BENING IS DUE BABY NO. 4 - AND OSCAR NO. 1? - ABOUT TO ARRIVE.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

OK, so her latest movie tanked. So everything in Annette Bening's existence isn't picture perfect. You'd still trade lives with her in a nanosecond.

With her fourth child due within a month, a best-actress Oscar nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Award for a film she made purely for love, and her marriage to Warren Beatty as solid as ever, Bening could hardly ask for more.

Understandably, the statuesque star - who, with her chic black maternity ensemble and attractively short haircut, is a model of third-trimester glamour - exudes gratitude and graciousness with practically everything she says.

``It's, maybe, even sweeter this time,'' the 41-year-old Bening says of her ``American Beauty'' nomination (she competed for the supporting-actress Academy Award in 1990 for her work in ``The Grifters''). ``Back then, I felt like I was still sort of a stage actress pretending to be a movie actress. Now, having done a few movies, I know how rare it is for something to really come together. Despite all the best intentions of everybody involved, it's very, very difficult to make a good movie.''

``American Beauty'' has definitely been the ongoing movie surprise of the last six months. Written and directed by feature-film first-timers, the scathingly satiric critique of contemporary suburban values seemed, in many ways, too bold, too smart and too exuberantly nasty for popular success - and for the academy's generally delicate, middlebrow tastes.

But the picture became an unexpected commercial hit and, after rising and falling through the early heats of awards season, it has emerged as the Oscar front-runner with a leading eight nominations. The movie, which won the bellwether best dramatic film Golden Globe, has also done better at the box office in its Oscar season re-release than Bening's brand-new film, the science-fiction sex farce ``What Planet Are You From?'' ``Beauty'' is now closing in on a benchmark $100 million gross, an unparalleled achievement for what is, in many ways, an unapologetic art film.

``This picture was made for love,'' she says. ``It was really made without having to make one compromise. I've been involved in a lot of movies that feel responsible to find an audience because they've spent so much money making it. In this case, DreamWorks gave us a relatively tiny amount of money and then said, 'Do what you want.' So no decision on the movie was made for any other reason than that it seemed right for the film in terms of casting and story and everything.

``So, the fact that it came together so beautifully and turned into a movie that was touching to people was, in itself, great. And then, for it to be something that people wanted to see, and then be something that the academy recognized, is really a thrill, and very affirming for all of us who loved it.''

Though a British theatrical phenomenon before making his movie debut, ``Beauty'' director Sam Mendes was less familiar with Bening's extensive stage credentials (graduate of San Francisco's prestigious American Conservatory Theatre, Tony nominee and Clarence Derwent Award winner in New York, an Ovation Award nominee for her recent star turn in Ibsen's ``Hedda Gabler'' at Westwood's Geffen Playhouse) than with her diverse movie work in such films as ``The American President,'' ``Mars Attacks!'' and ``Bugsy.''

``I've always loved Annette,'' Mendes says. ``She's a wonderful actress (who) can be absolutely hilarious and have virtually no vanity in her performances. I thought it was time she did something that really stretched her, and she threw herself into this totally, in such a good way.''

On Sunday, Bening was rewarded with a a SAG award for best actress. She faces the same field of competitors on Oscar night. But no matter what happens on March 26, you get the impression she'll be genuinely pleased with the results.

``I've seen most of the other performances, and it feels really good to be among that group,'' she says. ``This year, the academy is recognizing a lot of work that came from the heart. There have been years when the academy went more toward what's popular and commercial, so I'm very proud to be part of a year that's less skewed that way.''

Of course, claiming a statuette could well be a second priority on the big night. Though not scheduled to arrive until April, the baby could come anytime before that.

``I don't know for sure about (winning) the Oscar, but with a pregnancy, at least, you know what you'll be getting at the end,'' she says with a laugh.

Talk of having a helicopter parked behind the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion should Bening or Beatty need to make a quick hospital run is, at this point, premature (pardon the pun). But nothing short of labor is going to keep the actress away from the ceremonies. Though not necessarily for the reason you'd expect.

``My husband is getting the Thalberg Award that night,'' she says, and the prestigious, honorary prize for movie producing is clearly a big deal to Beatty. ``When I saw the look on his face when he first told me they were going to give it to him ... I'll never forget it, he was so excited. It means more to him, I think, than anything.''

Well, almost anything.

``I'm really looking forward to that - there'll be a wonderful presentation at the Oscars,'' she says of Beatty's honor. ``If he can be there. If I'm not there, he won't be either.''

And happily so. The late-in-life domestication of Warren Beatty is still something of a marvel to veteran Hollywood-watchers. For decades the town's most notorious ladies man and then, as now, a maddeningly tough guy to get to commit to anything, Beatty has embraced family life with Bening with all the formidable ardor he once reserved for his personal film projects.

And the feelings are obviously reciprocated, even though Bening has made a great effort to define herself apart from the marriage professionally. She invariably refers to her spouse as ``my husband'' rather than by his famous name during interviews. And although she likes to joke about a lot of things, she sidesteps the obvious gags about doing ``Planet'' love scenes with one of Beatty's closest friends, Garry Shandling.

On the other hand, she seems more than willing to face the demands of being a presidential candidate's wife - as long as it's in some future election cycle.

``That would've been a lot this year,'' notes an eye-rolling Bening, whose husband flirted with running for the Democratic Party's nomination a few months back.

``I wouldn't have been up there like a lot of the wives are, standing next to them all the time. I would've been sitting somewhere on the sidelines with my feet up. ``But especially right now, given how the campaign is, I wish there was someone on the left,'' says Bening, ``someone talking about so many things that are just completely ignored in the dialogue. I think that, if (Beatty) decides to do that one day, it would be great. I like his politics, I agree with him. But I also think that, once you get into public life, it's hard to get out. It's such a personal decision; whatever he decided to do, I would say 'good.' ''

As for the ever-growing Beatty bloc of future voters, Bening pats her substantial tummy and laughs.

``We have now reached the end of the line. I think I've made my contribution in that department,'' she giggles.

``Oh boy, it gets more complicated every time. They (her other children - ages 8, 5 and 2) are everywhere now! Every time you turn around, there's one standing there.

``And that's the great thing about pregnancy. Because it's horrid, even the healthy pregnancies, knock on wood, that I've had. It's still a big journey to go through, physically. But knowing that at the end you get this wonderful prize is pretty sweet. There is nothing like it.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) All 'American'

SAGE award and Oscar nomination are extra-sweet for expectant mother Annette Bening.

(2) `I don't know for sure about (winning) the Oscar, but with a pregnancy, at least, you know what you'll be getting at the end.'

--Annette Bening, nominated for her second Academy award.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

(3) Annette Bening is an Oscar nominee for her role in ``American Beauty,'' as a suburban mother and real-estate agent.