Silence Is Golden For The Artist At Baftas

Silent film The Artist has reigned supreme at this year's Bafta awards, winning seven gongs including best film, best director and best actor.

The black and white film was nominated for a total of 12 awards at the event in central London.

Jean Dujardin beat Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Michael Fassbender to take the acting gong, while Michel Hazanavicius scooped the best director prize.

Dujardin said he was "proud and shocked" and apologised to his fellow nominees.

He paid tribute to his director, saying: "Michel, what have you done to me? It's all your fault".

The French star admitted he was surprised to get an award in the country of "Laurence Olivier, William Webb Ellis and Benny Hill".

As well as winning three main gongs, The Artist also picked up best original screenplay, cinematography, costume design and music.

The silent romance is now hotly tipped to clean up at the Oscars later this month where it is nominated for 10 Academy Awards.

The best actress award went to Meryl Streep for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

Unfortunately Streep had a slight wardrobe malfunction as she walked up to the stage to collect the award - her shoe fell off.

Colin Firth, who was presenting the award, managed to retrieve it and place it back on her foot. Streep remarked: "That couldn't have been worse."

Speaking about her movie, the actress, who beat among others, The Artist's Berenice Bejo, said: "Somebody once said the fate of the well-known is to be misunderstood.

"And the ambition of this film, The Iron Lady, was to look at the life of the Iron Lady from the inside out and to locate something real, maybe hidden, but truthful in the life of someone we've all decided we know everything about already."

The Iron Lady also won a prize for make-up and hair.

Cold War thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which had been nominated for 11 awards, came away with only two - for outstanding British film and best adapted screenplay.

Writer Peter Straughan raised some laughs in his speech as he remarked: "I just want to thank The Artist for not being adapted from a book."

He credited "all the best bits" to his wife Bridget O'Connor who died from cancer in 2010.

US actress Octavia Spencer won best supporting actress for her performance in The Help, in which she plays a black maid in 1960s Mississippi who speaks out about the injustices she encounters.

She beat her co-star Jessica Chastain as well as Bridesmaids' Melissa McCarthy and British actresses Judi Dench and Carey Mulligan.

In her acceptance speech, she remarked that winning was a "surprise" and being at the Baftas was a "dream".

She said she was "grateful" that an "American film about American problems" had been so well received outside the US. She added: "I appreciate this so much".

Earlier, Chastain had told Sky News she was expecting Spencer to win. "If I was a betting woman I wouldn't bet on me," she said.

At the age of 85, Canadian actor Christopher Plummer beat British hopes Kenneth Branagh and Jim Broadbent to scoop the best supporting actor award for his role in Beginners.

The Sound of Music star, who was unable to attend the ceremony, is also nominated for an Oscar.

British film Senna, which took seven years to make and is about the Brazilian Formula One driver, won two awards for best documentary and editing.

Martin Scorsese's film Hugo won two gongs for production design and sound.

The director received a standing ovation as he was honoured with the Fellowship Award, the highest honour given by the Academy.

Director Paddy Considine and producer Diarmid Scrimshaw won outstanding debut for Tyrannosaur beating Ralph Fiennes who was up for his directorial debut Coriolanus.

Veteran actor John Hurt, whose career has spanned 50 years including memorable roles in 1984 and The Elephant Man, picked up outstanding British contribution to cinema. His most recent film is Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Receiving a standing ovation as he collected the award, the 72-year-old said his wife had advised him not to give the speech he originally prepared but to be himself and say thank you to his fellow peers.

He said: "I took her advice and I am saying to all of you, directly and indirectly, thank you."

The Orange Wednesday rising star award, the only award voted for by the public, was won by Anuvahood's Adam Deacon.

Clearly surprised at the win, he remarked: "This is so crazy... so surreal. I can't believe I'm in the same room as Brad Pitt. For this it means acceptance. It's a win for the underdogs."

This year's Baftas saw the best of British talent rub shoulders with Hollywood stars including George Clooney on the red carpet at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

Clooney, who was up for best actor, had told Sky News he was "ready to wrestle Brad Pitt to the floor for it" but had conceded that Dujardin or Fassbender would win.