial Day release, Pearl Harbor.

The record for most nominations without a trophy is 15, held by the late art director Roland Anderson and the late composer Alex North. In 1986, North received an honorary Oscar, but he never won a competitive award.

Although some friends have started comparing O'Connell to soap star Susan Lucci, an 18-time Emmy loser until she finally picked up an award in 1999, he remains upbeat about the Oscars.

"It's really been a positive experience for me and I don't look at it as being a loser because many people don't have the opportunity to get where I've been.''

Win or lose, O'Connell said, "I'll be back at work with a big smile on my face. No hard feelings.''