Ben Affleck's Argo Wins Best Picture Oscar and Daniel Day-Lewis Makes Oscar History

- February 25, 2013

Best Picture		Winner: Argo
Best Actor in a Leading Role		Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)
Best Actress in a Leading Role		Winner: Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
Best Director		Winner: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)

According to Reuters, Ben Affleck's Argo made it the first time since "Driving Miss Daisy" in 1990 that a film won the top prize at the Oscars without its director also being nominated. Argo also won the Oscars for best film editing and best adapted screenplay.

Well, we might as well call this year the Year of "Argo" as "Argo" has won almost all the coveted awards and winning the Best Picture Oscar when the director Ben Affleck was not even nominated for Best Director is a great achievement at the 85th Academy Awards by winning three Oscars for Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture, to add to the Golden Globe Awards for Best Picture in Drama and Best Director, Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 19th Screen Actors Guild Awards, Best Film and Best Editing at the 66th British Academy Film Awards.

British actor Daniel Day-Lewis also made history by being the first actor to win three Oscars for Best Actor as he won his third Best Actor award for playing the leading role of President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's historical film "Lincoln" at the 85th Academy Awards. His other previous Oscars were for Christy Brown in "My Left Foot" (1989), Daniel Plainview in "There Will Be Blood" (2007). He surpassed the record of John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson, Marlon Brando and Dustin Hoffman who have won the Oscars twice for Best Actor. But this achievement does not make him a better or greater actor than Harrison Ford, Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE, Sir Michael Caine, CBE, Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr, Denzel Washington and other accomplished actors in the world.

And also remarkable for Michael Haneke's "Armour" for winning the Oscar for Best Film in a Foreign Language after winning the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and best film in a non English language at the 66th British Academy Film Awards among other awards.

1. Best Picture: "Argo."
2. Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln."
3. Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook."
4. Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained."
5. Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables."
6. Directing: Ang Lee, "Life of Pi."
7. Foreign Language Film: "Amour."
8. Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio, "Argo."
9. Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, "Django Unchained."
10. Animated Feature Film: "Brave."
11. Production Design: "Lincoln."
12. Cinematography: "Life of Pi."
13. Sound Mixing: "Les Miserables."
14. Sound Editing (tie): "Skyfall," "Zero Dark Thirty."
15. Original Score: "Life of Pi," Mychael Danna.
16. Original Song: "Skyfall" from "Skyfall," Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth.
17. Costume: "Anna Karenina."
18. Documentary Feature: "Searching for Sugar Man."
19. Documentary (short subject): "Inocente."
20. Film Editing: "Argo."
21. Makeup and Hairstyling: "Les Miserables."
22. Animated Short Film: "Paperman."
23. Live Action Short Film: "Curfew."
24. Visual Effects: "Life of Pi."

Oscar winners previously presented this season:

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Jeffrey Katzenberg

Honorary Award: Hal Needham

Honorary Award: D.A. Pennebaker

Honorary Award: George Stevens Jr.

Award of Merit: Cooke Optics