The 84th Academy Awards brought the 3rd Oscar win for Streep and the first for 82-year-old Christopher Plummer.
Jean Dujardin earned the best-actor Academy Award for his performance in "The Artist," which was named best picture. (AP photo)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “The Artist” won the Academy Award for best motion picuture on Sunday.
Meryl Streep joined a very exclusive club, winning her third acting Oscar for her role as a strident Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady.”
Streep played the British prime minister as a senile retiree, as well as a hectoring, dominant figure who instilled fear and respect in her own cabinet. At the film’s pinnacle, Streep as Thatcher is the backbone of a nation that goes to war over the distant Falkland Islands after Argentina invades in 1982.
Streep, 62, won best actress for her 17th Oscar nomination, the most times any performer has been nominated by the Academy.
Her third win put her in a category with other three-time Oscar winners Jack Nicholson, Walter Brennan and Ingrid Bergman. Only Katharine Hepburn with four wins had more.
Jean Dujardin has earned the best-actor Academy Award for “The Artist,” becoming the only performer to win an Oscar for a silent-film role since the first year of the awards 83 years ago.
Dujardin became the first Frenchman to win an acting Oscar. French actresses have won before, including Marion Cotillard and Juliette Binoche.
The film’s creator, Michel Hazanavicius, won the directing Oscar. Claiming Hollywood’s top-filmmaking honor Sunday completes Hazanavicius’ sudden rise from popular movie-maker back home in France to internationally celebrated director.
The supporting-actor prize Sunday went to “Beginners” co-star Christopher Plummer, who became the oldest acting winner ever at 82. Veteran bit player Octavia Spencer earned the supporting-actress prize for her breakout role in “The Help.”
Hazanavicius had come in as the favorite after winning at the Directors Guild of America Awards, whose recipient almost always goes on to claim the Oscar.
But his win remained uncertain given the lineup of established filmmakers he was up against: past winners and nominees Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Terrence Malick and Alexander Payne.
Christopher Plummer accepts the Oscar for best actor in a supporting role for "Beginners" during the 84th Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)When Plummer accepted his best supporting actor award, he stared at the statuette before remarking on how great it looked.
“You’re only two years older than me darling, where have you been all of my life?” Plummer asked.
At birth, he joked, “I was already rehearsing my academy acceptance speech, but it was so long ago mercifully for you I’ve forgotten it.”
The humor and heartfelt one he delivered Sunday night wasn’t that original version, he said, but, “I haven’t forgotten who to thank.”
Plummer has enjoyed a vibrant career that has included his first two Oscar nominations in the past three years. Wearing a navy velvet tuxedo, Plummer thanked fellow nominees, co-stars and his wife, who he said “deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for coming to my rescue every day of my life.”
Plummer won for his role in “Beginners” as Hal Fields, a museum director who becomes openly gay after his wife of 44 years dies. His loving, final relationship becomes an inspiration for his son, who struggles with his father’s death and how to find intimacy in a new relationship.
Over more than 50 years in the industry, Plummer has enjoyed varied roles ranging from Captain Von Trapp in the “The Sound of Music” to the voice of the villain in 2009’s “Up.” He was nominated for his portrayal of Leo Tolstoy in “The Last Station” three years ago.
Plummer beat out fellow nominees Kenneth Branagh, Jonah Hill, Nick Nolte and fellow octogenarian Max von Sydow.
He displaces George Burns, who in 1976 was the oldest nominee to win a supporting actor Oscar at age 80. Jessica Tandy, who won for “Driving Miss Daisy” was the oldest winner before Sunday’s show.
Plummer’s age was a joke for host Billy Crystal, who told the audience, “He may be walking up on stage tonight because apparently he wanders off.”
In the end, Plummer did end up onstage and it wasn’t a mistake at all. The audience showered him with applause and Plummer’s lifelong dream was fulfilled.
Spencer’s Oscar triumph came for her role as a headstrong black maid whose willful ways continually land her in trouble with white employers in 1960s Mississippi.
Octavia Spencer accepts the Oscar for best actor in a supporting role for "The Help" during the 84th Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)Spencer wept throughout her breathless speech, in which she apologized, between laughing and crying, for running a bit long on her time limit.
“Thank you, academy, for putting me with the hottest guy in the room,” Spencer said, referring to last year’s supporting-actor winner Christian Bale, who presented her Oscar.
Her brash character holds a personal connection: “The Help” author Kathryn Stockett based some of the woman’s traits on Spencer, whom she met through childhood pal Tate Taylor, the director of the film.
Before taking the stage, Spencer got kisses from “The Help” co-stars Viola Davis, a best-actress nominee, and Jessica Chastain, a fellow supporting nominee.
“I share this with everybody,” Spencer said.
Martin Scorsese’s Paris adventure “Hugo” won the first two prizes of the night, claiming the Oscars for cinematography and art direction.
Best actress Meryl Streep arrives for the 84th Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)List of the 84th Annual Academy Award winners announced Sunday:
1. Cinematography: "Hugo."
2. Art Direction: "Hugo."
3. Costume Design: "The Artist."
4. Makeup: "The Iron Lady."
5. Foreign Language Film: "A Separation," Iran.
6. Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, "The Help."
7. Film Editing: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."
8. Sound Editing: "Hugo."
9. Sound Mixing: "Hugo."
10. Documentary Feature: "Undefeated."
11. Animated Feature Film: "Rango."
12. Visual Effects: "Hugo."
13. Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners."
14. Original Score: "The Artist."
15. Original Song: "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets."
16. Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, "The Descendants."
17. Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris."
18. Live Action Short Film: "The Shore."
19. Documentary (short subject): "Saving Face."
20. Animated Short Film: "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore."
21. Directing: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist."
22. Actor: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist."
23. Actress: Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady."
24. Picture: "The Artist"
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Oscar winners previously presented this season:
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Oprah Winfrey.
Honorary Award: James Earl Jones.
Honorary Award: Dick Smith.
Gordon E. Sawyer Award: Douglas Trumbull.
Award of Merit: ARRI cameras.