Chen Kaige's “Farewell My Concubine” was considered to be the front-runner, but lost out to Spain’s entry, “Belle Epoque.”

Nominated for six Oscars, Ingmar Bergman's “Fanny & Alexander” won four: Best Foreign-Language Picture, Cinematography (Sven Nykvist), Art Direction-set Decoration (Anna Asp), and Costume Design (Marik Vos). 

Both Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman have been nominated before, and for better work, though neither ever won a competitive Oscar; Bergman received honorary Oscar and some of his pictures (“Fanny and Alexander”) were awarded with the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. 

Nominated for two Oscars, Best Director for Reed and Best Screenplay for Graham Greene, “The Fallen Idol” lost in both categories to Joseph Mankiewicz, who won the Oscars as writer and director of “A Letter to Three Wives.” 

At 58, Nick Nolte received his second Best Actor Oscar nomination (after the 1991 “Prince of Tides”) for the intense drama “Affliction,” directed by Paul Schrader.  Nolte was rewarded for his performance as the brutal Wade Whitehouse, a misunderstood small-town cop who still bears the scars of years of physical abuse at the hands of his tyrannical father, played by James Coburn, who won the Supporting Actor Oscar.