Best Picture: The Departed
The Departed also won Academy Awards for Directing (Martin Scorsese), Film Editing (Thelma Schoonmaker), and Writing – Adapted Screenplay (William Monahan).
After seven previous nominations, five of which were for directing, Martin Scorsese won his first Oscar for The Departed.
Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Francis Ford Coppola presented him with the award.
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore joined director Davis Guggenheim and others on stage when An Inconvenient Truth, in which Gore had appeared, was named the year’s Best Documentary Feature.
An Inconvenient Truth became the first documentary to also win in the Original Song category. Melissa Etheridge took home the Oscar for I Need to Wake Up.
Ellen DeGeneres was the host.
Meryl Streep received her 14th nomination, the most earned by any performer in the Academy’s history, this time for her lead performance in The Devil Wears Prada.
Peter O’Toole, nominated as Best Actor for Venus, was competing for the eighth time in that category, and for the eighth time he went home empty-handed as Forest Whitaker won the Oscar for The Last King of Scotland.
In January 2006, the Walt Disney Company announced its $7.4 billion purchase of Pixar Animation Studios.
Honorary Award
To Ennio Morricone in recognition of his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music.
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
To Sherry Lansing, former chairman of Paramount Pictures.