Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of King" seized "the precious" -- a win for best dramatic motion picture -- Sunday at the 61st annual Golden Globe Awards. And this time, it wasn't necessary to toss the talisman back into the fiery pit of Mount Doom.

Among the year's leading actors, "Mystic River's" Sean Penn and "Monster's" Charlize Theron took home top drama honors, while the comedy kudos went to Bill Murray for "Lost in Translation" and Diane Keaton for "Something's Gotta Give."

In television, HBO's epic miniseries "Angels in America" led the field with five wins, including best miniseries/telefilm and lead actor and actress trophies for Al Pacino and Meryl Streep.

Although "King" dominated the evening on the film side by commanding four Globes, a much smaller movie -- the modest "Translation," from writer-director Sofia Coppola -- clearly spoke to the 90 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. They rewarded the movie about Americans experiencing cultural disorientation in Tokyo with three statuettes, including best comedy/musical motion picture.

Miramax's Civil War epic "Cold Mountain," which entered the fray with a leading eight nominations, had to settle for one trophy: a supporting actress award for Renee Zellweger.

Jackson and his cast and crew, who brought armies of hobbits, humans, elves and orcs to the big screen in New Line's epic three-part adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien novel, finally saw their efforts rewarded. Although the trilogy's first film, "The Fellowship of the Ring," picked up four nominations two years ago before the HFPA's annual bash, it scored no wins. Last year, "The Two Towers" went 0-for-2 on its Globe nominations.

But, suggesting that the awards tide finally is turning in "King's" favor, Jackson's grand finale picked up all four Globes for which it was nominated to become the dominant player at the Beverly Hilton, where the dinner/awards presentation, broadcast by NBC, took place.

"I just want to accept this award and pay tribute to Professor Tolkien for his incredible book," Jackson said in accepting the best drama prize. Having already expressed his thanks to New Line executives Bob Shaye, Michael Lynne and Mark Ordesky when he picked up best director honors a half-hour earlier, Jackson also used the occasion to thank producer Saul Zaentz, who controlled rights to the book when the project began, and Harvey Weinstein, who supported the project's initial development.

Clearly, the third time proved the charm for Jackson: Although nominated for Golden Globes for the first two installments of "Rings," he had to wait for "King," the cycle's final installment, to be called to the winner's podium. "I think seven years on this movie turned me into a hobbit," the sartorially shaggy director chuckled.

If "King's" victory was a long time coming, then Focus Features' "Translation" -- which initially surfaced at last year's Telluride Film Festival before going on to Venice and Toronto -- is an indie hit that seemingly arrived out of nowhere.

In addition to best comedy honors, "Translation" earned Coppola the night's best screenplay award and crowned Murray best comedy actor. "I don't know what to say," Coppola, nearly at a loss for words, said of the movie's upset victory that saw it upstaging mighty films including Buena Vista's "Finding Nemo."

Murray -- invited to the stage by Zellweger when named best actor in a comedy or musical for his work in "Translation," in which he plays an actor adrift in Tokyo -- proved he also is a master of the deadpan comic acceptance speech.

"You can all relax -- I fired my agents a couple of months ago," he began to appreciative laughter. "My physical trainer killed himself, and I would thank the people at Universal and Focus, except there are so many people trying to take credit for this, I wouldn't know where to begin." Murray, winning his first Globe, offered genuine words of thanks to his wife for keeping the home fires burning and to Coppola "for writing a film that was so good that every actor in this room says, 'That lucky son of a bitch; it could have been me up there with that damn thing.' "

Diane Keaton also triggered applause and laughter in accepting her trophy for best comedy actress for playing an older woman who unexpectedly finds herself falling in love in "Something." But the spontaneity of the moment was undercut somewhat by the fact that she read her thanks from a crib sheet held in her formally gloved hands.

For Keaton, it had been a long dry spell between trips to the podium. Although "Something" represented her ninth nomination, she had won only once before -- in 1978, for her signature performance in "Annie Hall."

"Let's face it, getting to play a woman to love at 57 is like reaching for the stars with a stepladder," Keaton said. She credited the unusual occurrence to a series of coalescing elements that included writer-director Nancy Meyers, co-star Jack Nicholson and Sony Pictures Entertainment executive Amy Pascal. "Amy's green light created an unlikely alliance between Nancy, genius Jack and me, the rediscovered eccentric," Keaton said with a laugh.

Keaton appeared to most delight Nicholson, who was whooping it up in the audience, when she let fly an unscripted "So -- shit!" toward the end of her remarks.

Among the drama winners, Penn was a no-show. Director Clint Eastwood climbed onstage to accept the award for the actor, who plays a father struggling with the disappearance of his daughter in the tragic "River." Eastwood attributed Penn's absence to "family business up north," where the actor lives, but used the moment to laud his star, saying there are actors who are "oftentimes overlooked because they're so good so often, so consistent in their performances that we often just expect great things from them. ... Sean Penn ... is one of those people, (so) I'd just like to thank the Hollywood foreign press for recognizing this truly exceptional actor."

Theron, a beauty who transformed herself into something of a beast to play serial killer Aileen Wuornos in "Monster," made up for Penn's absence with her exuberance. "This is crazy," she exclaimed. "I'm from a farm in South Africa -- this is insane." Gathering herself -- "OK, breathe," she said, providing her own stage directions -- she thanked writer-director Patty Jenkins for giving her the opportunity to take on the career-altering role. "There is only so much you can do, but if somebody doesn't give you a chance, there's nothing you can do -- and you gave it to me," Theron said.

Zellweger has become an old hand at lugging around Globes trophies: She won last year for comedy/musical actress for "Chicago" and picked up another comedy award in 2001 for "Nurse Betty." But it was her dramatic turn as Ruby, the mountain woman who teaches Nicole Kidman's character how to till the soil in "Mountain," that earned her the evening's supporting actress award.

"My God; OK, thank you," Zellweger gasped as she took the stage. Her gratitude list included novelist Charles Frazier ("who went out to spin a yarn and ended up writing a masterpiece"), director Anthony Minghella ("my hero ... my teacher, my friend"), co-stars Jude Law and Kidman ("wonderful Nicole -- it was a privilege to shovel out the barn with you") and Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein and production head Meryl Poster.

"River" received an early boost when Tim Robbins picked up the evening's first trophy, the supporting feature actor award, for his stooped portrayal of a man haunted by his past in Clint Eastwood's adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel. Robbins acknowledged the early win by saying, "A good thing about this coming early is that I get to drink now." He also extended his thanks to Warner Bros. Pictures, the movie's cast and Eastwood.

"Clint, you are the man," Robbins said. "I have never felt so trusted and in such good hands as when we were on the set for that movie. It's an absolute joy; I learned so much."

A few minutes later, Meryl Streep -- upon winning a Globe for actress in a TV series, miniseries or telefilm for HBO's "Angels in America" -- teased Robbins for forgetting to thank his agent.

But even before the three-hour broadcast was half over, "King" began its triumphant march when Howard Shore picked up best score honors for his sweeping compositions inspired by the realms of Middle Earth. Moments later, his name was called again when "Into the West," the end-title tune he wrote with Fran Walsh and Annie Lennox, was named best original song, beating out tunes by such pop superstars as Elton John, Bono and Sting.

The foreign-language film award went to Siddiq Barmak's Afghanistan entry "Osama," which United Artists is distributing domestically.

Probably only Danny DeVito, a longtime friend and sometime collaborator of Michael Douglas, could have pulled off the teasing tribute he offered his pal, this year's recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement.

"What drives Michael Douglas?" DeVito asked rhetorically. "I can sum it up in one word: Kirk," a reference to the senior member of the Douglas clan, a DeMille winner in 1968. "Back then," DeVito puckishly offered, "a lot of his friends didn't know if he was going to become an actor or a gynecologist. But we're very happy that he chose both."

In accepting the tribute, Douglas recalled his early career in television -- including 104 hours of crime drama "The Streets of San Francisco" in four years during the 1970s -- and expressed thanks to "Streets" co-star Karl Malden "for showing me what a work ethic is all about." Douglas also acknowledged Zaentz's role in his career and thanked his father for "stamina, his endurance and his great sense of material."

Douglas concluded by addressing his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, saying, "I never thought I would be here with you, but I'm so happy to share this with you."

In the studio competition, New Line took high ground with four awards, thanks to "King"; Focus picked up three because of "Translation," and Warners claimed two for "River" and a share in the trophy for "Something," of which the studio is foreign distributor. Miramax, Newmarket, Sony/Columbia and United Artists each took home one glittering prize.

Dick Clark and Barry Adelman were executive producers of Sunday's Globes telecast, which was produced by Ken Shapiro and directed by Chris Donovan. Adelman and Shapiro were the telecast's writers.