“Birdman” flew off to Oscar history Sunday night, winning four statues — including for Best Picture and Best Director.
The movie, about a washed-up Hollywood actor trying for a Broadway comeback, left critical favorite “Boyhood” coming up short with just one prize, Best Supporting Actress, for Patricia Arquette.
Only “The Grand Budapest Hotel” collected as many Oscars as “Birdman,” for its costumes, makeup and hair, production design and original score.
“Birdman” also took Best Director and Original Screenplay.
“Tonight, I am wearing the real Michael Keaton tighty whities,” director Alejandro G. Iñárritu quipped in a nod to his 63-year-old star, who wore only underwear in the opening scene of the movie.
Keaton was not unlike his character as an aging comeback kid, regilding his faded stardom with a new glow of Oscar gold.
But he didn’t have success in upstaging “The Theory of Everything’’ star Eddie Redmayne, who took Best Actor for his portrayal of disabled physics genius Stephen Hawking.
“I am fully aware that I am a lucky, lucky man,’’ Redmayne said before thanking Hawking and his family.
Heavy favorite Julianne Moore, 54, won Best Actress for her role as a Columbia University professor facing early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
“So many people with this disease feel isolated and marginalized,” Moore said in her acceptance speech. “One of the wonderful things about movies is that it makes people feel seen and not alone, and people with Alzheimer’s deserve to be seen so that we can find a cure.”
The awards for Best Supporting Actor and Actress also turned out to be shoo-ins.
Arquette, 46, won the statue for her role as a divorced mom in the groundbreaking coming-of-age drama “Boyhood,” which follows a boy over 12 years. The quirky blonde got a standing ovation from competitor Meryl Streep at the end of her speech when she launched into a women’s rights push, shouting, “It is our time to have wage equality once and for all!”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!’’ Streep yelled from her seat.
First-time host Neil Patrick Harris came out swinging — taking on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for failing to nominate a single black actor.
“Tonight, we honor Hollywood’s best and whitest,” Harris said, before correcting: “Sorry, brightest.”
He later pulled “Selma’’ actor David Oyelowo from the audience for a comic bit, and when the people clapped as he introduced the star, Harris shot back, “Oh, sure, now you like him.”
The stars who filled the audience laughed uncomfortably.
Chrome-domed actor J.K. Simmons won Best Supporting Actor for his role as a menacing music teacher in “Whiplash.’’
“Call your mom or call your dad,” Simmons urged in his surprising acceptance speech. “Don’t text. Don’t email. Tell them you love them.”
Surprisingly shut out of the major awards was director Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper.’’
The mood was somber at times.
Late personalities, including such favorites as Robin Williams, Mike Nichols and Maya Angelou, were honored. Bizarrely, comedian Joan Rivers and performer Elaine Stritch weren’t shown.
The night’s live musical performances also included an extremely touching rendition of an Oscar-nominated Glen Campbell tune sung by country star Tim McGraw.
Campbell had written the song, “I’m Not Gonna Miss You,’’ for a documentary about his decline from Alzheimer’s disease. It was the last song he recorded and includes such lyrics as, “I’m still here, but yet I’m gone. I don’t play my guitar or sing my songs.’’
The complete list of winners:
Best picture: “Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Actor: Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything”
Actress: Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”
Supporting actor: J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”
Supporting actress: Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
Directing: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, “Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Foreign language film: “Ida”
Adapted screenplay: Graham Moore, “The Imitation Game”
Original screenplay: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr. and Armando Bo, “Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Animated feature film: “Big Hero 6”
Production design: “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Cinematography: “Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Sound mixing: “Whiplash”
Sound editing: “American Sniper”
Original score: “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Original song: “Glory” from “Selma”
Costume design: “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Documentary feature: “CitizenFour”
Documentary (short subject): “Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1”
Film editing: “Whiplash”
Makeup and hairstyling: “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Animated short film: “Feast”
Live action short film: “The Phone Call”
Visual effects: “Interstellar”