LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - New Prohibition-era drama "Boardwalk Empire" and veteran actress Betty White were among early winners at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday as Hollywood stars honored film and television performances just four weeks before the Oscars.
"Modern Family," last year's Emmy winner for best comedy series, was named best comedy ensemble at the gala dinner.
White, 89, received a standing ovation as she collected her trophy for playing a sassy caretaker in the new comedy "Hot in Cleveland".
"This is the biggest surprise I have ever had in this business. I am so lucky at 89 to be working....you didn't applaud when I turned 40," quipped the former "Golden Girls" star, who won the union's lifetime achievement award last year.
Melissa Leo was honored for her supporting role as a feisty matriarch in the boxing movie "The Fighter." She is the favorite to win the Oscar at the Academy Awards on February 27.
Accepting the statuette in the form of a male, Leo thanked her fellow cast members for "helping me get a man I can bring home with me tonight".
All eyes were on the top SAG prize -- best ensemble movie cast -- which is handed out at the end of the two-hour ceremony.
That award is usually a good indicator of best picture Oscar success because actors in the U.S. film and TV industry make up the largest voting group among members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The British royals drama "The King's Speech," with a leading 12 Oscar nominations, and the Facebook drama "The Social Network," are in a close race for the top Oscar.
But "The King's Speech" appears to be edging ahead in the wake of its victories at the Directors Guild and Producers Guild awards in the past week.
The ballerina melodrama "Black Swan," the lesbian family movie "The Kids Are All Right" and "The Fighter" are also competing for SAG's best cast trophy.
SAG best actress nominee Natalie Portman, 29, who plays an unhinged ballerina in "Black Swan," is thought to be neck-and-neck with Bening for her performance as a lesbian mom whose partner cheats on her with a man. Both took home Golden Globes this month.
SAG's actor race includes "King's Speech" star Colin Firth, who has swept various awards shows for his role as stammering monarch King George VI, as well as "Social Network" star Jesse Eisenberg, who met his real-life alter ego, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, for the first time on "Saturday Night Live" this past weekend.
Also competing are last year's Oscar winner Jeff Bridges for western "True Grit," James Franco for "127 Hours" and veteran Robert Duvall for the independent film "Get Low." Duvall was a notable omission from the Oscar field.
The Screen Actors Guild Awards also honors performances in television. Steve Buscemi won his first SAG award for playing a corrupt politician in HBO's lavish "Boardwalk Empire" series, and Julianna Margulies made it two in a row for what she called the "role of a lifetime" as a buttoned-up lawyer in "The Good Wife."
Alec Baldwin won for the fifth straight year for comedy "30 Rock".
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