2002 MOVIES: OSCAR HISTORY: BLACKS WIN 1ST BEST-ACTOR AWARDS.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

The 74th annual Academy Awards brought Oscar back to Hollywood for the first time in four decades, and then went down in movie history for giving the two top acting prizes to blacks.

The significance of the accomplishment was not lost on Halle Berry, who gushed and sobbed as she clutched the statuette honoring her performance as a convict's widow who gets involved with a white racist prison guard in ``Monster's Ball,'' the first lead award for any black actress.

``Oh my God,'' she said to the audience at the new Kodak Theatre. ``I'm sorry. This moment is so much bigger than me. This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. It's for the women that stand beside me - Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett, Vivica Fox.

``And it's for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.''

Denzel Washington's best-actor honor for playing a corrupt cop in ``Training Day'' was his second Academy Award, having earned best supporting actor in 1989 for ``Glory.''

In his acceptance speech, Washington paid homage to veteran actor Sidney Poitier, his mentor and sole black predecessor in the best-actor category, for ``Lilies of the Field'' in 1963. Earlier in the ceremonies Poitier had been saluted with an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.

``Forty years I've been chasing Sidney, they finally give it to me, what'd they do? They give it to him the same night,'' Washington said with a broad smile. ``I'll always be chasing you, Sidney. I'll always be following in your footsteps. There's nothing I would rather do, sir.''

Poitier foreshadowed the long awards drought for black lead performers after his ``Lilies'' win. ``I'd like to think it will help someone, but I don't believe my Oscar will be a sort of magic wand that will wipe away the restrictions on job opportunities for Negro actors,'' he told The New York Times.

With past supporting-actress winner Whoopi Goldberg hosting the ceremonies, a lead actor nomination for Will Smith (``Ali'') and honors for Berry, Washington and Poitier, it would seem that 2002 marked the end of the Oscars' unofficial color barrier.

Speaking with reporters backstage, Washington said he hoped the media and Oscar watchers would view his award the same way he did, as recognition for outstanding work by one actor, regardless of his color.

One reporter said most American newspapers the following morning would make a big deal of Berry's and Washington's achievements as blacks, and he asked Washington whether he believed that black actors will always feel racism. Washington responded with a challenge rather than a direct answer.

``Make sure it doesn't happen tomorrow,'' he said. ``Write 'Actor wins award.' What a chance you have. What an opportunity!''

However, few newspapers, if any, granted that wish.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Halle Berry won an Academy Award for her leading role in ''Monster's Ball,'' in which she portrayed a convict's widow who falls for a white racist prison guard.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(2 -- color) Denzel Washington wins his first best-actor Oscar for his role as a corrupt cop in ''Training Day.'' He also won in 1989 for a supporting role in ''Glory.''

John McCoy/Staff Photographer