In a historic bout between two Hollywood heavyweights, the story of a female fighter mortally wounded the biography of Howard Hughes, which started out as the favourite to win top honours but ended up with five mostly minor Oscars.

Million Dollar Baby also won Hilary Swank the best actress Oscar for her role as the pugilist boxer Maggie Fitzgerald as well as best supporting actor Oscar for veteran actor Morgan Freeman.

"I'm just lucky to be here, lucky to be still working," Eastwood, 74, said as he became the oldest recipient of the directing Oscar that should finally seal his reputation as a respected director, as well as a movie tough guy.

The 77th Oscars were another heartbreak for Scorsese, the man behind The Aviator, who lost the directing race for the fifth time. Scorsese matched the record of Oscar futility held by a handful of legendary filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Altman, who also went 0-for-5 in the directing category.

However, Million Dollar Baby's strongest contender, Martin Scorsese's spectacular recreation of the world of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, The Aviator came away with the most Oscars - five awards including the supporting-actress prize for Cate Blanchett.

Jamie Foxx took the Oscar for best actor for his uncanny emulation of Ray Charles in Ray. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind took the original-screenplay award for Charlie Kaufman. Sideways won the adapted-screenplay prize for director Alexander Payne and his writing partner, Jim Taylor.

In other categories, the Spanish film The Sea Inside, from director Alejandro Amenabar, won the prestigious best foreign language film Oscar for his movie about a tetraplegic, played by Javier Bardem.

The superhero film The Incredibles was named best animated feature, beating out Polar Express and Spiderman 2 won the Oscar for best visual effects.

Compiled by Cultural Correspondent