LONDON — Stephen Hawking wasn't at the Oscars in Los Angeles on Sunday night, but he let the world know how proud he was of Eddie Redmayne. Redmayne picked up the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of theoretical physicist Hawking in The Theory of Everything at Sunday night's ceremony.

"Well done Eddie, I'm very proud of you," Hawking wrote on Facebook on Monday.

The Theory of Everything focuses on Hawking's relationship with his future wife, Jane Wilde Hawking, as he deals with the onset of the motor neurone disease ALS.

Redmayne was the favourite to take the award after the film was a success with both movie-goers and critics. In his acceptance speech on Sunday at the Oscars, Redmayne paid tribute to the Hawking family:

Thank you. Thank you. I don’t think I’m capable of articulating quite how I feel right now. I’m fully aware that I am a lucky, lucky man. This Oscar belongs to all of those people around the world battling ALS. It belongs to one exceptional family – Stephen, Jane and the Hawking children. I will be his custodian. I will be at his beck and call. I wait on him hand and foot.

Hawking previously attended the BAFTA awards in London earlier this month, describing the evening as a "blast."