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Jamie Foxx won an Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in “Ray.”

In a close match between “The Aviator” and “Million Dollar Baby,” the latter packed a fatal punch for the dreams of Martin Scorsese.

While Scorsese’s “The Aviator” beat out “Million Dollar Baby” in terms of sheer number of awards (five and four, respectively), “Baby” swept the major awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor.

Though the appeal of “Million Dollar Baby” was in its acting and directing, the strength of “The Aviator” was in its technical efforts. The Howard Hughes biopic won awards for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Supporting Actress.

Best Actress Hilary Swank, a shoo-in for her award, was overwhelmed by the Academy’s decision to honor her acting skills for a second time. She first won the award in 2000 for her performance in “Boys Don’t Cry.”

“I don’t know what I did in this life to deserve all this. I’m just a girl from a trailer park who had a dream,” Swank said.

Like Swank, Morgan Freeman, who won Best Supporting Actor, credited director Clint Eastwood for the success of “Million Dollar Baby.” It was Freeman’s first award, though he had been nominated three times before – once for supporting actor, and twice for leading actor.

“This was a labor of love,” Freeman said.

But in a year where boxing reigned in the Academy’s arena, so too did deceased legendary icons.

Cate Blanchett, who won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Katharine Hepburn in “The Aviator,” extensively thanked the cast and crew of the film for her success.

“When you play someone as terrifyingly well-known as Hepburn, it’s a collaborative effort. You need as much help as you can get,” Blanchett said. “Thank you (especially) to Miss Hepburn. The longevity of her career is inspiring to everyone.”

Jamie Foxx, whose portrayal of the late Ray Charles in “Ray” garnered him the Oscar for Best Actor, began his acceptance speech with an ode to his biographical character as well, singing the first few notes of one of Charles’s songs.

“Thank you, Ray Charles, for living,” Foxx said humbly.

UCLA walked away from the Oscars as a winner too. UCLA alumnus Alexander Payne won Best Adapted Screenplay for “Sideways.” During his acceptance speech, Payne thanked Fox Searchlight for “letting (him) make a film with complete creative freedom.”

Other major winners include Spanish films, which picked up the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for “The Sea Inside” and Best Original Song for “Al Otro Lado Del Rio” (“The Other Side of the River”) in “The Motorcycle Diaries.” Pixar’s “The Incredibles” won for Best Animated Film and Best Sound Editing, and “Finding Neverland” picked up Best Original Score.

In the biggest change from previous Oscars ceremonies, many of this year’s awards were announced and handed out with all the nominees behind the presenter on stage. A few awards were even presented in the aisles of the Kodak Theatre. The changes were made to cut time off the notoriously long awards show, but the telecast still clocked in at over three hours.

And while the golden statue eluded Scorsese once again, the Academy did finally recognize Charlie Kaufman, who won Best Original Screenplay for his script “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

If all else fails, at least Scorsese won’t have to worry about finding a marriage partner for his daughter.

“On behalf of everyone I know in ‘The Aviator,’ thank you to Martin Scorsese. I hope my son will marry your daughter,” Blanchett said at the end of her acceptance speech.

With reports from Jake Tracer, Bruin senior staff.