Statistically speaking, the odds are overwhelming that the four recent winners of Screen Actors Guild Awards and Golden Globes — Forest Whitaker, Helen Mirren, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson — will repeat their victories at the Oscars on Feb. 25.

Over the past 12 years of the mutual existence of SAG and Globe kudos, there have occurred only 3 cases of a star winning both prizes, then failing to go on to nab Oscar gold next.

One case: Russell Crowe ("A Beautiful Mind") probably would've won the Oscar after sweeping those earlier kudos except for that, well, little, you know, incident at the BAFTAs where Russell got all physical with a TV producer who had the nerve to cut short his gawdawful recital of Russell-written poetry at the podium after winning another best-actor award that year (his last).

Another case — Lauren "Betty" Bacall ("The Mirror Has Two Faces") — can be explained away several ways. One possibility: Oscar voters actually watched the movie. Another: Betty's tabloid reputation for being something that rhymes with witch finally caught up with her after traveling 3,000 miles from New York (where she lives) to L.A. (where she started to win awards that year).

The third case is Renee Zellweger in "Chicago." Does the Golden Globe for comedy/musical really count in this equation? Nicole Kidman ("The Hours") won the drama Globe in 2002, then lost to Renee at SAG, but rebounded at the Oscars.

All of these other stars won Oscars after sweeping up Globes and SAGS: Martin Landau ("Ed Wood"), Tim Robbins ("Mystic River"), Dianne Weist ("Bullets Over Broadway"), Kim Basinger ("L.A. Confidential"), Angelina Jolie ("Girl, Interrupted"), Renee Zellweger ("Cold Mountain"), Rachel Weisz ("The Constant Gardener"), Jack Nicholson ("As Good As It Gets"), Tom Hanks ("Forrest Gump"), Nicolas Cage ("Leaving Las Vegas"), Geoffrey Rush ("Shine"), Jamie Foxx ("Ray"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Capote"), Helen Hunt ("As Good As It Gets"), Gwyneth Paltrow ("Shakespeare in Love"), Julia Roberts ("Erin Brockovich"), Charlize Theron ("Monster"), Hilary Swank ("Million Dollar Baby"). Benicio del Toro ("Traffic") won supporting at the Globes, then lead actor at SAG, then the Oscar for supporting.

For those of you in the LA or NYC area, AMPAS is offering a rare chance to get up close and personal with an Oscar. Now, you can be photographed hoisting one of these surprisingly heavy babies up to the heavens a la Barbara Stanwyck. (Her acceptance of an honorary award in 1982 is one of the all-time great Oscar moments.)

In LA, the exhibit at the Hollywood/Highland Center (mere steps from the Kodak Theater) runs from Feb. 9 to 24 and includes the Oscars to be handed out on the Feb. 25 telecast as well as the record four awards won by Katharine Hepburn. In NYC, the exhibit at the ABC Time Squares studio runs from Feb. 12 to 24 and includes fifty Oscars for next year's show as well as Clark Gable's award for "It Happened One Night" and one of two won by Bette Davis.

For more information, CLICK HERE

Tony winner Phylicia Rashad hosted the 36th annual Theater Hall of Fame Ceremony on January 29 at the Gershwin Theater in New York City. Honored for their lifelong contributions to the stage were actors Patti LuPone, George Hearn, and Elizabeth Wilson; playwrights Brian Friel, Wendy Wasserstein, and August Wilson; and designers Willa Kim and Eugena Lee. Inductees are chosen by the American Theater Critics Association and members of the Theater Hall of Fame and must have a minimum of five major credits and 25 years in the Broadway theater (sorry, Barbra). Among the bold-faced names feting the honorees were Marian Seldes and Angela Lansbury, stars of the upcoming Terrence McNally play "Deuce."

The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is calling for nominations for the 11 competitive categories at the 35th International Emmy Awards. Entries can be made online until March 12 at www.iemmys.tv/entry.html and must be produced and originally aired outside the US. Awards will be handed out November 19 in New York City.

The categories are: Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Programming in Arts, Children & Young People, Comedy, Current Affairs, Documentary, Drama, Non-Scripted, Movie/Mini-Series, and News.

If you are an industry professional interested in being a juror register online at www.iemmys.tv/juror.html.

CLICK HERE to play our "Road to Gold" game and predict who'll win the Grammys and Oscars. Once you're registered as a participant (it's easy and free), you can keep going back to review your predix and make changes. (Not that you'd ever have second doubts about your predix, but at least you have the option!) Also, we encourage you to form teams and invite others to compete against yours.

MOST IMPORTANT: Let us run your office pool! Never again let someone else do it. If you haven't noticed yet: it’s no coincidence that the guy who runs it at your office always wins. Did you really fall for it last year when he said, "Oh, I switched my vote for best picture to 'Crash' at the last minute. I just got this vibe!"

Tell your office chums, personal pals and family members to form a pool in our "Road to Gold" and let us score you all fairly!

"Finally, an award Helen Mirren can't win!" cheers our forums poster Stevie upon learning the news that a new Asian version of the Academy Awards has just been launched. The Asian Film Awards will take place on March 20 at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Thirty three films have received nominations from 700 eligible:

BEST FILM
Curse Of The Golden Flower (Hong Kong / China)
Exiled (Hong Kong)
The Host (South Korea)
Love And Honor (Japan)
Opera Jawa (Indonesia / Austria)
Still Life (China)

BEST DIRECTOR
Hong Sang-Soo Woman On The Beach (South Korea)
Jia Zhangke Still Life (China)
Jafar Panahi Offside (Iran)
Johnnie To Exiled (Hong Kong)
Tsai Ming-Liang I Don't Want To Sleep Alone (Taiwan / France / Austria)
Apichatpong Weerasethakul Syndromes And A Century (Thailand / Austria / France)

BEST ACTOR
Chang Chen The Go Master (China)
Rain I'm A Cyborg, But That's OK (South Korea)
Shahrukh Khan Don (India)
Andy Lau A Battle Of Wits (Hong Kong /China)
Song Kang-Ho The Host (South Korea)
Watanabe Ken Memories Of Tomorrow (Japan)

* The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will present the 10 films nominated for animated and live-action shorts at its Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. "Shorts!" will be hosted by Taylor Hackford, an Oscar winner in 1979 for the live-action short "Teenage Father", who will lead a discussion with the shorts' filmmakers. Free advance tickets will be available Feb. 1 at the academy's ticket office at 8949 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills; there's a limit of two tickets per person. The films will also be shown in New York on Feb. 17 at noon and 4 p.m. at the Lighthouse Theater at 111 E. 59th St. Call (888) 778-7575 for more information.

* Jules Feiffer will receive the Animation Writing Award for lifetime achievement from the Writers Guild of America West when the union's kudos are presented on Feb. 11. Previously, he received the Ian McLellan Hunter Memorial Award for lifetime achievement from WGA East. Widely known as an editorial cartoonist and playwright, he's received WGA noms for penning the movies "Little Murders" and "Carnal Knowledge."

* The American Cinema Editors will give Quentin Tarantino its ACE Golden Eddie filmmaker of the year award at its ceremony on Feb. 18 at the Beverly Hilton.

Take it from The Envelope: 'The Departed' and 'Little Miss Sunshine' are really out front for the best picture Oscar, but you wouldn't know that from what Entertainment Weekly and Time magazine have to say.

EW's staff has set up its equivalent of The Envelope's Buzzmeter, rounding up a panel of in-house experts plus Robert Osborne, author of the official Oscar book. They're picking "Babel" for best picture and "The Queen" for original screenplay. The latter forecast is a bit shakey, too, by the way. I won't say it's wrong, but strongly iffy. See EW's rundown here.

Here are Time magazine's predix:

PICTURE
Who Will Win: "Babel"
Who Should Win: "The Departed"
Who Was Robbed: "United 93"

DIRECTOR
Who Will Win: Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"
Who Should Win: Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"
Who Was Robbed: Mel Gibson, "Apocalypto"

ACTOR
Who Will Win: Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland"
Who Should Win: Leonardo DiCaprio, "Blood Diamond"
Who Was Robbed: Sacha Baron Cohen, "Borat"

ACTRESS
Who Will Win: Helen Mirren, "The Queen"
Who Should Win: Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal"
Who Was Robbed: Gong Li, "Curse of the Golden Flower"

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Who Will Win: Eddie Murphy, "Dreamgirls"
Who Should Win: Jackie Earle Haley, "Little Children"
Who Was Robbed: Brad Pitt, "Babel"

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Who Will Win: Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"
Who Should Win: Cate Blanchett, "Notes on a Scandal"
Who Was Robbed: Maribel Verdu, "Pan's Labyrinth"

Photo: Paramount Vantage

While "Volver" came into the Goyas with 14 nominations, at the end of a long Sunday night in Madrid, it had won 5 including best picture while "Pan's Labyrinth," a foreign film Oscar contender, took home 7 including best screenplay and the newcomer award for Ivana Baquero. Pedro Almodovar, who resigned from the Spanish Film Academy in 2005 after "Bad Education" was passed over as Spain's official Oscar entry for the eventual winner, "The Sea Inside," did win best director for "Volver," but he was not there to say, "Gracias!" That's odd, considering the rift seemed to be mended. "Volver" was Spain's official Oscar entry this year, although it failed to make the cut to the final five. Apparently, Pedro was just pulling a Joan Crawford. A Spanish news agency said he "stayed away, blaming nerves."

His star, Penelope Cruz, won best actress and admitted, "This award is very important, very special for me. I am going to try not to cry because I'm a disaster, and these 30 seconds are not going to be enough."

While Penelope hasn't fared well on the Yankee awards scene, she's been romping on the other side of the Big Drink, winning the European Film Academy prize for best femme perf. At Cannes, she shared the lead-actress laurels with her "Volver" costars when all of Pedro's gals were declared the winner together.

The Police are reuniting and their first public appearance is slated to be as the opening act at the Grammys airing February 11 on CBS. Since splitting in 1984, after a string of hits including "Every Breath You Take" and "Roxanne," they have only performed together twice — at Sting's 1992 wedding and at their 2003 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not surprisingly, there is already talk of a summer concert series that could rival the grosses of the recent Rolling Stones recordbreaking world tour.

Other acts confirmed for the Grammycast include Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, the Dixie Chicks, Gnarls Barkley, Ludacris, John Mayer, John Legend, Corrine Bailey Rae, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Justin Timberlake, and Carrie Underwood.