Boxing drama Million Dollar Babyscored a knockout victory at the Academy Awards last night by winning four Oscars.
These included best film and director awards for Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood and the best actress award for Hilary Swank.
In the other major acting award, Jamie Foxx as soul singing legend Ray Charles in Raywas named best actor.
Million Dollar Babywas nominated in seven categories and earned the best actress Oscar for Swank in her role as a boxer who longs to be a champion. Best supporting actor went to Morgan Freeman as the ageing gym manager who persuades his boss, a trainer portrayed by Eastwood, to take on the young fighter.
Clint Eastwood holds his two Oscar statuettes for 'Million Dollar Baby' last night
The movie beat chief rival The Aviator, an epic tale of the eccentric life of billionaire Howard Hughes, in the show's top categories, including Eastwood's victory over Martin Scorsese in the best director group.
Had Scorsese won, it would have been the first-ever Oscar victory for the director of such American classics as Raging Bull, Taxi Driverand Mean Streets.
Aviatorcould manage only one top award for best supporting actress for Australia's Cate Blanchett. It took home four others for film editing, cinematography, costume design and art direction.
Million Dollar Babywas originally slated to open next year but at the last minute Warner Bros decided to release it in time to qualify for Oscars. The movie took only 37 days to make and was based on the original draft of the screenplay.
Eastwood (74) thanked his wife and his mother, who was in the audience. "At 96, I'm thanking her for her genes," he said.
In a nod to Sidney Lumet, who received an honorary Oscar, he said: "I'm seeing Sidney Lumet, who's 80, and thinking I'm just a kid. I've still got a lot of work to do yet."
Like Foxx, Swank cited her family and humble beginnings, likening winning the second Oscar to a dream come true. "I'm just a girl from a trailer park who had a dream," she said.
Her acceptance speech ran so long that the orchestra had to play twice to get her offstage. She hushed it, saying, "Uh uh, you can't do that because I haven't gotten to Clint yet."
Spain's The Sea Inside( Mar Adentro) was named best foreign language film for its tale of a paralysed man, portrayed by Javier Bardem, who fights his country's legal system for the right to take his own life.
Among other awards, The Incredibleswas named best animated feature, beating rival Shrek 2, 2004's top box office movie.
Writer-director Alexander Payne and co-writer Jim Taylor of comedy Sidewayswon the Oscar for best adapted screenplay and Charlie Kaufman earned the award for best original screenplay for quirky romance Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Best documentary was a hotly contested category, and the Oscar went to Born Into Brothels, which tells of the plight of children of prostitutes growing up in Calcutta, India.
In one surprise, Spanish language song Al Otro Lado Del Riotook home the Oscar for original song. It is from the movie, The Motorcycle Diaries, which was based on the diaries of young revolutionary Che Guevara.