BEST ACTOR AND BEST ACTRESS GO TO...
Jean Dujardin won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in silent movie "The Artist," becoming the first Frenchman to win an acting Oscar.
The Gallic actor beat four fellow nominees including Hollywood A-listers George Clooney and Brad Pitt, who had been nominated for "The Descendants" and "Moneyball," respectively.
After thanking the film's cast and crew, adding "my wife, I love you," Dujardin broke into French, using an expletive and then saying, "Great, thank you."
Meryl Streep won the Oscar for best actress for her scintillating portrayal of former British premier Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady."
It was the third Oscar for the 62-year-old Streep and her first in three decades, underscoring her status as the pre-eminent actress of her generation.
BEST PICTURE: ANOTHER WIN FOR "THE ARTIST"
Silent movie The Artist has won the best picture Oscar at the 84th Academy Awards.
The French-directed black-and-white film beat eight rivals for the top Oscars prize, including Martin Scorsese's Hugo, Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris and hit civil rights drama The Help.
"THE ARTIST" TAKES THE BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR
French newcomer Michel Hazanavicius wins the award for Best Director for "The Artist".
The 44-year-old, who triumphed over veterans including Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen, had already won a series of gongs for his black-and-white homage to the silent movie era.
"I am the happiest director in the world right now," he said in his acceptance speech.
He is only the second French filmmaker honored by his Hollywood peers, following in the footsteps of Franco-Polish director Roman Polanski, who won a best director Oscar in 2003 for "The Pianist."
The first two awards of the night went to "Hugo" - about the French grandfather of early cinema, Georges Melies -- for cinematography and art direction.
The award for Best Supporting Actress went to Octavia Spencer for "The Help". Meanwhile, Christopher Plummer has won the gong for Best Supporting Actor, the oldest actor to do so at 82.
Australian Kirk Baxter scoops the award for Best Film Editing for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and "A Separation" takes the prize for Best Foreign Language Film.
"Midnight in Paris" takes the prize for Original Screenplay, "the Artist" wins an award for Best Score.
"Saving Face" wins Documentary Short Subject and "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" takes out the Short Animated Film Oscar.
BILLY CRYSTAL OPENS THE BIG NIGHT
Billy Crystal opened the 84th Academy Awards ceremony with a comic video montage of scenes from films nominated for best picture and others from 2011
Hosting the show for his ninth time, Crystal appeared in a series of clips beginning with a black-and-white nod to the French-directed movie, featuring stars including Justin Bieber and George Clooney -- who kissed Crystal.
The "When Harry Met Sally" star then launched into a song and dance routine also including references to other movies including Martin Scorsese's "Hugo" and Clooney's Hawaiian-themed family drama "The Descendants."
RED CARPET STUNT
But the spectacle began even before the curtain went up, with the usual procession of glamour gowns on the red carpet leading into the Oscars, the climax of Hollywood's annual awards season.
British comic Sacha Baron Cohen also pulled a colorful stunt, defying a warning against coming dressed as the star of his latest movie -- and pouring the faux ashes of late North Korean leader Jim Kong-Il onto the red carpet.
NOMINEES
The list of presenters is chock full of heavy-hitters -- last year's best actress and actor Natalie Portman and Colin Firth will join Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Tom Hanks and Angelina Jolie among others.
"Hugo" went into the show with the most nominations, at 11, with "The Artist" just behind on 10.
Scorsese is not the only legendary director in the mix -- Woody Allen is in the running for best picture honors for his comeback hit "Midnight in Paris," and Steven Spielberg will gun for the top prize with "War Horse."
Buddies Clooney and Brad Pitt will duke it out for best actor, but "Artist" star Jean Dujardin, who has won a slew of awards for his portrayal of a struggling silent-era movie star, could best them both.
Clooney downplayed his hopes of winning best actor before the show, saying: "I have a feeling in the best actor race you're going to hear someone speaking French."
Meryl Streep could take home her first Oscar in three decades for a powerful turn as former British premier Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady," in a battle against cross-dressing Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs."
Rooney Mara, who plays damaged hacker Lisbeth Salander in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is also in the running for the best actress prize, as is Michelle Williams for her turn as Marilyn Monroe in "My Week with Marilyn."
But Oscar watchers say they could all be beaten by Viola Davis, whose role as a black maid in "The Help" -- set in Mississippi against the backdrop of the 1960s civil rights struggle -- has earned her an outpouring of praise.
Davis' co-star Octavia Spencer is seen as a top contender in the best supporting actress category. Castmate Jessica Chastain is also nominated along with Berenice Bejo from "The Artist" and Melissa McCarthy for "Bridesmaids."
Janet McTeer rounds out the category with her gender-bending turn opposite Close in "Albert Nobbs."
"The Help" is also among the nine movies nominated for best picture, along with "War Horse," "The Artist," "Moneyball," "The Descendants," "Midnight in Paris," "Hugo" and powerful 9/11 film "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."
Also up for the top prize is Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life," which won the coveted Palme d'Or at last year's Cannes Film Festival.
Supporting actor top tips are Christopher Plummer in "Beginners" and Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud." Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn," Jonah Hill in "Moneyball" and Nick Nolte in "Warrior" are also in the race.
The easy foreign language film frontrunner is Iran's "A Separation," which has already won a series of awards season prizes including a Spirit Award on Saturday. It competes against films from Belgium, Canada, Israel and Poland.
