\\HOLLYWOOD (AFP) - Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker blew away box office king Avatar to take six Oscars, with Kathryn Bigelow becoming the first woman to win the best director award on a historic Hollywood night. The nerve-jangling movie about a US Army bomb disposal squad in Baghdad also took best picture and best screenplay while Avatar, made by Bigelows ex-husband James Cameron, won just three Oscars at Sundays awards. This really is, theres no other way to describe it, the moment of a lifetime, said Bigelow, only the fourth woman to be nominated for best director by Academy voters. Id like to dedicate this to the women and men in the military who risk their lives in a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world, Bigelow added. May they come home safe. It was a perfectly scripted night at the Kodak Theatre for Bigelow, whose low-budget film had been locked in a duel with Avatar and Cameron, whose 500-million-dollar science-fiction epic has become the highest-grossing film in history with more than 2.5 billion dollars in earnings. Avatar mainly won its Oscars in technical categories. The face-off had been billed as the Battle of the Exes but Bigelow and Cameron smiled and joked throughout the evening as they sat just a few feet apart. Bullock completed a uniquely dubious double with her best actress award, which came 24 hours after she was crowned worst actress at the Razzies, the annual Oscars parody. The supporting actor awards went to Austrias Christoph Waltz for his portrayal of a sadistic Nazi officer in Quentin Tarantinos Inglourious Basterds, and MoNique, a monstrous parent in harrowing drama Precious. MoNique was only the only the fifth black actress to win an Oscar. The 42-year-old paid tribute to Hattie McDaniel, the first black actress to be garlanded for her role in Gone With the Wind, in her acceptance speech and revealed she had picked out her Oscars outfit in honour of her predecessor. I want to thank Miss Hattie McDaniel for enduring all that she had to so that I would not have to, she said. The reason why I have on this royal blue dress is because its the colour that Hattie McDaniel wore in 1940 when she accepted her Oscar. Waltz, 53, meanwhile was in raptures after collecting his statuette from Spanish siren Penelope Cruz. Oscar and Penelope thats uber bingo, he said. Waltz, who has also won a Cannes film festival award, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a British Bafta prize, was heralded in his native Austria on Monday. Triumph said Die Presse newspaper. Up, about an elderly gent who ties balloons to his home to live his dream of seeing the wilds of South America, took the award for best animated feature. Juan Jose Campanellas latest feature El Secreto de Sus Ojos (The Secret in their Eyes) landed Argentina its first Oscar in 25 years when it scooped the award for best foreign film. On the red carpet before the show, platinum and silver dominated Hollywoods traditional display of glitz and glamour. Bigelow charmed with a simple form-fitting platinum column dress while Kate Winslet displayed the most exquisite jewellery of the night: a pendant style necklace of white and yellow diamonds with matching earrings believed to be worth more than 2.5 million dollars.