‘Oppenheimer’ wins big with seven Oscars in a night of Philadelphians turning out in style and winning

It was a night of shimmery gowns, cool tuxedos, and tasteful jokes at the 89th Academy Awards hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s epic film about the creator of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, was the night’s biggest winner with a total of seven Oscars including best film; Cillian Murphy won for best actor and Robert Downey Jr. won for best supporting actor.

Still, Philly shined.

Da’Vine Joy Randolph, the Philly native and Temple graduate who won best supporting actress for her role as Mary Lamb in The Holdovers, was the city’s big winner. She floated onto Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater stage in a powder blue Louis Vuitton gown and gave a tear-filled acceptance speech, thanking her mother for encouraging her to act.

» READ MORE: As Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ opens, Montgomery County man recalls working on the H-Bomb

“I didn’t think I was supposed to be doing this as a career,” Randolph said. “I started off as a singer and my mother said to me, ‘Go across the street to that theater department, there is something for you there.’ I thank my mother for doing that.”

She also thanked Yale theater professor Ron Van Lieu for believing in her, as fellow Yale alum and The Holdovers star Paul Giamatti broke into tears in the audience.

“I thank you for seeing me …,” Randolph said. “When I was the only Black girl in that class, you saw me and told me I was enough and when I told you I didn’t see myself, you said, ‘That’s fine you are going to forge your own path. You are going to lay a trail for yourself.’”

Best actor, screenwriter, and best film nominee Bradley Cooper arrived on the Oscar red carpet Sunday evening with his mother, Gloria Campano, again in a black, wide-legged Louis Vuitton tuxedo with spiffy double-breasted blazer. The Maestro director and star took it in stride when Kimmel jokingly asked the Montco native, “How many times can you take your mom as a date before you are dating your mom?” Cooper was nominated for his role as the legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein in Maestro. He lost out to Murphy.

West Philly-raised Colman Domingo, was also nominated for best actor for his role as the West Chester-born civil rights leader Bayard Rustin in Netflix’s Rustin. Even as he lost to Murphy he definitely gets my vote for best dressed actor thanks to his classy, custom, wide-legged Louis Vuitton tuxedo, accessorized with Louis Vuitton cowboy boots, and a fly brooch.

Finally, as much as we adore Philadelphia High School for Girls’ graduate Erika Alexander — one of several actors in the star-studded film American Fiction — the dress, what could have been a sleek, ivory sheath, was an awkward mix of tulle, leather, and stripes.