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“Mad Men,” “Glee” among early SAG TV winners

LOS ANGELES - Television drama “Mad Men”, quirky new TV musical “Glee” and movie actor Christoph Waltz were among early winners at the Screen Actors Guild awards Saturday as Hollywood stars honored the best performances of 2009 on film and television.

Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin continued their long streak of wins for best comedy actress and actor for NBC’s “30 Rock,” while Waltz took his first supporting actor SAG award for playing a manipulative Nazi officer in the movie “Inglourious Basterds.”

Waltz also won at the Golden Globes last weekend, making him a leading favorite for glory in March at the Oscars, the movie industry’s highest honors.

“I have no lucky charm. I am 100 percent superstition-free and I take nothing for granted,” Waltz told reporters when asked about his Oscar chances.

All eyes were on the most coveted SAG award — best ensemble movie cast — which is handed out at the end of the two-hour ceremony in Los Angeles.

That award is usually seen as a leading indicator of Oscar success. But this year, Golden Globe best picture winner “Avatar,” which has wowed critics and earned more than $1.6 billion at global box offices, is not in the running at SAG, which tends to recognize acting talent rather than action adventure movies.

Instead, widely honored independent Iraq war movie “The Hurt Locker,” is competing against British movie “An Education,” star-studded musical “Nine,” Quentin Tarantino’s World War Two revenge fantasy “Inglourious Basterds,” and urban drama “Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

Actor George Clooney’s corporate down-sizing tale “Up in the Air” also failed to get a best ensemble cast nomination from the 120,000 SAG members who work in U.S. films, television shows and commercials.

But the popular Clooney, who helped organize Friday’s celebrity telethon for victims of the Haiti earthquake, is up for a best actor award, joining Golden Globe winner Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart,” Briton Colin Firth in “A Single Man,” Morgan Freeman for “Invictus” and Jeremy Renner for his turn as a bomb disposal expert in “The Hurt Locker.”

Sandra Bullock hopes to add a SAG award to her slew of trophies for playing a wealthy white mother who takes a down-trodden black student into her home in “The Blind Side.”

Bullock is competing against veteran Meryl Streep for “Julie and Julia,” newcomers Carey Mulligan in “An Education” and Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious,” as well as Helen Mirren in the Tolstoy drama “The Last Station.”

In the TV categories, stylish 1960s series “Mad Men” won for a second year for best ensemble drama cast, while high school comedy “Glee” won for best ensemble comedy cast.

Both shows won at the Golden Globes last week.

Julianna Margulies won for best TV drama actress for “The Good Wife,” while Michael C. Hall won for his role as a serial killer in the drama “Dexter.”