BEVERLY HILLS (Reuters) - A pair of British actresses and Heath Ledger in his villainous role as the Joker in Batman movie "The Dark Knight" won key Golden Globe awards on Sunday as the Hollywood honors reached their midpoint.

The award for Ledger, who passed away last Januaryr, was accepted by "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan who said the loss of Ledger was like "a hole ripped in modern cinema."

"All of us who worked with Heath accept this with an awful mixture of sadness but incredible pride," Nolan said onstage, "He will be eternally missed, but he will never be forgotten."

Briton Kate Winslet, fighting back tears, took the Golden Globe for best supporting actress for her portrayal of a German woman with a hidden past in "The Reader," and Sally Hawkins choked up when collecting best actress in a film comedy as the optimistic teacher in director Mike Leigh's "Happy Go Lucky."

The Golden Globe Awards are given out by some 90 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and annually are one of Hollywood's top honors.


They are closely watched for clues as to which films might vie for Oscars, the world's top move awards given out in February by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

But unlike the film academy, the HFPA also gives honors for television; however, because of their impact on Oscars, the film races are more closely followed than TV, and in that arena tension couldn't be higher, industry pundits say, because many are simply too close to call.

The Golden Globes can be discussed IN THIS THREAD.