Queen of Oscars

Dame Helen Mirren has been crowned queen of the Oscars winning best actress for her role in The Queen.She said: "My sister told me all kids love to get gold stars - this is the biggest and best gold star I've ever had in my life."Cop thriller The Departed won best picture and a long-awaited best director award for Martin Scorsese.Forest Whitaker was named best actor for his role as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland.Dame Helen, 61, had been the runaway favourite to win best actress for her role in The Queen, in which she played the British monarch during the days following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.In her acceptance speech she paid tribute to the Queen. "For 50 years and more, Elizabeth Windsor has maintained her dignity, her sense of duty - and her hairstyle," she said."She has had her feet planted firmly on the ground, her hat on her head and her handbag on her arm. She has weathered many, many storms. And I salute her courage and her consistency and I thank her because if it wasn't for her I most certainly would not be here."She ended her speech by holding up the Oscar statuette and saying: "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Queen."Complete list of winners at the 79th annual Academy Awards, presented at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles:Best Motion Picture: The Departed.Lead Actor: Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland.Lead Actress: Helen Mirren, The Queen.Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine.Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls.Directing: Martin Scorsese, The Departed.Foreign Language Film: The Lives of Others, Germany Adapted. Screenplay: William Monahan, The Departed.Original Screenplay: Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine. Animated Feature Film: Happy Feet.Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth.Cinematography: Pan's Labyrinth.Sound Mixing: Dreamgirls.Sound Editing: Letters From Iwo Jima.Original Score: Babel, Gustavo Santaolalla.Original Song: I Need to Wake Up from An Inconvenient Truth, Melissa Etheridge.Costume: Marie Antoinette.Documentary Feature: An Inconvenient Truth.Documentary Short Subject: The Blood of Yingzhou District.Film Editing: The Departed Makeup: Pan's Labyrinth.Animated Short Film: The Danish Poet.Live Action Short Film: West Bank Story.Visual Effects: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.Jean Hersholt Award (Oscar statuette): Sherry Lansing.Honorary Academy Award (Oscar statuette): Ennio Morricone.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | February 26, 2007

Tags:. .wasnt. .paid. .theatre. .maintained. .elizabeth