Stephen Hawking is ''very proud'' of Eddie Redmayne's Oscar win.

The physicist took to his Facebook page to congratulate the 33-year-old actor for winning the Best Actor Academy Award at last night's (22.02.15) ceremony at Los Angeles' Dolby Theater for his portrayal of the professor in 'The Theory of Everything'.

He wrote: ''Congratulations to Eddie Redmayne for winning an ‪#‎Oscar‬ for playing me in The Theory of Everything Movie. Well done Eddie, I'm very proud of you. -SH (sic)''

The 73-year-old author - who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neurone disease - missed out on the star-studded ceremony because he wasn't well enough to fly to LA.

Anthony McCarten - the film's scriptwriter - explained that Hawking, who suffers from motor neurone disease, was not considered fit to fly to the ceremony, saying: ''Stephen has been told by doctors he is not well enough to fly here.''

Speaking before the event, Eddie said: ''He'll be missed.''

Eddie paid tribute to Stephen and his family as well as others who suffer from ALS during his acceptance speech at the ceremony.

He said: ''This belongs to all of those people around the world battling ALS. It belongs to one exceptional family: Stephen, Jane, Jonathan and the Hawking children.''