Sean Penn wins Best Actor for role as slain gay activist-politician Harvey Milk
By Jeffrey Jolson

Penn taken seriously at Oscars

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 2/22/09 — “You Commie, Homo-loving Sons of a Guns – and I do know how hard it is to make you like me very often” said Sean Penn after winning the Oscar for his performance as one of the first publicly admitted gay politician, the assassinated Harvey Milk from San Francisco.
The best male actor was one of the toughest competitions- with Penn beating out Mickey Rourke’s act in “The Wrestler,” which won Mick the Indie Award last night, and pinning Brad Pitt, whose diverse role in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which had 13 nominations coming into the evening.
The evening’s Best Film winner, “Slumdog Millionaire,” did not have an actor up in the category.
Yet “Milk” showed it was good for you with multiple honors.
One thing that was different this year was five past Oscar-winners each speaking of the top five 2009 nominees. Robert DeNiro, who has worked with Penn in the past, joked and also honored Penn.