The biggest glass ceiling in Hollywood came tumbling down at the Oscars Sunday. Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win a best directing award and her film "The Hurt Locker," the lowest-grossing best picture nominee ever, trounced "Avatar," the biggest box-office smash of all time.

"The time has come," said Barbra Streisand -- who was passed over by the Oscars for directing 1983's "Yentl" -- in announcing Bigelow's award. The orchestra struck up "I Am Woman" as Bigelow walked to the stage. Her former husband and Oscar rival, "Avatar" director James Cameron, took to his feet shouting, "Yes, yes!" Bigelow called her achievement "the moment of a lifetime," and the applause that filled the Kodak Auditorium demonstrated that the audience agreed.

Historic though it was, Bigelow's triumph was no surprise. In fact, many of Sunday's winners were foregone conclusions.

As expected, Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock won the top acting awards, as a broken-down country crooner and a do-gooder steel magnolia, respectively. The veteran actors made speeches that long overran the 45-second speech limit, but no one could fault them for enjoying their long-delayed moment in the sun.

Bridges thanked his parents for inspiring him: "I feel an extension of them. This is honoring them as much as it is me."

Bullock joked, "Did I earn this or did I just wear you all down?" She neared tears as she thanked her mother for forcing her to practice piano and for teaching her not to ride in cars with boys. Bullock holds the double distinction of also being named Worst Actress of 2010, winning the Golden Raspberry for her film "All About Steve" Saturday night.

Austrian actor Christoph Waltz took the supporting-actor award for his portrayal of a suave, silky SS officer in "Inglourious Basterds."

Another first-time nominee, Mo'Nique, was honored as supporting actress for her stunningly scary turn as an abusive Harlem mother in "Precious." In contrast to emotional earlier speeches, she was all poise and composure, pointedly thanking the academy for "proving that it's about the performance, not the politics," a reference to her refusal to campaign for the award. She got a standing ovation.

Pixar's smash "Up," directed by Bloomington native Pete Docter, was named the best animated feature, continuing a winning streak that included the Golden Globes. "The Weary Kind" from Bridges' movie predictably took the best-song award.

Going off script

There were some intriguing upsets and departures from form, however.

Hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin proved that, "It's Complicated" notwithstanding, they are a mischievous comedy duo. A tribute to horror films marked the first time that "Night of the Living Dead" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" have received any Oscars respect. Political speeches, the bane of Oscarcasts past, were nowhere to be heard. The closest thing to a political statement was Bigelow thanking armed forces personnel, emergency workers and first responders everywhere for their service.

Best foreign-language film, considered to be a two-way race between the spooky German political parable "The White Ribbon" and France's engrossing prison drama "A Prophet," instead went to Argentina's crime thriller "The Secret of Their Eyes." Director Juan José Campanella wittily thanked the Academy for not considering Na'vi a foreign language.

Viewers who feared that Cameron would not take the stage got a view of naked ego. "I've already won two of these," boasted costume designer Sandy Powell, who won her third Oscar for "The Young Victoria."

First-time screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher seemed genuinely thunderstruck to win the adapted-screenplay award for "Precious." Many insiders expected the award to go to "Up in the Air" as a consolation prize for the one-time best-picture favorite. Fletcher, who apparently hadn't prepared a speech, spoke from the heart as he dedicated his award to "everybody who works on a dream every day, for precious boys and girls everywhere."

In a similar upset, "The Hurt Locker's" Mark Boal took the original-screenplay prize, which many observers had earmarked as a door prize for Quentin Tarantino's flamboyant "Inglorious Basterds."

In all, "Hurt Locker" took six Oscars, including three in technical categories in which the film competed directly with "Avatar." Cameron's sci-fi epic beat "Hurt Locker" for cinematography, but won only two more Oscars, for art direction and visual effects. The films -- with nine nominations each -- went into the final stretch tied at a suspenseful 3-for-3.

Filmed with cutting edge computer graphics and a revolutionary 3D camera that Cameron co-designed, "Avatar" offered the kind of movie magic that dazzled audiences around the globe. But the top artistic awards had gone to "The Hurt Locker" in earlier industry-insider balloting.

Actors, the largest voting bloc in the best picture category, were expected to favor the war film's intense human drama. Cameron's $2.5 billion box-office sensation is largely populated by computer-generated robothespians. It represents a chilling prospect: blockbusters that aren't dependent on flesh-and-blood performers.

Who will give the acceptance speeches then?

Colin Covert • 612-673-7186