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"Jean Dujardin has beaten nominees including George Clooney to the &amp;#039;Best Actor&amp;#039; Oscar. Dujardin, who also triumphed at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild awards, embraced &amp;#039;Best Director&amp;#039; winner Michel Hazanavicius and his co-star B\u00E9r\u00E9nice Bejo before taking to the stage to accept his award from Natalie Portman.  &amp;quot;Whoah! Thank you! Whoa-hey! I love your country. Okay, thank you to the Academy,&amp;quot; Dujardin began. Laughing, he continued: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s funny because in 1929, it wasn&amp;#039;t Billy Crystal, but Douglas Fairbanks who hosted the first Oscar ceremony. Tickets cost $5, and it lasted 15 minutes. Times have changed!  &amp;quot;Though, thank you Douglas Fairbanks. Yes, monsieur, your grandfather&amp;#039;s spirit and joie de vivre inspired me for this role.&amp;quot; Dujardin also thanked Hazanavicius, Bejo and his wife and family, adding: &amp;quot;If George Valentin could speak, he&amp;#039;d say &amp;#039;Oh, putain! G\u00E9nial! Merci! Formidable! Merci beaucoup!&amp;#039;&amp;quot; (&amp;#039;Bloody hell! Brilliant! Thanks! Wonderful! Thank you!&amp;#039;) He then blew kisses to the audience and pumped the air with his fists as he left the stage. Dujardin&amp;#039;s fellow nominees in the &amp;#039;Best Actor&amp;#039; category were Clooney for The Descendants, Brad Pitt for Moneyball, Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Demi\u00E1n Bichir for A Better Life. More from the 84th Academy Awards: &amp;gt; Oscars: &amp;#039;The Artist&amp;#039;s Michel Hazanavicius win &amp;#039;Best Director&amp;#039; gong &amp;gt; Oscars 2012: Bret McKenzie triumphs in &amp;#039;Best Original Song&amp;#039; category &amp;gt; Christopher Plummer wins &amp;#039;Best Supporting Actor&amp;#039; Oscar for &amp;#039;Beginners&amp;#039; &amp;gt; Oscars 2012: 84th Academy Awards live blog &amp;gt; Oscars: Academy Awards 2012: Red carpet pictures &amp;gt; Oscars 2012: Academy Awards winners list in full Watch Jean Dujardin and B\u00E9r\u00E9nice Bejo talking about The Artist with Digital Spy below:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/oscars/news/a367985/oscars-2012-jean-dujardin-wins-best-actor-for-the-artist/>