ACADEMY'S YEAR OF OSCAR SURPRISES\Heroism, feel-good sentiment help spur odd field of yeas, nays.

Byline: Amy Dawes Daily News Staff Writer

Old-fashioned never-say-die heroism - be it on the moors of Scotland or in outer space - was the movie ingredient that seduced more academy voters than any other in a year of surprises and spread-out recognition.

Mel Gibson's swashbuckling adventure epic "Braveheart" took the lion's share of nominations - 10 - including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director (Gibson, who also starred), editor and cinematographer - followed closely by Ron Howard's lost-in-space drama "Apollo 13," nominated nine times.

The true-life suspenser, which highlighted the heroism of the astronauts as they fought to return a stricken space capsule safely to Earth, was nominated for Best Picture and Best Screenplay, but didn't land a nod for director Ron Howard, or for star Tom Hanks, who's been named Best Actor for the last two years. Other Best Picture nominees were "Sense and Sensibility," "Babe" and - in the biggest surprise of the voting - "The Postman (Il Postino)," an Italian import that was directed by an Englishman, Michael Radford, making it the first foreign-language film nominated for Best Picture since Ingmar Bergman's "Cries and Whispers" in 1973.

In an unlikely scenario, the lyrical art film about an illiterate postman's transforming friendship with poet Pablo Neruda became a sentimental favorite after distributor Miramax films invested $1.5 million in a strong publicity push. Soon, everyone knew the story of the ultimate sacrifice made by its star, Italian actor Massimo Troisi, who proceeded with his beloved project even though doctors warned him he was not likely to survive the rigors of the shoot. Troisi had suffered heart problems since childhood, and he died in June 1994, less than 12 hours after the filming was completed.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized him posthumously with a Best Actor nomination, adding a Best Director nod for Radford, and nods for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Score, for a total of five.

"If Massimo was here, I'm sure he'd be saying in Italian, 'Oh boy - what's an Oscar?' " said Radford. "He'd be making some kind of joke. I wish he was here. I couldn't have wished for anything better for Massimo, and the rest of it is just icing on the cake."

In other surprises, the movie most heavily favored by critics - "Leaving Las Vegas" - failed to land a Best Picture nod, though it did score four nominations, for director Mike Figgis, for Figgis' screenplay, based on an autobiographical book by writer John O'Brien, and for lead performers Nicolas Cage and Elizabeth Shue.

Said Figgis, "It's great when there are surprises. There would be nothing more boring than the landslide that everyone predicted. The night of the awards is now going to be very exciting."

Also causing a stir was the way Oliver Stone's "Nixon," which stalled at the box office and didn't loom large in critics awards, staged an Oscar comeback with four nominations, for Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins - who'd had grave doubts that he could handle the role - and for Joan Allen as Pat Nixon. The political tragedy also scored nods for Best Screenplay and Best Score.

Another strong contender - which many would have dismissed as too troubling, but which slowly had been gathering steam with critics and at the box office - was "Dead Man Walking." The tale of a nun's involvement in the spiritual salvation of a condemned killer won nominations for Tim Robbins as Best Director, Susan Sarandon as Best Actress, Sean Penn for Best Actor and for Bruce Springsteen, who wrote the title song.

A total of seven nominations for "Babe," (including Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor - for the farmer, played by James Cromwell, not the pig) a comic fable about a pig who challenges the barnyard hierarchy helped put its distributor, Universal, in the lead among studios with a total of 20 nominations.

After Universal, the breakdown by studios and film companies was as follows: Disney, with 15; Paramount, 12; Miramax, 11; Sony, eight; MGM/UA, seven; Warner Bros. and Gramercy, tied with six apiece; New Line, three; and Sony Pictures Classics, two.

Surprises continued in the acting categories: Jennifer Jason Leigh had been considered a strong contender for her hard-core performance as strung-out, racoon-eyed rocker Sadie in the independent film "Georgia," but voters did an about-face and bestowed their favors on her restrained, together sister, played by Mare Winningham in the title role.

And Nicole Kidman was an odds-on favorite for a nomination for her icily precise black comedy turn in "To Die For," but was shut out along with that terrific pic.

THE FACTS

What: 68th annual Academy Awards.

When: 6 p.m. March 25.

Where: Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles.

Channel: KABC (Channel 7).

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Photo (Cover--Color) And the nominees are... (Academy Award Statuette) A.M.P.A.S.