Oscars' biggest loser hoping it will be lucky 19

Sound engineer Kevin O'Connell

With 18 previous nominations and no Oscars, O'Connell holds the unenviable record of being the biggest loser in the history of the Academy Awards. No other person has been nominated so many times without success.

But O'Connell, who has been nominated for the 19th time this year for his sound mixing work on the Mel Gibson epic "Apocalypto", has got used to defeat and says he is just happy to be part of Hollywood's most glamorous night of the year.

"I try to keep a good attitude about it," says O'Connell, 50, of his serial rejection by the Academy's voters. "For me it's an honor and a thrill just to have been nominated so many times."

For each of his nominations -- starting in 1984 for "Terms of Endearment" up to his most recent, for "Memoirs of a Geisha" in 2006 -- O'Connell has penned an acceptance speech, all of which are tucked away in a drawer at home.

"Some of them are written on the back of a business card, some of them are written on the back of a napkin," O'Connell said ahead of Sunday's Oscars. "I collect memorabilia, so it's become an extension of my hobby."

He has also framed and mounted each of his 18 Oscar nomination certificates. "I don't have any space left on my wall now," O'Connell said. "But there's still plenty of space on my mantlepiece!"

With so much speech-writing practice, what advice does he offer to first-time nominees preparing their Oscar night words of wit and wisdom? "Make it funny, make it exciting -- and don't pull out a piece of paper," he says.

The text of O'Connell's speeches has remained broadly the same over the years, and if he scoops the golden statuette on Sunday night, expect him to pay tribute to the person who helped him into the movie world -- his mother.

Worried by the dangers her son encountered as a Los Angeles firefighter, O'Connell's mother, who worked at 20th Century Fox, persuaded him to change career 29 years ago, taking a job in the sound department.

"I came home from tackling a wild fire for three days. I was burnt and scarred and I'd lost about 17 pounds," O'Connell recalled.

"My mother said to me 'You look terrible, You look awful. Please come and get a job in the sound department.' So that's what I did.

"A little while later I said to her 'I love this job, I love sound, How can I ever thank you?'. And she said 'Work hard and win yourself an Oscar -- and then you can thank me in front of the whole world.'"

The reasons for O'Connell's long litany of defeats is that the skills involved in sound mixing are not widely appreciated by many of the the 5,830 Academy members who make up the Oscars voting base.

Success in the technical categories is usually linked to whether or not a film has done well in the blue riband contests for best picture, best director, best actor or best actress.

"It's really hard to campaign as a sound mixer," says O'Connell. "If your movie is up for best picture and a lot of actors have been nominated for awards then you're getting a lot of horsepower behind your campaign.

"But if you're not, then you just kind of have to hope that people recognize it on your merits."

With so many defeats, O'Connell has long since given up putting his faith in taking lucky charms to Oscars night. "I've tried new underwear, ties, tuxedos and shirts, but I haven't found that item yet," he said.

"If this is the year I win then everything I'm wearing on Oscars night is going to be sold on E-Bay 'The lucky shoes, the lucky socks, the lucky tie."