Thrillian Murphy

Oppenheimer star's joy at gong

FOR once, fiercely private Cillian Murphy was delighted to be in the spotlight, laughing joyfully as he picked up the Best Actor Oscar, the first Irishman ever to win it.

The actor, who grew up in Ballin-temple, Cork, and found fame as a mob boss in Peaky Blinders, kissed his wife, artist Yvonne McGuinness, before collecting his Oscar for Oppenheimer. He played the title role in the film about J Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist described as the father of the atomic bomb, and dedicated the Oscar to "the peacemakers of the world".

Wearing an 18-carat gold brooch with "layered trapeziums" - a nod to the atomic bomb design - he paid tribute to his family.