Golden Globe nominations announced

Frost/Nixon and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button led the nominees as the contenders for the Golden Globes were announced today.

Both films were nominated for five awards, including best drama, for which they will be up against British director Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, The Reader and Revolutionary Road.

Briton Kate Winslet took two nominations, including best actress for Revolutionary Road and best supporting actress for The Reader.

Fellow British actress Kristin Scott Thomas was nominated in the best dramatic actress category for her role in I've Loved You So Long.

Winners of the 66th annual Globes, widely seen as an indication of favourites for the Oscars, will be announced on 11 January.

Doubt, a drama about the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, also took a leading five nominations.

Briton Hugh Laurie, who plays the damaged doctor in House, earned a nomination for best actor in a television drama, along with Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers of The Tudors, Jon Hamm and January Jones of Mad Men, Gabriel Byrne of In Treatment, and Michael C Hall of Dexter.

Meryl Streep had two nominations - best dramatic actress for Doubt and musical or comedy actress for Mamma Mia!.

Mamma Mia!, Burn After Reading, Happy-Go-Lucky, In Bruges and Vicky Cristina Barcelona were all nominated for best musical or comedy.

Nominees for dramatic actor were Leonardo DiCaprio for Revolutionary Road, Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon, Brad Pitt for Benjamin Button, Sean Penn for Milk, and Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler.

Doubt also scored supporting nominations for Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis, plus a screenplay slot for director John Patrick Shanley, who adapted his Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

The year's biggest hit, the Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight, came in with strong awards buzz across the board but took only one nomination: supporting actor for Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker.

The Harvey Milk film biography Milk had also been at the top of awards watchers' lists but grabbed only an acting nomination for Penn.

Clint Eastwood had two music nominations for his Changeling score and for co-writing the title song for Gran Torino.

But he missed out on directing nominations for both films and for an acting slot in Gran Torino, in which he starred.

British writer Peter Morgan earned a nomination for best screenplay for the Working Title production of Frost/Nixon.

He will be up against fellow Britons Simon Beaufoy and David Hare for Slumdog Millionaire and The Reader respectively.

They will also face competition from Eric Roth for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and John Patrick Shanley for Doubt.

Briton Eileen Atkins was nominated for best supporting actress in a series, mini-series or film made for television for her role in Cranford.

The 74-year-old actress will be up against Laura Dern for Recount, Melissa George for In Treatment, Rachel Griffiths for Brothers & Sisters and Dianne Wiest for In Treatment.

Briton Boyle earned a best director nomination for Slumdog Millionaire and will be up against fellow Britons Sam Mendes and Stephen Daldry for Revolutionary Road and The Reader respectively.

They will also face competition from Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon, and David Fincher for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.

The animated hits WALL-E and Bolt each had two nominations, for best animated picture and best song. The WALL-E tune was co-written by Peter Gabriel and the Bolt song was co-written by Miley Cyrus, who also lent her voice to one of the film's lead characters.

The song category featured several big names, including Bruce Springsteen for the title tune of The Wrestler and Beyonce Knowles for co-writing a song in Cadillac Records.

Referring to Ledger's best supporting actor nomination, Terrence Howard, a presenter at the ceremony, said: "Heath was a friend of mine.

"He gave his all in that film. I think he will win in that category. He'll also get an Oscar."

One of the year's biggest comedy hits, Sex And The City, missed out completely.