BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — "Babel" won best drama and "Dreamgirls" was named best musical or comedy last night at the Golden Globes, establishing them as potential front-runners at the Academy Awards.

The Globes for best dramatic performances were awarded for renditions of two wildly different heads of state: Helen Mirren won best actress as Britain's priggish monarch Elizabeth II in "The Queen," while Forest Whitaker took best actor as magnetic but savage Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland."

Mirren noted that at age 25 in 1952, Elizabeth "walked into literally the role of a lifetime, and I honestly think this award belongs to her, because I think you fell in love with her, not with me." (Mirren also won the Globe for best actress in a TV movie or miniseries as the monarch's namesake of centuries ago in "Elizabeth I.")

Sending big stars home empty-handed, the Golden Globes gave a boost to some television newcomers on Monday, particularly Alec Baldwin and America Ferrera of ABC's "Ugly Betty."

Teary-eyed but smiling widely, Ferrera won the award for best comic actress on TV just a few minutes after the show itself was named best comedy.

It was a true underdog's tale. Ferrera competed against four women who had all been nominated for Golden Globes in the past, including two desperate housewives. ABC had such little faith in "Ugly Betty" initially that it was scheduled for the TV graveyard of Friday nights, until the network sensed a buzz and premiered it on Thursday, where it has flourished.

Ferrera said she hears every day from girls inspired by her character, Betty Suarez, saying it "truly brings a new face to television."

Alec Baldwin's role as a megalomaniac TV network executive on "30 Rock" has enthralled critics. He won the Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy. "I'm glad this isn't too heavy, because I just had hernia surgery," Baldwin quipped.

The crowd-pleasing musical "Dreamgirls" also won acting honors for Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson.

Murphy, previously a three-time loser in the best-actor category at the Globes, finally won a major Hollywood honor after a 25-year career in which his fast-talking comic persona made him a superstar while critical acceptance eluded him.

"People don't come to me with supporting roles," Murphy said backstage. "The reason I responded to this was that it was a great role. I've always been open to it; it just never came to me."

Hudson rose to fame barely two years ago on "American Idol" on the strength of her powerhouse voice, which she uses to great effect in "Dreamgirls."

"I had always dreamed, but I never ever dreamed this big. This goes far beyond anything I could have ever imagined," said Hudson.

After a decades-long drought in which musicals were virtually absent from Hollywood's lineup, "Dreamgirls" is the third song-and-dance flick to click with audiences in the last five years. "Moulin Rouge" scored a best-picture Oscar nomination for 2001, while "Chicago" won best-picture for 2003, a feat "Dreamgirls" aims to emulate.

Sacha Baron Cohen received the Globe for best actor in a movie musical or comedy for his raucous satire "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." Cohen thanked co-star Kenneth Davitian for a naked-wrestling scene in which the heavyset hairy actor rolls around on top of Cohen, who has to breathe the fetid air from his buttocks.

"Kenneth, if it was not for that rancid bubble, I would not be here today," Cohen said.

Meryl Streep won her sixth Golden Globe, this one as best actress in a musical or comedy for "The Devil Wears Prada," in which she plays the boss from hell at a top fashion magazine.

"I think I've worked with everybody in the room," joked Streep, one of Hollywood's winningest actresses during awards season. "It makes you want to cry with gratitude. Until next year."

The best-director prize went to Martin Scorsese for the mob tale "The Departed," the second Globe for the filmmaker, boosting his prospects to finally win an Oscar after five nominations.

American director Clint Eastwood's Japanese-language World War II saga "Letters From Iwo Jima" won the honor for foreign-language film, a prize usually reserved for movies from outside the United States.

"You don't know what this does for my confidence," said director Eastwood, whose "Letters" and its English-language companion piece "Flags of Our Fathers" generally have failed to catch on with audiences and earlier Hollywood awards.

The talking-auto comedy "Cars" took the first-ever Golden Globe for animated film, a category added because of the rush of cartoon flicks Hollywood now churns out.

Warren Beatty received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement.

"The truth is I haven't made an awful lot of movies, in fact," Beatty said, joking about the busy schedules of other older actors and filmmakers such as Eastwood and Jack Nicholson. "Something like this is enough really for a guy to go out and make another movie."

The AP's David Bauder contributed television awards information.