Shakespeare in Love and Saving Private Ryan won the most Academy Awards, but it was Roberto Benigni who proved life truly is beautiful.
The Italian comic took Oscars for best actor and best foreign language film for his wartime drama Life Is Beautiful, which also picked up the award for best original dramatic score.
Clambering over chairs to reach the stage, Benigni thanked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, telling them he wanted to make love to them all.
He became the first best actor winner in a foreign language film, and only the second actor, after Laurence Olivier in Hamlet (1948), to direct himself to an acting trophy.
The biggest surprise of the night at Los Angeles' Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was the academy's snubbing of Terrence Malick. The Thin Red Line, the cult director's first film in 20 years, was up for a string of awards but won nothing.
Shakespeare in Love edged the other top-nominated film, Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, taking seven awards to five, including best picture and best actress for Gwyneth Paltrow. Spielberg won his second best director Oscar, and Saving Private Ryan won for sound, sound effects, editing and cinematography.