Cate Blanchett won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator.
Blanchett portrayed Katharine Hepburn, the celebrated Hollywood actor and Howard Hughes’s romantic partner during part of the 1930s. Her performance recreated Hepburn’s distinctive voice, mannerisms, and New England-inflected speech.
The Aviator was released in 2004 and dramatizes the life of aviation pioneer and film producer Howard Hughes. Leonardo DiCaprio played Hughes, while Kate Beckinsale portrayed Ava Gardner and John C. Reilly played Noah Dietrich.
Blanchett’s win was one of the film’s five Academy Awards. The movie also won awards for cinematography, film editing, costume design, and supporting actor Alan Alda was nominated, but did not win.