CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER WINS OSCAR FOR GAY ROLE

Christopher Plummer, who plays an older gay man in the film Beginners, won the Best Supporting Actor award at the 84th annual Academy Awards last night in Los Angeles.

In the film, the veteran actor portrays a gay father who comes out of the closet after his wife’s death and displays a new verve for life, despite being diagnosed with cancer.

His son in the film, who tries to make sense of his father’s life, is played by Ewan McGregor.

At 82, the Canadian-born Plummer became the oldest-ever winner of an acting Oscar.

“You’re only two years older than me darling, where have you been all of my life?” Plummer asked the golden statuette when accepting the award.

“I have a confession to make: When I first emerged from my mother’s womb, I was already rehearsing my Academy thank-you speech. It was so long ago, mercifully for you I’ve forgotten it,” he joked.

He thanked McGregor as well as his “long-suffering wife, Elaine, who deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for coming to my rescue every day of my life”.

With a career spanning over 50 years, one of Plummer’s most loved roles was that of Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music.

The silent film The Artist was the night’s big winner, scooping five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Meryl Streep took home her third Oscar for playing Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. “When they called my name, I had this feeling I could hear half of America go, `Oh, no, why her again?’ But whatever,” she quipped.