At least Marcia Cross had a good excuse for not being at the Globes tonight — she's got those pregnancy priorities.

And now I feel (a bit) bad about making that nasty prediction that Johnny Depp would run out the door the minute he'd lose to Sacha Baron Cohen, recalling the shocking sprint he made upon losing his bid for the first "Pirates of the Caribbean." Turns out that he really ran the other way a while back, the day he got his Globe invite.

The absence of Mel Gibson and Judi Dench is especially sad. As noted below, the Globes put Mel on the kudos map a few years ago. The Hollywood Foreign Press has been exceptionally generous to Judi, giving her prizes for her film work in "Mrs. Brown" and TV work in "The Last of the Blonde Bombshells." Frankly, they sure look like ingrates to me right now.

Since I wrote those words above, I've been taken to task by posters here (click "Comments" link below) who note that Dame Judi was busy performing in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of "The Merry Wives of Windsor" in Stratford-Upon-Avon, which may seem like a good excuse. Many other Globe and Oscar nominees through the years, however, have been in a similar situation and made arrangements to be excused for a few days. Others chose not to. Judi is not alone. Let's recall how Anne Bancroft stuck it out on Broadway the night she won an Oscar 3,000 miles away for "The Miracle Worker," for example. In Judi's case, come to think of it, she's such a serious, classical thespian that it probably makes sense that she might sincerely believe that her theater duty is a higher priority. Her spokesman adds, "She committed over a year ago to the play and she refused to let down an audience that is expecting her to perform (not a stand-in) when the play had such a finite amount of performances. We tried to accommodate and move heaven and earth, but it would have killed too many performances and the play is just about to end." OK, OK. I concede the point and apologize to the great dame. Memo to Mel: you're still ungrateful.

And as for Peter O'Toole, well, Ye Olde Rascal has not exactly been the most accessible kudos contender so far this year. Back in September, he ditched the Toronto Film Festival at the last sec, citing a case of "gastric nasties." Last week he managed to make it to New York to do ballyhoo on TV talk shows for "Venus," but at that point the press chiefs didn't know what day he'd get to L.A. for Globes, only that he wouldn't arrive in time for Friday's Critics' Choice Awards. As of last Wednesday, he was still scheduled to head west and many of kudos-watchers believed his arrival in L.A. would matter much.

When I sat with Variety's #2 editor Steve Gaydos over din-din at the Critics Choice Awards on Friday, Steve said, "Sure, things look fine for Forest Whitaker right now, but — watch out! — everything changes tomorrow the minute Peter O'Toole's plane touches down in Los Angeles!"

But a Miramax rep tells Gold Derby: "Unfortunately O'Toole flew back to london on Saturday. He was exhausted after his crazy press schedule in New York and didn't have it in him to come here. If we get the Oscar nom, he will come."

So perhaps there is hope for Oscar's biggest loser yet.

Photo: After making a vigorous PR tour in New York, O'Toole was too tuckered out to attend the Globes, but promises to tubthump in Hollywood if he's nominated for an Oscar. (Miramax)