Oscar: “The Artist” wins best picture

"The Artist" won five Academy Awards including best picture, becoming the first silent film to triumph at Hollywood’s highest honors since the original Oscar ceremony 83 years ago.

Among other prizes Sunday for the black-and-white comic melodrama were best actor for Jean Dujardin and director for Michel Hazanavicius, the AP reports.

The other newly Oscar-ed actors included Meryl Streep, whose 17th nomination, for The Iron Lady, turned into the third Academy Award of her career; Octavia Spencer, from The Help, who delivered an emotional acceptance speech; and Christopher Plummer, who at 82 became the oldest winner of an acting Oscar for his supporting performance in Beginners, the hollywoodreporter.com reports.

It was a night that certainly celebrated the sounds of silents as Martin Scorsese's Hugo, which recounts the career of French film pioneer Georges Melies, captured five prizes of the 11 for which it was nominated, tying with Artist for the year's biggest haul.