Williams won for actress in a musical or comedy as Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn 52 years after Monroe's win for the same prize at the Globes. Dujardin won for musical or comedy actor for the silent film The Artist.
The supporting-acting Globes went to Plummer, as an elderly widower who comes out as gay in the father-son drama Beginners, and Spencer, as a brassy housekeeper joining other black maids to share stories about life with their white employers in the 1960s Deep South tale The Help.
"With regard to domestics in this country, now and then, I think Dr. King said it best: 'All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance.' And I thank you for recognizing that with our film," Spencer said.
Scorsese won for the Paris adventure Hugo. It was the third directing Globe in the last 10 years for Scorsese, who previously won for Gangs of New York and The Departed and received the show's Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement two years ago.
He won over a field of contenders that included Michel Hazanavicius, who had been considered by many in Hollywood as a favorite for his silent film The Artist.
Williams offered thanks for giving her the same award Monroe once won and joked that her young daughter put up with bedtime stories for six months spoken in Monroe's voice.
"I consider myself a mother first and an actress second, so the person I most want to thank is my daughter, my little girl, whose bravery and exuberance is the example I take with me in my work and my life," Williams said.
Dujardin became the first star in a silent film to earn a major Hollywood prize since the early days of film. He won as a silent-era star whose career unravels amid the rise of talking pictures in the late 1920s.
