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From George Clooney to Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep to Morgan Freeman, not to mention Uggie the Dog, the stars were out in full force last night at the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California by NBC.
 
Everyone was dressed in their couture best red carpet arrivals for the biggest star-studded party of the year.
 

Among some of the head-turning styles debuted on the red carpet were actress Claire Danes in a show-stopping cut-out back J. Mendel gown; Charlize Theron in a high-slit pale blush Dior couture gown with Cartier gems and a sparkly headband; and Michelle Williams in a midnight blue velvet Jason Wu custom gown.

For first-time nominees, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo star Rooney Mara was back in black with a ladder-front Nina Ricci gown and The Help nominee Octavia Spencer looked lovely in lavender in her Tadashi Shoji gown with crystal detailing. Small screen sisters Ariel Winter and Sarah Hyland looked flawless in Dolce & Gabanna dresses while Modern Family’s funny ladySofia Vergara flaunted her signature curves in a peacock-inspired Vera Wang gown and accessorized with over $5 million in Harry Winston jewels. Stars that created a stir on the red carpet for their creative choices included Glee starlet Dianna Agron who was red hot in a fiery red gown of laser-cut swans and Zooey Deschanel who sported a custom beaded Prada dress along with tuxedo-painted nails. And it was battle of the big dresses between Piper Perabo’s sheer ball gown and Sarah Michelle Geller’s splatter paint Monique Lhuillier gown, handpicked by her two-year-old daughter.
 
Fish tail gowns ruled the red carpet this year, worn by the likes of Paula Patton, Tina Fey, and Reese Witherspoon. As for the guys, Ricky Gervais looked clean-cut in his maroon Ted Baker tux, Idris Elba rocked sparkly sneaks and George Clooney looked sharp as always with his latest girlfriend Stacy Keibler on his arm.
 

Returning to host the program was British comedian Ricky Gervais who raised a lot of eyebrows at last year’s Golden Globes with his painfully true, borderline mean-spirited jabs to some of Hollywood’s greatest stars.
 
“Golden Globes are just like the Oscars without all that esteem. The Golden Globes are to the Oscars like Kim Kardashian is to Kate Middleton, bit louder, bit drunker, bit trashier, and more easily bought. Allegedly. Nothing’s been proved,” Gervais said, opening the show.
 
For the big screen contenders, favorites The Descendants and The Artist took home the Best Picture awards, for Drama and Musical/Comedy, respectively. George Clooney and Jean Dujardin won the corresponding Best Actor awards and in the main actress categories, Meryl Streep and Michelle Williams both won for their historical portrayals of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady and Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn, respectively.
 
For the small screen side, Homeland won Best Drama Series, giving the freshman series a win over Boardwalk Empire and Modern Family repeated as Best Comedy.

The award show also served some unexpected winners from Matt LeBlanc (better known for his role as Joey Tribbiani in Friends) who won best actor in comedy over Alec Baldwin and Johnny Galecki to Kelsey Grammer who took home the Globe for best actor in a drama for his role in Boss, prevailing over actors Bryan Cranston and Steve Buscemi. He also took the time to announce he’s expecting twins with his new wife Kayte Walsh.
 
There were some sweet acceptance speeches as well as some awkward moments and celebrity shenanigans, from George Clooney snagging Brad Pitt’s cane to Claire Danes thanking her mom and Michelle Williams thanking her young daughter Matilda during her speech to Seth Rogen’s semi-uncomfortable semi-hilarious erection joke presenting with Kate Beckinsale. Big highlight of the night was when Madonna gave host Ricky Gervais some well deserved back-sass. “If I’m still a virgin, Ricky, why don’t you come over here and do something about it. I haven’t kissed a girl in a few years … on TV,” she said. And everyone’s favorite was the four-legged show-stopper Uggie the Jack Russell Terrier onstage with the rest of the cast of The Artist.
 
Morgan Freeman, who earned high honors with the title of favorite movie icon at the People’s Choice Awards last week, was honored with the Cecil B. Demille Award. The award was presented by legendary actor Sidney Poitier who received a gracious standing ovation by his star-studded audience. “You are indeed a prince in the profession you have chosen,” he said of Freeman.
 

So, who else took home the gold at the Globes? Here is a list of last night’s winners presented live:

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Actress TV Series – Comedy
Laura Dern, Enlightened

Best Miniseries
Downtown Abbey

Best Actress – Miniseries
Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce

Best Actor TV Series – Drama
Kelsey Grammer, Boss

Best TV Seres – Drama
Homeland

Best Original Score
Ludovic Bource, The Artist

Best Original Song
“Masterpiece,” Madonna from W.E.

Best Actor – Miniseries
Idris Elba, Luther

Best Actress – Musical or Comedy
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor – TV Series, Miniseries, Movie
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones

Best Animated Feature
The Adventures of Tintin

Best Screenplay
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Best Actress TV – Drama
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story

Best Foreign Language Film
A Separation

Best Actress TV – Drama
Claire Danes, Homeland

Best Actor TV – Comedy
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Best Director
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Best Comedy Series
Modern Family

Best Actor – Musical or Comedy
Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Best Actress – Drama
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Best Picture – Musical or Comedy
The Artist

Best Actor – Drama
George Clooney, The Descendants

Best Picture – Drama
The Descendants
 
Did your favorite nominee win in last night’s awards show? Share with us in the comments box below!
 
 

Alexandra is a graduate from the University of New Hampshire and the current Assistant Digital Editor at Martha Stewart Living. As a journalism student, she worked as the Director of UNH’s Student Press Organization (SPO) and on staff for four student publications on her campus. In the summer of 2010, she studied abroad at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, in England, where she drank afternoon tea and rode the Tube (but sadly no, she did not meet Prince Harry). Since beginning her career, her written work has appeared in USA Today College, Huffington Post, Northshore, and MarthaStewart.com, among others. When not in the office, she can be found perusing travel magazines to plan her next trip, walking her two dogs (both named Rocky), or practicing ballet. Chat with her on Twitter @allie_churchill.