A Beautiful Time

03/28/2002 at 01:00 PM EST

Leave the enchanted pumpkins to the fairy-tale princesses. On historic Oscar night, real-life Cinderella Halle Berry had her own fairy godfather: jeweler Harry Winston, who provided the actress's sparkling orange "pumpkin diamond" ring worth $3 million. Spellbinding in a peek-a-boo embroidered gown by couturier Elie Saab, Berry confessed to experiencing Amazon-size butterflies prior to the awards show. "It's the most nerve-racking thing," she said, hanging onto her prince, husband Eric Benét. "If I let loose now, I'll be flat on this carpet. I'm very nervous. But I'm trying very hard not to be."

She needn't have worried. Even as the clock struck 12 on the East Coast -- and then 12:53, when the longest Oscar ceremony on record (a whopping four hours and 23 minutes) finally wrapped up -- Berry remained the undisputed belle of the ball. Sobbing, shaking and seizing her historic Best Actress Oscar -- the first ever awarded to an African-American actress -- the Monster's Ball star provided the emotional high point of an otherwise subdued 74th Annual Academy Awards. "I thought I wasn't gonna make it up the steps," said a still-reeling Berry, 35, who dedicated her victory to "every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened." Upon taking the stage, "I thought, 'God, just don't let me embarrass my mother!' "

Plenty of moms had reason to be proud at the March 24 ceremony, hosted by a relatively restrained Whoopi Goldberg at the brand-new Kodak Theatre in downtown Hollywood. If the show sometimes lacked spontaneity -- several winners, including Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), read directly from prepared speeches -- it was still one for the history books, thanks to ground-breaking wins by Berry and Best Actor Denzel Washington. "Am I excited?" asked honorary Oscar recipient Sidney Poitier, previously the only African-American to win a Best Actor award (in 1963 for Lilies of the Field). "What an understatement! I am thrilled."

Ditto for Washington, 47 -- even if he appeared far more sanguine than Berry. "I was very calm all day today," said the Armani-attired Training Day star, who won an '89 Best Supporting Actor trophy for Glory. "I've been to the dance a few times, and I knew it was out of my hands."