Silence is golden at this year's Academy Awards. The black-and-white, silent film "The Artist" emerged as the big winner at Sunday night's Oscar ceremony, taking Oscar's most coveted prize for Best Picture. The win makes "The Artist" the first silent film in 80 years to win an Academy Awards. The film's director Michel Hazanavicius also took home an Oscar for Best Director, as did its star Jean Dujardin, who was named Best Actor. Oscar's most nominated performer, Meryl Streep, took home her third Academy Award of her illustrious career for her portrayal of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady." Streep, who has been nominated 17 times for an Oscar, won her last golden trophy almost 30 years ago for "Sophie's Choice."
Veteran actor Christopher Plummer also added to the history-making night. At age 82, Plummer became the oldest actor to win an Oscar for his supporting role in "Beginners." It also marked the first Oscar win of Plummer's career. Octavia Spencer extended her long winning streak with the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "The Help." The Iranian film "A Separation" nabbed the trophy for Best Foreign Language Film, marking the first Oscar win for that country, and hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs was the executive producer behind the Best Documentary Feature winner "Undefeated."
Nominated for eleven Oscars Martin Scorsese's "Hugo" emerged with five wins in the technical categories. Billy Crystal logged his ninth turn at hosting the Academy Awards. Crystal cracked jokes about the venue's sudden name change throughout the night. The Kodak company recently won the right to remove its name from the venue for its bankruptcy case. The Hollywood venue is now known as the Hollywood and Highland Center. Crystal referred to it once during the Oscar telecast as "The Chapter 11 Theater." ABC televised the ceremony live on both coasts. The show ran approximately three hours and eight minutes long.
Here is the list of winners for the 84th Annual Academy Awards:
BEST PICTURE:
"The Artist"
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Jean Dujardin - "The Artist"
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
Meryl Streep - "The Iron Lady"
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
BEST DIRECTOR:
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"A Separation"
MUSIC (SCORE)
"The Artist" Ludovic Bource
MUSIC (SONG)
"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" -- Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
"Rango"
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
"The Descendants"
WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
"Midnight in Paris"
ART DIRECTION
"Hugo"
CINEMATOGRAPHY
"Hugo"
COSTUME DESIGN
"The Artist"
MAKEUP
"The Iron Lady"
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"Undefeated"
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
"Saving Face"
SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"
