The third part of the "Rings" trilogy won an award in each of the 11 categories for which it was nominated, including Best Picture. The 11 wins tie the film with 1997's "Titanic" and 1959's "Ben Hur" for most Academy Awards ever garnered by one single film.

The nearly four-hour-long ceremony, broadcast live from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre, also saw awards go to Sean Penn (Best Actor for "Mystic River"), Charlize Theron (Best Actress for "Monster"), Tim Robbins (Best Supporting Actor for "Mystic River") and Renee Zellweger (Best Supporting Actress for "Cold Mountain"). Peter Jackson was named Best Director for "Lord of the Rings," and Sofia Coppola — daughter of famed director Francis Ford Coppola — received her first Oscar for Original Screenplay ("Lost in Translations").

Screen star Billy Crystal returned as host of the annual awards, marking his eighth stint as Oscar emcee. Hairspray Tony Award winner Marc Shaiman served as musical director and conductor for Crystal.

The evening's presenters included Nicole Kidman, Catherine Zeta Jones, Jennifer Garner, Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Will Smith, Jack Black, Will Ferrell, Jude Law, Charlize Theron, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, Julianne Moore, Renee Zellweger, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Tim Robbins, Sandra Bullock, John Travolta, Susan Sarandon, Naomi Watts, Uma Thurman, Sofia Coppola, Angelina Jolie, Adrien Brody, Pierce Brosnan, Scarlett Johansson, Ian McKellan, Jada Pinkett Smith, Ben Stiller, Liv Tyler, Owen Wilson, Alec Baldwin, Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, Chris Cooper, Francis Ford Coppola, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Cusack, Diane Lane, Queen Latifah and Tobey Maguire.

Performers included Annie Lennox, singing the now-Academy-Award-winning "Into the West" from "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"; Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara, who dueted on "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" from "A Mighty Wind"; and Sting and Alison Krauss, who offered "You Will Be My Ain True Love" from "Cold Mountain." Krauss did double-duty, also performing "The Scarlet Tide" from "Cold Mountain"; she was accompanied by Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett on the latter. For a complete list of this year's Academy Award winners, visit www.oscars.com.