As expected, the late Heath Ledger earned the supporting-actor Golden Globe award Sunday night in Beverly Hills, Calif., for his diabolical turn as the Joker in the Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight, the Associated Press reported.

The Globe win boosts Ledger's prospects for the supporting-actor honor at the Oscars, whose nominations come out Jan. 22, the one-year anniversary of the actor's death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

The award was accepted by Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan, who said he and his collaborators were buoyed by the enormous acclaim and acceptance the film and Ledger's performance have gained worldwide, the AP said.

The other winners among SF&F films and TV series included WALL-E, which took home the award for best animated feature. Director Andrew Stanton thanked producer Pixar Animation and distributor Walt Disney, saying the unusual love story between two robots who communicate in beeps and squeaks "couldn't have been made anywhere else."

Anna Paquin, meanwhile, won the Globe for best performance by an actress in a television series, drama, for her starring role in HBO's True Blood.