Regal Firth Impresses Oscars Ceremony

The King's Speech reigned supreme at this year's Oscars by winning four awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor.

The British film's star, Colin Firth, whose portrayal of King George VI has already won the actor several awards, including a BAFTA and a Golden Globe, joked that his "career has just peaked" as he collected his Oscar.

Tom Hooper also collected the award for Best Director, while David Seidler won the award for Best Original Screenplay for his script.

Tanya Seghatchian, Head of the UK Film Council's Film Fund, which helped finance the film, said: "The rise of The King's Speech from a British independent film to a worldwide commercial and critical phenomenon is a huge testament to the creators, the cast and everyone involved. It's a magnificent final chapter for the UK Film Council."

But, there was disappointment in Los Angeles overnight for Northern Ireland after the movie 'short', The Crush, lost out to God of Love in the Live Action Short category at the Oscars ceremony.

Otherwise, there were few surprises in the other acting categories, with favourite Natalie Portman winning the Best Actress award for her role as a tortured ballerina in Black Swan, while the Best Supporting Actor and Actress awards belonged to boxing drama The Fighter, with Christian Bale and Melissa Leo winning the awards. Leo was forced to apologise when she accidentally swore during her acceptance speech, prompting Bale to joke: "I'm not going to drop the F-bomb like she did".

There was major disappointment for the Coen Brothers Western remake True Grit, which failed to collect a single award, despite receiving ten nominations.

However, there were several wins for Inception and The Social Network, which had both received eight nominations. Sci-fi thriller Inception won the awards for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Efffects, while The Social Network - the story of how Facebook was created - won the awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing and Best Original Score.

Danish film In A Better World won the award for Best Foreign Language Film, while the Best Documentary award went to Inside Job, which examined the recent global financial crisis.

Strangers No More won the Best Documentary short award, while The Lost Thing won the Best Animated Short Film award.

Toy Story 3 was named Best Animation and the film also won the award for Best Original Song for Randy Newman's We Belong Together.

Tim Burton's lavish adaptation of Alice in Wonderland also won two awards, for Best Costumes and Best Art Direction, while horror remake The Wolfman picked up the award for Best Make-Up.

James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosted the 83rd Academy Awards.

(KMcA/BMcC)