Emma Watson dedicates award to late hamster in odd acceptance speech

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- While accepting The Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year on Thursday Emma Watson decided to take a moment to remember her late hamster Millie.

"On the first Harry Potter film, my on-set hamster Millie had a heart attack and didn't quite make it," Watson, 24, told the audience at the Jaguar Britannia Awards at the Beverly Hilton. "The set decorators built a small mahogany hamster-sized coffin and it had a velvet lining [and] a silver plaque on front which had Millie's named engraved in it.

"What I'm trying to say is you're all very special to me and your vote of confidence means a lot," she continued. "Rest in peace, Millie -- this one's for you."

Other honorees of the night included Robert Downey Jr. who took home the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film; Julia Louis Dreyfus, who won The Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy; Mark Ruffalo, who earned The Britannia Humanitarian Award; Dame Judi Dench who won The Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Entertainment and Mike Leigh, who received the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing.

The Britannia Awards are presented by BAFTA Los Angeles, a branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, as "a bridge between the Hollywood and British production and entertainment business communities." The award show aired on BBC America on Nov. 2.