Royal drama The King’s Speech was crowned with Oscars gold, taking three of the top Academy Award prizes, including best actor for self-mocking Englishman Colin Firth.
The movie grabbed the coveted best film and best director awards as well as Mr Firth’s gong for his portrayal of a stammering King George VI, helped by an Australian voice coach to rally wartime Britain.
Best original screenplay completed a four-Oscar haul – the same as hi-tech thriller Inception and one more than Facebook movie The Social Network, which had a disappointing night after being tipped as possible best film.
Screenwriter David Seidler used his acceptance speech to jokingly thank Queen Elizabeth II, among others, as well as stutterers everywhere.
“I would like to thank Her Majesty the Queen for not putting me in the Tower of London” for putting swear words in George VI’s mouth. “And I accept this on behalf of all the stutterers throughout the world.
“We have a voice, we have been heard,” said Mr Seidler, who himself suffered from a stammer, echoing a line from the movie.
The Social Network, nominated in eight Oscars categories, ended up going home with only three, and none of the major ones: film editing, original score and adapted screenplay for screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.
Mr Sorkin paid tribute afterwards to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, whose portrayal in the movie is not overly flattering.
“I think he’s been an awfully good sport about this,” he told reporters. “I don’t know if any of us want to have a movie made about when we were 19.”
Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a hired hand who penetrates people’s dreams, won four Oscars: cinematography, visual effects, sound mixing and sound editing, while a heavily pregnant Natalie Portman, as expected, won best actress for her role in disturbing ballet thriller Black Swan.
Boxing movie The Fighter took two gongs – best supporting actor for Christian Bale, and best supporting actress for Melissa Leo, who had both been favourites to win.
In a rare edgy moment on an otherwise drama-free night, Ms Leo’s use of the F-word in her acceptance speech had to be cut out of the time-delayed broadcast.
“I had no idea, I apologise to anyone I offended,” she later said.
The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper related the extraordinary story of how he only came to make the movie thanks to the help of his Australian mother, who was in the audience.
“My mum in 2007 was invited by some Australian friends – she’s Australian – in London, to a fringe theatre play reading of an unproduced, unrehearsed play called The King’s Speech,” said the 38-year-old Brit.
He explained: “She’s never been invited to a play reading her entire life before. She almost didn’t go because it didn’t sound exactly promising, but thank God she did.
“She rang me up after, said, Tom, I think I found your next film. So, with this tonight, I honour you and the moral of the story is, listen to your mother.”
In other prizes, Toy Story 3, the third instalment of the family-friendly franchise won best animated feature Oscar as expected.And the best foreign film prize went to In a Better World by Denmark’s star director Susanne Bier, who vanquished movies from Algeria, Canada, Greece and Mexico.
Facts and figures
• 270: The number of guests who attended the first ceremony at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in 1929.
• 15: The number of Oscar statuettes handed out at that ceremony.
• 3: The number of times the ceremony has not gone ahead as planned. In 1938 flooding in Los Angeles delayed it by a week. The event was postponed in 1968 following the murder of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and in 1981 after the failed assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.
• 13.5: The height in inches of the Oscar statuette.
• 2,768: The number of awards given out before tonight’s ceremony.
• 5,755: The number of Academy members who can vote for the Oscars.
• 500: The approximate length in feet of the red carpet at the Kodak Theatre where the ceremony is being held.
• 19: The number of times Bob Hope hosted the event – a record that still stands.