Blanchett, Freeman win Oscar

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Australia's Cate Blanchett on Monday flew off with the best supporting actress Oscar for her role as screen legend Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator.

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Meanwhile, Morgan Freeman bagged the award for his role in Clint Eastwood directed Million Dollar Baby.

Blanchett, 35, won the award for her feisty portrayal of the real-life star in Martin Scorsese's biopic about US billionaire Howard Hughes, making good on her second Oscar nomination in six years.

"Thank you, of course, to Miss Hepburn. The longevity of her career, I think, is inspiring to everyone," Blanchett said upon accepting her award.

She also thanked Scorsese, adding: I hope my son will marry your daughter.

Freeman takes supporting-actor Oscar

Morgan Freeman won the supporting-actor Academy Award for his portrayal of a worldly-wise ex-prize fighter in Clint Eastwood's boxing saga Million Dollar Baby.

Freeman became just the ninth black actor to win out of nearly 300 recipients in the 77-year history of the Oscars, joining such supporting-performer winners as Cuba Gooding Jr for Jerry Maguire, Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost and Louis Gossett Jr for An Officer and a Gentleman.

"I want to thank everybody and anybody who ever had anything at all to do with the making of this picture. But I especially want to thank Clint Eastwood for giving me the opportunity to work with him again," said Freeman, who previously co-starred in Eastwood's Unforgiven.