British stars shine at Golden Globe Awards

British movie Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic of rock star Freddie Mercury, won the Best Drama film award at this year's Golden Globe Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday, which turned out to be a good night for performers from the United Kingdom.

Olivia Colman won best performance in a film comedy/musical for her part in The Favourite, and Christian Bale won best performance in a film comedy/musical for his portrayal of former United States vice-president Dick Cheney in Vice.

The ceremony honors both film and television performances, with Richard Madden and Ben Whishaw wining TV awards for their roles in BBC dramas Bodyguard and A Very English Scandal.

Bohemian Rhapsody, the life story of Mercury, frontman of the hugely successful British rock band Queen, also claimed the best performance in a drama award for actor for Rami Malek, who portrayed Mercury.

The ceremony marked the start of the entertainment industry's 2019 awards season. It is run by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and was being held for the 76th time.

The Golden Globes are watched closely by Hollywood insiders as key indicators of who will be front-runners in the race for the upcoming Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, which are presented on Feb 24.

Bohemian Rhapsody's high-profile double triumph was one of the surprises of the night. Directed by Bryan Singer, it tells the story of Queen's rise to international success, guided by their charismatic singer Mercury, who died in 1991, aged 45.

"Thank you to Freddie Mercury for giving me the joy of a lifetime," said Malek in his acceptance speech. "You beautiful man. This is for and because of you, gorgeous!"

This is Malek's first Golden Globe win. He saw off competition from the likes of Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born), Willem Dafoe(At Eternity's Gate), Lucas Hedges (Boy Erased) and John David Washington (BlacK-kKlansman).

Political comment was largely absent from the ceremony until Bale took to the stage to claim his award for his performance in Vice.

"What do you think? Mitch McConnell next?" joked the Welsh-born actor, referring to the Senate's majority leader. "Thank you to Satan for giving me inspiration for this role."

Colman is well known to British television comedy audiences and is expected to be A Star is Born actress Lady Gaga's stiffest competition at the Oscars, where the pair are widely tipped to be contenders for major awards. She won her Golden Globe for her portrayal of British monarch Queen Anne in the The Favourite. "I ate constantly throughout the film," said Colman."It was brilliant."

As expected, the award for Best Song went to Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt for the theme to A Star Is Born, the fi lm which had been expected to dominate the night.

Another surprise of the night was Peter Farrelly's Green Book, an interracial road trip through the early 1960s Deep South of the United States, which has struggled to catch on at the box office while coming under substantial criticism for relying on racial tropes. It won awards for best screenplay and best film, comedy or musical.

Xinhua, AP contributed to this story.