Photo gallery: Red carpet arrivals
Photo gallery: Red carpet arrivals: Part 2
KEY POINTS:
No Country for Old Men has been named Best Picture at the Oscars in Hollywood today.
The film, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, won four Oscars, also taking best directing, best adapted screenplay and best supporting actor.
Spanish performer Javier Bardem, playing a cold-blooded killer who often decides the fate of random victims with the toss of a coin, took the best supporting actor Oscar.
Daniel Day-Lewis won his second Oscar for his role as a vicious early 20th century oil entrepreneur in the drama There Will Be Blood.
Day-Lewis, 50, has swept this year's awards season with a performance that dominates the screen as an ambitious oil explorer with a sadistic streak.
It was the second Oscar best actor win for the London-born actor following his Academy Award for playing a man with cerebral palsy who learns to write and paint with his foot in the 1989 movie My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown.
He was nominated for an Oscar two other times for In the Name of the Father and Gangs of New York.
Marion Cotillard won the Academy Award for Best Actress today for her portrayal of legendary chanteuse Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose to become the first French performer since 1960 to earn an Oscar in the category.
It was the first nomination for Cotillard, who was a favorite coming into today's award show in Hollywood.
The 32-year-old actress stunned audiences and critics at home and abroad with her physical transformation in the film that traces the life of Piaf, who achieved international fame after being raised by her grandmother in a brothel but saw her life cut short by drug and alcohol abuse.
"I'm speechless now," Cotillard said on stage, visibly surprised and overjoyed. "Thank you life, thank you love. It is true there (are) some angels in this city."
In the supporting categories, Javier Bardem became the first ever Spanish winner of an acting Oscar, picking up the best supporting actor award for his portrayal of a psychopathic hitman in No Country for Old Men.
Bardem, 38, had been the overwhelming favourite for the statuette after a clean sweep of other major awards heading into the Oscars.
"Mama, this is for you. This is for your grandparents and your parents," said Bardem. "This is for the comedians of Spain who like you have brought dignity and pride to our profession. This is for Spain and this is for all of you."
Briton Tilda Swinton won the best supporting actress Oscar for her performance as a ruthless corporate attorney in the legal thriller Michael Clayton.
The Austrian Holocaust-era drama The Counterfeiters won the Oscar for best foreign language film. Directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, it was the first win for Austria in the category.
Another key trophy was awarded to brothers Joel and Ethan Coen for their adapted screenplay for No Country for Old Men, which is based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy.
The first major award for best animated film went to audience favourite Ratatouille, which tells of a friendly rat who becomes head chef in a Parisian kitchen.
Ratatouille director Brad Bird made light of an old teacher of his who, when Bird said he wanted to make movies for a career, replied: "What else do you want to do with your life?"
In other early honours, the Oscar for costume design went to period drama Elizabeth: The Golden Age and French film La Vie en Rose won the award for best makeup.
- REUTERS
