Four Oscar for The King's Speech - Natalie Portman won best actress award, Colin Firth named best actor

(Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, Melissa Leo, Colin Firth)

It had been hoped that employing Anne Hathaway and James Franco as hosts for this year's Oscars would give the ceremony a young and fresh feel. But despite bringing their considerable comedic talents to the plate while presenting the Academy Awards, the pair's performance was met with mixed critical reception. The pair failed to find the chemistry that would lead to their partnership being remembered as a success - or indeed to be remembered at all.

The King's Speech was the big winner at the 2011 Oscars, winning four awards. It has been crowned best picture, with star Colin Firth named best actor.

Natalie Portman won best actress for Black Swan.

Briton Christian Bale and Melissa Leo won supporting acting awards for boxing drama The Fighter.

The best picture nominee - The Social Network, won for adapted screenplay, film editing and score.

Tom Hooper was named best director for The King's Speech, which also won for best original screenplay at the ceremony.

Sci-fi spectacular Inception won four awards, for cinematography, visual effects, sound mixing and sound editing, while there were two for Alice in Wonderland, for art direction and costume design.

The best animated feature award went to Toy Story 3, which also picked up the best original song Oscar for We Belong Together.

Oscar

2011

The King's Speech

King's speech

Colin Firth

Natalie Portman

Christian Bale

The Social Network

The Fighter

James Franco

Toy Story 3

Inception

True Grit

127 Hours

Anne Hathaway

Kirk Douglas