The Artist wins top Academy Award for Best Picture

'The Artist' won Best Picture Silent movie "The Artist" won the Academy Award for Best Picture, crowning its triumphal procession through Hollywood's annual awards season. The French-directed black-and-white movie 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."
Other movies shortlisted for best film were "The Descendants" starring George Clooney, baseball movie "Moneyball" with Brad Pitt, Steven Spielberg's "War Horse," "The Tree of Life" and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."
"The Artist," which tells the story of a silent-era film star whose career is torpedoed by the arrival of "the talkies," was shortlisted in 10 categories at Sunday's Oscars, only one fewer than top-nominated "Hugo" with 11.
"The Artist" won a total of five prizes including a best director Oscar for Michel Hazanavicius and a best actor trophy for Jean Dujardin. The film also won Oscars for best original score and best costume design.
Meryl Streep on Sunday 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.
"Oh, come on!" she said as she was given a standing ovation by the star-studded Hollywood audience.
When her name was called out, she said, "I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, 'Oh no ... her, again'," she added.
Streep defeated a deep field including Viola Davis, who was widely praised for her work in "The Help," and a cross-dressing Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs."
Rooney Mara, who plays damaged hacker Lisbeth Salander in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was also in the running for the best actress prize, as was Michelle Williams for her turn as Marilyn Monroe in "My Week with Marilyn."
 took home the prize for best supporting actress for her role as a black maid in the civil rights drama "The Help," receiving a standing ovation for the also top-tipped movie.
Veteran Canadian actor Christopher Plummer crowned a six-decade acting career with a long-overdue Oscar, a best supporting actor trophy for his role in "Beginners" as an ailing widower who embraces his homosexuality.
 Hollywood's biggest and most glittering night had long been expected to be a battle between "Hugo" and "The Artist," two odes to film-making, and Scorsese's movie netted a string of early awards including art direction, cinematography and sound mixing.
"The Artist" won Oscars for costume design and best score, while several films had earned at least one Academy Award including "The Iron Lady," and "The Descendants" starring George Clooney.
Other winners included the Johnny-Depp voiced "Rango," which won the best animated feature prize, and Woody Allen, who was honored for best original screenplay for "Midnight in Paris."
In the foreign language category, Iran's "A Separation" beat films from Belgium, Canada, Israel and Poland as expected.
 Its director Asghar Farhadi dedicated the award to Iranians "who despise hostility and resentment," and referred to current tension between Tehran and the West over the Islamic republic's suspect nuclear program.
Highlights of the show included a breathtaking cinema-themed performance by Canadian dance troupe Cirque du Soleil, including rapid-fire acrobatics and tumbling across the stage and ceiling of the auditorium.
 "Wow," said veteran host Billy Crystal, presenting the show for the ninth time. "I pulled a hamstring just watching that."
The list of presenters was chock full of heavy-hitters -- last year's best actress and actor Natalie Portman and Colin Firth were set to join Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Tom Hanks and Angelina Jolie among others.
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, "The Dictator" -- and pouring the faux ashes of late North Korean leader Jim Kong-Il onto the red carpet.