GEORGE CLOONEY - CLOONEY IS AN EXPERIENCED LOSER

GEORGE CLOONEY sees his failure to land an award at Sunday night's (19FEB06) BAFTA Awards as the perfect preparation for next month's (MAR06) Academy Awards.

The 44-year-old, who has never attended the Oscars before, had plenty of opportunities to hone his best loser's smile and congratulations when he missed out on three awards at the London ceremony.

And he is not expecting to pick up a coveted statuette at the Academy Awards in LA, despite landing nominations for Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay.

He says, "I'm pretty good at losing. You just look straight in the camera and say some inanity or other, like you're really happy for that other schmuck who won."