She seemed a shoo-in for The Iron Lady, a performance that earned her a 17th Oscar nomination last week and a Golden Globe Award last month. It’s an amazing performance, a stupendous performance, an Oscar worthy performance.

But it always seems to be someone else’s turn (Sandra Bullock?) when it comes to Streep who has two Oscars but has not won since 1983 when she took home best actress for Sophie’s Choice.

For those Academy members who feel it is Viola’s turn, it’s important to remind them just how long it’s been since Streep has won an Oscar despite her winning won 65 other acting awards that are not called “Oscar.”

Huffington Post has listed some of the other things that have happened since someone at an Academy Awards ceremony, a presenter said: “And the Oscar goes to Meryl Streep.”

* Meryl Streep has appeared in 35 movies.

* There have been five sitting U.S. Presidents.

* Four different actors have played James Bond.

* The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has handed out 680 Oscars.

* Meryl Streep has lost Oscars to Shirley MacLaine, Geraldine Page, Cher, Jodie Foster, Kathy Bates, Susan Sarandon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hilary Swank, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet and, most painfully, Sandra Bullock.

I’m not such a rabid fan that I think Streep should have won each and every time. But I do think she should have most certainly won for Julie & Julia (the year Bullock triumphed), could have won for Doubt has it not been Winslet’s turn, and was quite deserving for One True Thing, Adaptation and The Devil Wears Prada.

Here is a full list of winners from last night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards:

Films

Ensemble
WINNER: The Help

Lead actress
WINNER: Viola Davis, The Help

Lead actor
WINNER: Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Supporting actor
WINNER: Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Supporting actress
WINNER: Octavia Spencer, The Help

Television

Drama ensemble
WINNER: Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Actor, drama
WINNER: Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Actress, drama
WINNER: Jessica Lange, American Horror Story (FX)

Actor, TV movie or miniseries
WINNER: Paul Giamatti, Too Big to Fail (HBO)

Actress, TV movie or miniseries
WINNER: Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Comedy ensemble
WINNER: Modern Family (ABC)

Actress, comedy
WINNER: Betty White, Hot in Cleveland (TV Land)

Actor, comedy
WINNER: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)

Lifetime Achievement Award
Mary Tyler Moore

“I just can’t tell you what fun I’ve had being a member of the world’s second oldest profession,” he said in accepting his first-ever SAG Award. “Actors are gregarious and wacky are they not? I love them dearly. When they honor you, it’s like being lit by the holy grail.”

Plummer also thanked his co-star Ewan McGregor who he said “makes acting look so impossibly easy.”

Her main competition appears to be Viola Davis from The Help. While Meryl won the Golden Globe two weeks ago, Viola won the Critics Choice Award a few night’s earlier.

I happened to be stationed backstage at the SAG Awards three years ago when Meryl won for Doubt and I have never seen her so happy after a win. She probably thought Kate Winslet would win for Revolutionary Road as she did at the Globes.

Winslet had won earlier that evening in the supporting category for The Reader, a role that she was nominated in the best actress category for at the Oscars and won.

Anyway, if Viola does win tonight, Meryl has only herself to blame as you will see in this 2009 SAG speech. She had appeared in Doubt with Davis and said to the industry during the speech: “Someone give her a movie!”

Someone did and now Meryl has yet another rival.

You’ve got to kidding!

Leonardo DiCaprio gave, in my opinion, the best performance of his impressive career in J. Edgar. And yet, he was not one of the five nominees for best actor when the Academy Award nominations were announced this morning.

He was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award, the Golden Globe Award and the Critics Choice Award but was snubbed by the Academy this year.

Instead, the best actor field is George Clooney for The Descendents, Brad Pitt for Moneyball, Demián Bichir for A Better Life, Jean Dujardin for The Artist and Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

It really is a shocker and kind of outrageous to not include DiCaprio. Obviously J. Edgar, directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay by Dustin Lance Black, did not resonate with voters overall but DiCaprio was absolutely outstanding as J. Edgar Hoover.

DiCaprio has been nominated for Oscars for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The Aviator and Blood Diamond.

It is the 14th nomination in the best actress category for Streep who has been nominated for supporting actress three times winning in 1980 for Kramer vs. Kramer. She won her lone best actress Oscar in 1983 for Sophie’s Choice.

Streep’s competition this year is Viola Davis for The Help, Michelle Williams for My Week With Marilyn, Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs and Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Streep won the Golden Globe Award last week and appears to have her best chance in decades to win a long-elusive third Oscar. If she were to finally win again, she would match Ingrid Bergman and Jack Nicholson with three Oscars. Katherine Hepburn is the all-time champ for acting Oscars with four wins as best actress.

Dating back to her first Oscar nod in 1979 for The Deer Hunter, Streep has been nominated – and lost – for her performances in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Silkwood, A Cry in the Dark, Out of Africa, Ironweed, Postcards From the Edge, The Bridges of Madison County, One True Thing, Music of the Heart, Adaptation, The Devil Wears Prada, Doubt and Julie & Julia.

Christopher Plummer earned an Academy Award nomination this morning for his performance in Beginners.

Plummer portrays a gay man who comes out late in life in the film which also stars Ewan McGregor as his son.

He is widely-considered to be the front-runner to win the Oscar for the first time in his long career which includes such films as The Sound of Music, The Insider, The Man Who Would Be King and Return of the Pink Panther.

Plummer’s competition for the Oscar is Kenneth Branagh in My Week with Marilyn, Jonah Hill in Moneyball, Nick Nolte in Warrior, Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

It was just last year that Plummer was even nominated for an Oscar when he got a supporting actor nod for The Station Agent losing to Christian Bale.

Among the awards Plummer has already won in the past two months are the Golden Globe, Critics Choice Award, National Board of Review and LA Film Critics, among others.

The Academy Award nominations will be announced next week but far more meaningful to many in the LGBT community are the GLAAD Media Awards which unveiled their nominations today.

Among those earning nods from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation are Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, the films J. Edgar and Albert Nobbs and the television shows Modern Family and Glee.

Martin, nominated for his Spanish language album Musica + Alma + Sexo reacted to his nomination via Twitter: :”YEAH! I just got nominated 4a GLAAD MEDIA AWARD!I’m honored!Thanx 2every1 who made this prestigious nomination possible!”

J. Edgar and Albert Nobbs will face off in the Outstanding Film (wide release) category with Beginners. In the outstanding film (limited release) category, the nominees are Pariah, Weekend, Gun Hill Road, Tomboy and Circumstance.

ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, which featured the wedding between lesbian character Callie and Arizona, was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series. It’s competitors are Degrassi, Pretty Little Liars, Shameless and Torchwood: Miracle Day.

In the comedy series category, Glee and Modern Family will once again square off in a field that also includes The Big C, Happy Endings and Exes and Ohs.

Series that don’t have a regular gay character are recognized in the outstanding individual episode category. Those nominees are Hot in Cleveland, Drop Dead Diva, NCIS, Are We There Yet and Man Up!

Chaz Bono figures into two of the GLAAD nominations in separate categories. His documentary, Becoming Chaz, was nominated for best documentary along with We Were Here, Two Spirits, The World’s Worst Place to Be Gay and The Strange History of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Bono’s appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman was nominated in the outstanding talk show episode category along with The Oprah Winfrey Show’s 25 years of coming out episode, Anderson Cooper’s syndicated Anderson show for its Children and Teens Caught in the Wrong Bodies show, Conan! for the wedding of Scott Cronick and David Gorshein and The Ellen DeGeneres Show with guest Zach Wahls, the Iowa teen who stood before the state legislature to defend his two moms.

Other television categories:

Reality show: The Glee Project, The Real L Word, Dancing With the Stars, The Voice and Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys.

The awards recognize outstanding images of the LGBT community in news coverage and entertainment media.  The awards also complement and fund GLAAD’s work to share the stories of LGBT people through the media. The Awards will be held in New York City on March 24, Los Angeles on April 21 and in San Francisco on June 2.

Here is a LINK to the full list of nominees.

Also, here is a nice video GLAAD has made of the major film and television nominees:

One of the big winners was the superb drama Weekend which took Film of the Year and LGBT Film of the Year.

I heard from actor Chris New (he’s pictured, right) earlier today and he’s quite excited about the wins: “The reaction to the movie, especially in the United States, has been – and continues to be – totally overwhelming,” Chris said in an email. “The double win at the GALECA’s Dorian Awards is a wonderful bonus.  I know [writer-director] Andrew [Haigh] and [producer] Tristan [Goligher] had to fight hard to get the movie made and seen, so I hope they are both giving themselves a little pat on the back for fighting the good fight.”

The film follows Russell (Tom Cullen) who, after randomly picking up an artist Glen (New) at a nightclub on a Friday night, unexpectedly spends most of the next 48 hours with him in bedrooms and bars, telling stories and having sex.

As they spend more time together, sharing snippets of their lives, they begin to reveal the things that hold them back as much as push them forward and develop a deep connection that could resonate throughout their lives.

The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association today announced their top choices for the best in film and television of 2011.

I’m a member of this group and I’m happy that some of my choices actually won!

(GALECA), formed in 2009, is comprised of over 50 critics, entertainment journalists and pop culture critics who work for noteworthy newspapers, magazines, websites and TV and radio outlets nationwide.

GALECA members nominate movies, TV programs and performances from a variety of categories, not just LGBT-centric. For more information, go to galeca.com and find us at facebook.com/pages/DORIAN-AWARDS

Here is a full list of this year’s winners:

FILM OF THE YEAR

Midnight in Paris / Sony Pictures Classics

The Artist / The Weinstein Company

The Descendants / Fox Searchlight

The Skin I Live In / Sony Pictures Classics

The Tree of Life  / Fox Searchlight

Weekend / IFC Films

FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

Christopher Plummer / Beginners (Focus Features)

Leonardo DiCaprio / J Edgar (Warner Bros.)

Janet McTeer / Albert Nobbs (Liddell Entertainment)

Meryl Streep / The Iron Lady (The Weinstein Company)

Michael Fassbender / Shame (Fox Searchlight)

Rooney Mara  / The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Sony/Columbia)

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR (Film, DVD or TV)

Carol Channing: Larger Than Life / Entertainment One

Cave of Forgotten Dreams / Sundance

Page One: Inside the New York Times / Magnolia Pictures

Pina / IFC Films

We Were Here / Red Flag Releasing

LGBT-THEMED FILM OF THE YEAR

Albert Nobbs / Liddell Entertainment

Beginners / Focus Features

Pariah / Focus Features

Tomboy / Rocket Releasing

Weekend / IFC Films

LGBT-THEMED DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR

Becoming Chaz / World of Wonder

Bill Cunningham New York / Zeitgeist Films

Making the Boys / 4th Row Films

Vito / HBO

We Were Here / Red Flag Releasing

CAMPY (INTENTIONAL OR NOT) FILM OF THE YEAR

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never / Paramount

Kaboom / Desperate Pictures

The Muppets / Disney

Thor / Paramount

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 / Summit

UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR

50/50 / Summit Entertainment

Insidious / FilmDistrict

Jane Eyre / Focus Features

Warrior / Lionsgate

Win Win / Fox Searchlight

TV DRAMA OF THE YEAR

American Horror Story / FX

Downton Abbey / PBS

Homeland / Showtime

Mildred Pierce / HBO

The Good Wife / CBS

TV COMEDY OF THE YEAR

Modern Family / ABC

Louie / FX

30 Rock / NBC

The Big Bang Theory / CBS

Happy Endings / ABC

TV MUSICAL PROGRAM OF THE YEAR

A Very Gaga Thanksgiving / ABC

Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On / HBO

Glee / Fox (TIE)

Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour / HBO (TIE)

The Voice / NBC

TV PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

Bryan Cranston / Breaking Bad / AMC

Claire Danes / Homeland / Showtime

Jessica Lange / American Horror Story / FX

Kate Winslet / Mildred Pierce / HBO

Madeleine Stowe / Revenge / ABC

LGBT-THEMED TV SHOW OF THE YEAR

American Horror Story / FX

Happy Endings / ABC

Modern Family / ABC

RuPaul’s Drag Race / Logo

True Blood / HBO

CAMPY (INTENTIONAL OR NOT) TV SHOW OF THE YEAR

American Horror Story / FX

Hot In Cleveland / TV Land

Revenge / ABC

The A List New York / Logo

True Blood / HBO

UNSUNG TV SHOW OF THE YEAR

Enlightened / HBO

Happy Endings / ABC

Louie / FX

Pan Am / ABC

Parenthood / NBC

Suburgatory / ABC

THE WE’RE WILDE ABOUT YOU RISING STAR AWARD

Elizabeth Olsen

Jessica Chastain

Melissa McCarthy

Michael Fassbender

Tom Hardy

WILDE WIT OF THE YEAR AWARD

Kathy Griffin

Kristen Wiig

Louis C.K.

Rachel Maddow

The Staff Writers of Happy Endings
TIMELESS STAR

Betty White

Host Ricky Gervais, who offended just about the entire ballroom last year, takes the stage and inexplicably draws Foster into thick of it in the first 60 seconds: “I musn’t mention Mel Gibson this year. Not his private life, his politics, his recent films, and especially not Jodie Foster’s “Beaver.” I haven’t seen it myself. I’ve spoken to a lot of guys who haven’t seen it either. But doesn’t mean it’s not any good.”

I thought it was the most horrendous moment of the evening.

Foster is as out or in as she wants to be. That’s her right. But why should she, or anyone, be put in that position – camera in their face – in front of an international audience?

I hope the Hollywood Foreign Press has gotten this whole Gervais thing out of their system and gets a new host or just goes back when there was no host.

He adds absolutely nothing meaningful to the evening.

It was the eighth Golden Globe win for Meryl Streep but the first time the greatest living actress had her speech hurried along by the orchestra.

Streep managed to hold off Critics Choice Award winner Viola Davis to win the Globe for her performance as former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

Streep forgot to bring her glasses to the stage so could not go with a prepared speech. She initially struggled to remember all the her fellow nominees beyond Glenn Close and Viola Davis but eventually rallied. Then she had to hurry to thank director Phyllida Lloyd and others connected to the film when the orchestra began to try and play her off.

“I just want to thank my agent and God — Harvey Weinstein, the punisher,” she concluded to much laughter and applause.

Backstage, Streep told reporters: “It was interesting to look at the human being behind the headline and imagine to look at a life so huge and controversial and ground-breaking in the winter of a life, and to have a compassionate view with someone I disagree.”

When asked if there were any other famous women she wanted to play, Streep said: “If the story is interesting, it doesn’t matter if it’s a waitress or a queen. I’m  happy to play people with challenges. I’m happy to keep working.”

Streep’s previous Globe wins were for Kramer vs. Kramer, The French Lieutenants Woman, Sophie’s Choice, Adaptation, Angels in America, The Devil Wears Prada and Julie & Julia. She has been nominated a total of 26 times.

It remains to be seen whether the Globe win will help Streep win an elusive third Academy Award. She won in 1980 for Kramer vs. Kramer and for Sophie’s Choice in 1983 and has since lost 12 consecutive times.

— Best Picture, Drama: The Descendants

— Best Picture, Musical or Comedy: The Artist

— Best Actor, Drama: George Clooney, The Descendants

— Best Actress, Drama: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

— Best Director: Martin Scorsese, Hugo

— Best Actor, Musical or Comedy: Jean Dujardin, The Artist

— Best Actress, Musical or Comedy: Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

— Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners

— Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help

— Best Foreign Language: A Separation

— Best Animated Film: The Adventures of Tintin

— Best Screenplay: Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

— BestOriginal Score: Ludovic Bource, The Artist

— Best Original Song: Masterpiece (music and lyrics by Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry)

TELEVISION

—Best Drama: Homeland

— Best Musical or Comedy: Modern Family

— Best Actor, Drama: Kelsey Grammer, Boss

— Best Actress, Drama: Claire Danes, Homeland

— Best Actress, Musical or Comedy: Laura Dern, Enlightened

— Best Actor, Musical or Comedy: Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

— Best Miniseries or Movie: Downton Abbey

— Best Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce

— Best Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Idris Elba, Luther

— Best Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Jessica Lange, American Horror Story

— Best Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones

Elton John was so clearly not amused.

Then, he loses the best original song from a motion picture to, of all people, Madonna!

Elton clearly did not rehearse his polite losers face. He looked as if he wanted to leap onto the stage and pry the award out of her hand!

Then Gervais made it all worse awhile later when he introduced Madonna as a presenter but before saying her name he said the next presenter is “the queen of pop. … Not YOU Elton!”

Elton appeared to give a courtesy laugh.

But finally, we got a smile out of Elton when Cecil B. Demille Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Morgan Freeman was giving his acceptance speech and, out of the blue, said hello to Elton.

Finally, the Rocket Man smiled for real.

Update: Backstage, Madonna was asked how it feels to beat Elton John.

Her answer: “I hope he speaks to me for the next couple of years. He’s been known to not speak to me. He’ll win for another award. I don’t feel bad.”

Christopher Plummer continued his awards season domination by winning the Golden Globe Award for best supporting actor in a motion picture for Beginners.

He plays a gay man who comes out near the end of his life in the film in which Ewan McGregor plays his son.

In his speech, Plummer said of McGregor: “I want to salute my partner, Ewan — that wily Scott . …. That scene-stealing swine.”

Backstage, Plummer told reporters: “Gay characters are human beings. we’re all exactly the same. That’s the reason I played it the way I did, not as a caricature. They’re a part of our society since the Egyptians, the Greeks – it’s part of the human condition. I know there is a lot of antigay sentiment in our society at the moment and I abhor it.”

Plummer, who also won the Critics Choice Award a few days ago, appears to be the strongest front-runner of any category the Academy Award.

In so many years past, the great Streep has been passed over because it she won two Oscars early in her career, been nominated a record number of times, and it is someone else’s turn.

Well, it’s been nearly 30 years since her win  for Sophie’s Choice and Iron Lady is her greatest performance since then in a career of great performances.

Streep lost the Critics Choice Award to Viola Davis (The Help) a few nights ago and the two go head-to-head again at tonight’s Golden Globe Awards.

It is my hope that Streep will prevail and that a Davis momentum will not develop the way it did the year Kate Winslet won for The Reader (over Streep for Doubt) and especially two years ago when Sandra Bullock somehow won for The Blind Side over Streep far superior performance in Julie & Julia.

The Golden Globes have been generous to Streep in the recent past with wins for Adaptation, Angels in America, The Devil Wears Prada and Julie & Julia.

Let’s hope they do so again tonight. Here are videos of Miss Streep’s most recent four Golden Globe wins. She’s won a total of seven and been nominated 26 times in all.

The winners of the 2011 Greggys for male and female Stars of the Year also won big at The People’s Choice Awards last night.

Neil Patrick Harris took home the award for Favorite TV Actor beating out Glee stars Chris Colfer and Cory Monteith, Alec Baldwin of 3o Rock and Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory.

Harris kissed partner David Burtka before taking the stage to accept his prize.

“Wow! Cool beans,” he said. “People’s Choice, thank you people so much. To all the people who voted – love the Twitter fans – keep it up. Keep watching the show.”

The actor thanked the crew of How I Met Your Mother, which also won favorite TV comedy, then thanked “the three people who are most important in my life: David Burtka and my twins Gideon and Harper who better be asleep in the limo at the valet outside.”

Meanwhile, Ellen DeGeneres won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Daytime TV host over Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, Anderson Cooper, Rachael Ray and the hosts of The Today Show.

Ellen kissed wife Portia de Rossi after her name was announced then accepted the award from presenters Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Sharon Osbourne.

“This all belongs to you, the peoples, because the peoples have chosen me,” Ellen said. “I really mean it. l’ve won several of these and it means a lot ot me because it does come from you. For all of you who voted for me … thank you so much. It never gets old. … I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.”

Plummer has been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe, a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and an Independent Spirit Award for his role as a gay man coming out late in life after the death of his wife.

He’s already won the prizes from the National Board of Review, Toronto Film Critics Association, Hollywood Film Festival, Southeastern Film Critics Association and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Other Online Critics Association Award winners were: Michael Fassbender, best actor for Shame; Tilda Swinton, best actress for We Need to Talk About Kevin; Jessica Chastain, best supporting actress for The Tree of Life.

The Tree of Life dominated with wins for best picture, best director (Terrence Malick), best ediing and best cinematography.

This is shaping up to be a strong awards season for the great Meryl Streep – one I sincerely culminates in her winning a long overdue third Academy Award for The Iron Lady.

It was announced earlier today that Miss Streep will be honored for her wide-ranging career at this year’s Berlin film festival with an honorary Golden Bear, the event’s top award, on Feb. 14.

Festival director Dieter Kosslick said: ‘We are delighted to be able to award the Honorary Golden Bear to such a terrific artist and world star. Meryl Streep is a brilliant, versatile performer who moves with ease between dramatic and comedic roles.’

Streep will be honored at a screening of The Iron Lady in which she plays former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

The festival also will screen older Streep films, including Kramer vs. Kramer and Sophie’s Choice. She won Academy Awards for both of those films.

Streep has been nominated for a record 16 Oscars.