At Long Last, Scorsese Wins Oscar

"Departed" Snags Best Picture, Best Director; Top Acting Honors Go To Mirren, Whitaker

(CBS/AP)  The mob saga "The Departed" won Best Picture at the Academy Awards Sunday, a triumph for a homegrown American film in an evening that featured the most internationally diverse field of nominees in the history of Hollywood's highest honors.

The film's director, Martin Scorsese - who has been waiting many years to clutch the coveted statue - walked off with the award for Best Director, taking the prize for his crime epic after five previous losses.

"Could you doublecheck the envelope?" said Scorsese, who had been the greatest living American filmmaker without an Oscar. He also had never delivered a best picture winner before, despite crafting such modern masterpieces as "Raging Bull" and "Goodfellas."

Scorsese received his Oscar from three contemporaries and friends, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. "So many people over the years have been wishing this for me," Scorsese said.

---

Photos: The Winners' Circle
Photos: Oscar Talk
Photos: Scenes From The Oscars
Photos: Oscar Red Carpet
Photos: Oscar Couples

---

In an evening when no one film dominated as Oscar shared the love among a wide range of movies from around the world, three of the four acting frontrunners won: Best Actress Helen Mirren as British monarch Elizabeth II in "The Queen"; Best Actor Forest Whitaker as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland"; and Supporting Actress Jennifer Hudson as a soul singer in "Dreamgirls."

2The other frontrunner, Eddie Murphy of "Dreamgirls," lost to Alan Arkin in "Little Miss Sunshine."

"For 50 years and more, Elizabeth Windsor has maintained her dignity, her sense of duty and her hairstyle," said Mirren, 61, who has been on a remarkable roll since last fall as she won all major film and television prizes for playing both of Britain's Queen Elizabeths.

"She's had her feet planted firmly on the ground, her hat on her head, her handbag on her arm and she's weathered many many storms... If it wasn't for her, I most certainly wouldn't be here. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the queen," Mirren said, holding her Oscar aloft.

---

The Winners List

---

"The Departed" led the evening with four Oscars, also winning for adapted screenplay and editing.

The Oscars had their most diverse and international scope ever, with wins for two black actors and global dramas that included "Pan's Labyrinth," "Babel" and "Letters From Iwo Jima."

The soft-spoken Whitaker, 45, won for an uncharacteristically flamboyant role as the barbarous yet mesmerizing Amin.

5"When I was a kid the only way I saw movies was from the back seat of my family's car at the drive-in movie," Whitaker said. "It wasn't my reality to think I would be acting in movies, so receiving this honor tonight tells me it's possible. It is possible for a kid from east Texas, raised in south central L.A. and Carson, who believes in his dreams, commits himself to them with his heart, to touch them and to have them happen."

Arkin, 72, played a foul-mouthed grandpa with a taste for heroin in "Little Miss Sunshine," a low-budget film that came out of the independent world to become a commercial hit and major awards player.

---

Photos: Fashion Police
Photos: Ready For Oscar
Photos: Oscar Red Carpet

---

"More than anything, I'm deeply moved by the open-hearted appreciation our small film has received, which in these fragmented times speaks so openly of the possibility of innocence, growth and connection," said Arkin.

Hudson's Oscar comes for what is her very first movie, playing a powerhouse vocalist who falls on hard times after she is booted from a 1960s girl group. The role came barely two years after she shot to celebrity as an "American Idol" finalist.

"Oh my God, I have to just take this moment in. I cannot believe this. Look what God can do. I didn't think I was going to win," Hudson, 25, said through tears of joy. "If my grandmother was here to see me now. She was my biggest inspiration."

[justfacts2]

Yes davek455, we all know that you are clearly an Ellen fan, but do you really have to bombard us with overposting? I do believe once was enough. Honestly, I didn't find her all that entertaining and I was quite disappointed. I, too, am an Ellen fan, but I'm not going to post over and over again.
Also, I have never believed that the Oscars are no place to sound off on political or social issues. Yes, we all know that Melissa is gay but I have news for her...you need a certain appendage of the male anatomy to be able to call your partner "your wife".

[montraville]

Capitalism has supplied a solution to the private jet problem. It's called a carbon offset. You pay a company and they plant trees or do other activities which neutralize the carbon emissions. Ten or twenty years ago, environmentalists were opposed, but it has pretty much caught on. It raises the cost of a commercial flight about $20.

People who accuse liberals of private-jet hypocrisy are trying to foment the lie that liberals are anti-capitalist. That's just not the truth. Most liberals just hate waste, pollution, and abuse. Just because you're a capitalist doesn't mean you're entitled to endanger our children's future with pollution and drought.

[montraville]

(Scott -The Republicans never admit it. America is leaving them, babbling and drooling by the side of the road.)

[scott4261]

The nutjob chorus still will not admit that George W. Bush is an incompetent boob beholden to the oil industry, whose administration is corrupt from the top down.

[bigsk8fan]

You had to know that lots of conservatives would not appreciate the "inconvenient truth" oscars. unfortunately, george w kept the mantra that there was no science the first 7 years of his presidency. now he changed his mind with the most recent international findings on global warming. and no, there was never anything like "global cooling" being discussed 30 years ago. "global warming" with ozne/freon issues was the only issue being discussed. ever.

[scott4261]

In a perfect world Al Gore would be in his second presidential term right now. But he did give us the gift of "An Inconvenient Truth." The Oscars are well deserved!

[montraville]

I like Ellen, but I think the entire thing was a little Golden-Globy. Too much scripting from the audience. The show has been losing ratings, but that doesn't mean they should tart up the Old Grey Lady. What they should do is start harranguing the directors to make better movies that people will be intereseted in. The best entertainment these days is on TV.

[davek455]

Ellen's delivery is impeccable and I thought she was funny. She's a lesbian. She's not into impressing males with low-plunging necklines and dresses and makeup. That's who she is.

[davek455]

Ellen's delivery is impeccable and I thought she was funny. She's a lesbian. She's not into impressing males with low-plunging necklines and dresses and makeup. That's who she is.

[davek455]

Ellen's delivery is impeccable and I thought she was funny. She's a lesbian. She's not into impressing males with low-plunging necklines and dresses and makeup. That's who she is.