RICHARD Linklater's 12-yearsin-the-making Boyhood won top honours at the 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards, while Hollywood rallied against recent threats to the art of satire.

Boyhood won best movie, drama and best director for Linklater, as well as best supporting actress for Patricia Arquette.

Perhaps the film's top Oscar rival, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Birdman, also fared well. It won best actor in a comedy or musical for its lead, Michael Keaton.

But in a shock, Birdman was upset by Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel for best film, comedy or musical. The film was Anderson's biggest box office hit yet, but not an award season favourite.

Kicking off the show, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler wasted no time in mocking Hollywood's most tender subjects - the hacking of Sony Pictures over The Interview and the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby.

The hosts welcomed Hollywood's "despicable, spoiled, minimally talented brats" to the Globes to celebrate "all the movies that North Korea was OK with".

A North Korea government character, played by Margaret Cho, voiced her displeasure.

The hosts also relished their favourite target - George Clooney. Of the night's Cecil B DeMille honoree, Fey suggested the lifetime achievement award might have been better off going to his new wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.

The recent terrorist attack in Paris at the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo hung heavily over the show.

Clooney and others wore "Je Suis Charlie" badges, and Helen Mirren was among the people holding up signs that read the same on the red carpet.

Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Theo Kingma drew a standing ovation for a speech pledging support of free speech "from North Korea to Paris".

British pair Eddie Redmayne and Joanne Froggatt took home two of the night's acting awards.

Redmayne, 33, beat off stiff competition from the likes of fellow countryman Benedict Cumberbatch to bag the coveted trophy for best actor in a drama.

The London-born actor revealed he had to cut his honeymoon short to pick up the gong, which he was given for his moving portrayal of the physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything,

And he was quick to thank his new bride Hannah Bagshawe, telling the audience: "I promised her sunshine -it wasn't so great today - but thanks for giving us a honeymoon we'll remember".

Downton Abbey star Froggatt was named best supporting actress in a TV series for her role as the loveable ladies' maid Anna Bates.

The Yorkshire-born actress ditched her maid's outfit for the glamour of the red carpet as she was awarded the plaudit.

Froggatt has been given some hard-hitting storylines in the past season as her character had to cope with the aftermath of being raped and then wrongly accused of murdering her attacker.

And she paid tribute to victims of sexual violence in her acceptance speech, reportedly telling the audience: "This is the most shocking moment of life.

"After the storyline aired I received a lot of letters from survivors of rape - thank you to everyone who wrote - I heard you."

Julianne Moore won best actress in a drama for her startling performance as an academic with early onset Alzheimer's in Still Alice. Amy Adams surprised in taking best actress in a comedy or musical for her performance in Big Eyes.

As the only major awards show to honour both movies and TV, the Globes have also benefited from television's rise. Fey and Poehler alluded to that by leading the crowd in a call-and-response cheer, chanting "Movies ... Awesome! TV ... Better!"

Amazon, crashing the party like Netflix did before it, celebrated its first Golden Globes for the sexual identity comedy Transparent, winning best TV series, musical or comedy.

The show's star, Jeffery Tambor, landed best actor in the category, dedicating his award to the trans-gender community.

AMC's adaptation of the Coen brothers' acclaimed 1996 film, Fargo, came in the leading TV contender with five nominations and promptly won best miniseries or movie, as well as best actor, miniseries or movie, for Billy Bob Thornton.

* ALL GOLD: Clockwise from left, Eddie Redmayne, with his Golden Globe award for best actor in a drama, some of the cast and crew of Boyhood, one of the big winners on the night, hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler with Margaret Cho, best supporting actress in a TV series Joanne Froggatt

* JE SUIS CHARLIE: Helen Mirren

* COUPLE: Jamie Dornan and his wife Amelia Warner