Meryl Streep won a third Oscar, having been nominated 17 times.
Silent movie The Artist has triumphed at the Oscars, winning five awards including best picture, best director Michel Hazanavicius and best actor for Jean Dujardin, BBC reports. The film also won the Oscars for best original score and best costumes. Meryl Streep won best actress for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady – her 17th Oscar nomination and third Oscar win.Canadian actor Christopher Plummer became the oldest Oscar winner at 82 by taking the best supporting actor prize.The Help’s Octavia Spencer won the best supporting actress Oscar and gave an emotional acceptance speech, receiving a standing ovation from the audience.Best adapted screenplay went to Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash for The Descendants, starring George Clooney.Veteran screenwriter and director Woody Allen won best original screenplay for Midnight in Paris but was not there to collect the award.Martin Scorsese’s Hugo also won five Oscars, mainly in technical categories. Robert Richardson was cinematographer on Martin Scorsese’s 3D film and Francesca Lo Schiavo was art director. Best sound editing was won by Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty. Hugo’s Tom Fleishman and John Midgley won the Oscar for sound mixing and the film also picked up the award for best visual effects.Rango won best animation, a first Academy award and nomination for director Gore Verbinski. The film features the voice of Johnny Depp, who plays a chameleon.Iran’s A Separation became the first Iranian film to win an Oscar when Sandra Bullock presented director Asghar Farhadi with best foreign language film. Best film editing went to Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall for Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – the pair also won last year for The Social Network. Both films were directed by David Fincher.The Oscar for best original song was won by Bret Mackenzie for Man or Muppet from the soundtrack to The Muppets.Best documentary went to Undefeated, a film about an inner city American football team whose fortunes are turned around by a new coach.Northern Ireland film The Shore won the best live action short film.Saving Face, about a British-Pakastani doctor who helps women who have been injured in acid attacks, won best documentary short. On the red carpet, British comedy actor Sacha Baron Cohen turned up dressed in a white military uniform and sporting a beard and sunglasses, promoting his upcoming film The Dictator. Cohen arrived holding an urn he jokingly claimed contained the ashes of Kim Jong Il, the late leader of North Korea.
