'The Artist' bags top honours at Oscars

New York, Feb 27 (ANI): On the biggest night in Hollywood, 'The Artist' emerged as the loud and clear winner at Sunday's Academy Awards, and took home five Oscars including those for Best Picture, Director and Actor.

At the age of 82, Christopher Plummer became the oldest actor ever to win an Academy Award, picking up the Best Supporting Actor trophy for his role as a senior citizen coming out of the closet in 'The Beginners'.

While 'Hugo' dominated the technical awards early in the evening, 'The Artist' surged late, as director Michel Hazanavicius picked up the Oscar for Best Director, the New York Daily News reported.

The first big acting award went to Octavia Spencer, for her role as a sassy black housekeeper in 'The Help'. She received a standing ovation from the star-studded audience and gave one of the most emotional acceptance speeches.

Host Billy Crystal opened the 84th Oscars show at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles with a snappy medley and dance routine based on nominated films and acting hopefuls.

Oscar-winner Morgan Freeman introduced Crystal, who got help for his opening act from George Clooney, Justin Bieber and Tom Cruise.

Most of the earlier awards were for technical achievement, including Best Film Editing and Best Sound Editing - both going to the thriller 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'.

'Rango' - staring Johnny Depp as the voice of a chameleon, who becomes the sheriff of a small desert town - won Best Animated Feature Film.

The Best Documentary Oscar went to 'Undefeated', about a underdog high school football team, while Iranian-made 'A Separation' took the Best Foreign Language Film.

The winners at the 84th Annual Academy Awards were:

Best Picture - The Artist

Best Actor - Jean Dujardin for 'The Artist'

Best Actress - Meryl Streep for 'The Iron Lady'

Best Director - Michel Hazanavicius for 'The Artist'

Best Supporting Actor - Christopher Plummer for 'Beginners'

Best Supporting Actress - Octavia Spencer for 'The Help'

Best Adapted Screenplay - 'The Descendants' (Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash)

Best Original Screenplay - 'Midnight in Paris' (Woody Allen)

Best Animated feature film - 'Rango'

Best foreign language film - 'A Separation' (Iran)

Best documentary (feature) - 'Undefeated'

Best documentary (short subject) - 'Saving Face' (Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy)

Best short film (animated) - 'The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore'

Best short film (live action) - 'The Shore'

Best art direction - 'Hugo'

Best cinematography - Robert Richardson for 'Hugo'

Best costume design - Mark Bridges for 'The Artist'

Best film editing - 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'

Best makeup - 'The Iron Lady' ( Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland)

Best music (original score) - 'The Artist'

Best music (original song) - 'Man or Muppet' from 'The Muppets'

Best sound editing - 'Hugo' (Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty)

Best sound mixing - 'Hugo' (Tom Fleischman and John Midgley)

Best visual effects - 'Hugo' (Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning) ANI)