Academy Awards: Pets Left Out AGAIN?

Another Academy Awards ceremony and no pets invited – again. When Hollywood honors its top performers for the 75th time, there will be no pet connection.

A pet has yet to come off the stage with an Oscar in his mouth, but various ones have helped their two-legged companions win the coveted prize. Here's a rundown of some of those:

• Child star Jackie Cooper was nominated for best actor for "Skippy" (1931) about a boy trying to raise money for a dog's license. It was based on a popular comic strip.
• In 1933, Will Rogers entered his pig in the fair, in "State Fair," which was nominated for best picture.
• Myrna Loy and William Powell's dog Asta played a special role in their lives in "The Thin Man," nominated for best picture and actor (Powell) in 1934.
• Walter Brennan won the Oscar for his supporting role in "Kentucky," a 1938 film about a horse-breeding family.
• A deer comes of age in Disney's celebrated "Bambi," which was up for best musical score in 1942.
• "Lassie Come Home" was nominated for best cinematography in 1943.
• "National Velvet," the story of a girl (Liz Taylor) and her horse, won an Oscar for best-supporting actress (Anne Revere) in 1945. Revere played the delightful Taylor's mother.
• "The Yearling," a story about a boy and his pet deer, won three Oscars and was nominated for best picture in 1946.
• "Tweetie Pie," about a cat and dog chase, was awarded a 1947 Oscar for best cartoon short.
• "Bill and Coo," also in '47, won a special Oscar for its creators' "patient" handling of an all-bird cast.
• The sheik in "Ben-Hur" (best picture of 1959) was shocked anyone would treat his horses "like animals," especially when they won the chariot race.
• Audrey Hepburn named her "no-name cat" "Cat" in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", winner of the best song ("Moon River") of 1961.
• Art Carney was awarded an Oscar for playing an old man who traveled the country with his cat, in "Harry and Tonto" in 1974.
• "Babe," a 1995 movie about a piglet seeking his place in the Universe, won an Oscar for best cinematography and received five other nominations, including best picture and best actor. The piglet was not among those honored.
• And who can forget, acid-tongued Jack Nicholson's dynamite Oscar performance in 1997's "As Good As It Gets," where he befriends a neighbor's dog (a Brussels Griffon named Verdell). Co-stars were Helen Hunt and Greg Kinnear, but Verdell was the one who brought them all together.