'The Artist is the big 2012 Oscar winner

Los Angeles— "The Artist" took best picture at the 84th annual Academy Awards on Sunday night, just minutes after Jean Dujardin was named best actor for his role in the film, a black-and-white homage to the early days of Hollywood. The film, nominated for 10 awards, took five in all: costume design, original score and Michel Hazanavicius for directing rounded out "The Artist" wins.

Martin Scorsese's Paris adventure "Hugo" which led contenders with 11 nominations, also received five statues, all for technical awards.

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 with 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.

In "The Artist," Dujardin plays silent film star George Valentin, who struggles with his place in a world of talkies, all while romancing the new face of cinema, personified by song-and-dance gal Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo).

Though Dujardin was not a major star before this awards season, he's a household name in France. He got his start through a one-man show, enacting the various characters he encountered during his military service. Dujardin competed against George Clooney in "The Descendants," Demian Bichir in "A Better Life," Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and Brad Pitt in "Moneyball."

Claiming Hollywood's top-filmmaking honor Sunday completed director 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. But Plummer disputed that notion telling reporters backstage: "I don't believe that for a second. Charlie Chaplin was 83 when he won an honorary Oscar and an honorary Oscar is an Oscar."

Veteran player Octavia Spencer earned the supporting-actress prize for her breakout role in "The Help."

Meanwhile, the Iranian domestic drama "A Separation" won the best foreign language film at the Academy Awards.

It's the first time an Iranian film has taken the honor. The only other Iranian movie nominated was 1997's "Children of Heaven," which was defeated by Italy's "Life Is Beautiful."

The widely hailed "A Separation," directed by Asghar Farhadi, also won the best foreign film at the Golden Globes. Farhadi was nominated for a best screenplay Oscar.

Billy Crystal got the show off to a lively start with a star-laden montage in which he hangs out with Justin Bieber and gets a nice wet kiss from George Clooney.

Back as Oscar host for the first time in eight years, Crystal also did his signature introduction of the best picture nominees with a goofy song.

Before his monologue, Crystal appeared in a collection of clips inserting him in scenes from key nominees. The montage included re-creations from some 2011 films featuring Tom Cruise of "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol" and Clooney's best-picture contender "The Descendants," with the actor planting a kiss on Crystal.

Outfitted extravagantly in character, Baron Cohen ran amok on the red carpet and all over E! host Ryan Seacrest's tuxedo.

After initially being dis-invited by the Academy, Baron Cohen was allowed to attend the ceremony acting as the kind of Moammar Gadhafi parody he plays in his upcoming film, "The Dictator." As expected, he brought his unique brand of publicity stunt and method comedy.

It came at Seacrest's expense, though.

Flanked by two flower girls, he jokingly claimed to be carrying the ashes of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, whose face was displayed on the container.

In an interview with Seacrest, he claimed it was Jong Il's dream "to be sprinkled over the red carpet and over Halle Berry's chest." Then, as Seacrest was bending down, he spilled the ashes over Seacrest's tuxedo.

Few maintain calm on the red carpet more than the awards show veteran, but even Seacrest looked shaken as he attempted to dust himself off.

As security muscled Baron Cohen away, Seacrest attempted to cut to commercial, but his E! colleagues sought to milk the incident. It quickly became the most-chatted about topic on Twitter, where commentators eagerly lapped up the rare breach in decorum at the Academy Awards.

Said Seacrest: "Anything can happen and it most certainly did, all over my lapel."

The stunt couldn't dampen Dujardin's hopes. He would like to become the first Frenchman to win best actor and his "The Artist" is favored to become the only silent movie to take the best-picture prize since the first Oscar ceremony 83 years ago.

Meryl Streep might join the acting three-peat club with a third Academy Award. Along with Streep, Hollywood's big night on Sunday has plenty of returning stars, too, with past Oscar winners and nominees such as Clooney — who arrived with girlfriend Stacy Keibler dressed like an Oscar statuette — Brad Pitt, Glenn Close, Michelle Williams and Nick Nolte in the running again.

The show also has a returning favorite as ringmaster: After an eight-year absence, Billy Crystal is back for his ninth time as host. Some early cheers were heard for dresses worn by Viola Davis, who wore a green Vera Wang, and Octavia Spencer in a gown by Tadashi Shoji.

Because of a change in voting rules, the Oscars featured nine best-picture nominees for the first time, instead of the 10 they had the last two years.

Competing against "The Artist" for the top honor were Clooney's family drama "The Descendants"; the Deep South tale "The Help," featuring best-actress nominee Davis and supporting-actress favorite Octavia Spencer; and the Paris adventure "Hugo," from director Martin Scorsese.

Also in the lineup: the romantic fantasy "Midnight in Paris," from writer-director Woody Allen; Pitt's baseball tale "Moneyball" and his family saga "The Tree of Life"; the World War I epic "War Horse," directed by Steven Spielberg; and Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock's Sept. 11 story "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."

The lead-acting categories were where the drama lies. Best actress shaped up as a two-woman race between Davis as a courageous maid leading an effort to reveal the hardships of black housekeepers' lives in "The Help" and Streep as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady."

The record-holder with 17 acting nominations, Streep had won twice and became only the fifth performer to receive three Oscars. Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman and Walter Brennan all earned three, while Katharine Hepburn won four.

It had been almost three decades since Streep last received an Oscar, for 1982's "Sophie's Choice." Though she has the most acting nominations, she also has the most losses — 14. Another loss would have been her 13th in a row.

Best actor also looked like a two-person contest between Clooney as the distressed patriarch of a Hawaiian clan in "The Descendants" and Dujardin as a silent-era superstar whose career tanks as talking pictures take over in "The Artist."

Had he won, it would have been the second Oscar for Clooney, who won the supporting-actor prize for 2005's "Syriana." While French actresses have won before, among them Marion Cotillard and Juliette Binoche, Dujardin is the first actor from France to receive an Oscar.

Dujardin was picked as best actor Saturday at the Spirit Awards honoring independent film, where "The Artist" ruled with four prizes, including, like at the Oscars, best picture and director for Michel Hazanavicius.

"The Artist" has dominated Hollywood honors this season, winning key prizes at the Golden Globes and awards shows held by the Directors, Producers and Screen Actors guilds.

"This means a lot, because it's a small movie. It's not expensive. We did it with small money," Hazanavicius said backstage at the Spirit Awards. "And it's black and white and silent."

84th Annual Academy Award winners

Best Picture: "The Artist"
Actor: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Actress: Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
Directing: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Foreign Language Film : "A Separation," Iran
Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, "The Descendants"
Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
Animated Feature Film: "Rango"
Art Direction: "Hugo"
Cinematography: "Hugo"
Sound Mixing: "Hugo"
Sound Editing: "Hugo"
Original Score: "The Artist," Ludovic Bource
Original Song: "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets," Bret McKenzie
Costume: "Anonymous," "The Artist," "Hugo," "Jane Eyre," "W.E."
Documentary Feature: "Undefeated"
Documentary (short subject): "Saving Face"
Film Editing: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Makeup: "The Iron Lady"
Animated Short Film: "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"
Live Action Short Film: "Pentecost," "Raju," "The Shore," "Time Freak," "Tuba Atlantic"
Visual Effects: "Hugo"