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'The Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role' is one of the awards given to actors working in the film industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is also commonly referred to as the Oscar for Best Actor. While nominations for this award are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses themselves, the winners are chosen by the Academy membership as a whole.
In the first three years of the Academy Awards, individuals such as actors, directors, and cinematographers were nominated as the best in their categories. Then all of their work during the qualifying period (as many as three films in some cases) was listed after the award. However, for the 1929/30 awards, though each of the acting winners had had two films following their names on the ballots, only one of those films was cited in each winner's final award. The following year, this unwieldy and confusing system was replaced by the current system in which an actor is nominated for a specific performance in a single film. Until 1936, nominations for this award were intended to include any actor, whether the performance was in a leading role or a supporting role. In 1936, however, the supporting categories were specifically added as distinct awards following complaints that the single Best Actor and Best Actress awards necessarily favored leading performers with the most screen time. Nonetheless, Best Actor had gone to at least one performer in a clear supporting role (Lionel Barrymore in ''A Free Soul''). Still other supporting players, such as Franchot Tone in ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' and May Robson in ''Lady for a Day'', had been nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively.
Seven men have won the Best Actor award twice. In chronological order, they are: Spencer Tracy (1937, 1938), Fredric March (1932, 1946), Gary Cooper (1941, 1952), Marlon Brando (1954, 1972), Dustin Hoffman (1979, 1988), Tom Hanks (1993, 1994), and Jack Nicholson (1975, 1997). Tracy and Hanks are the only actors to win their awards in consecutive years.
The actors with the most nominations in this category are Spencer Tracy and Laurence Olivier, with nine each. Paul Newman, Jack Nicholson, and Peter O'Toole tie for third place with eight nominations each. Nicholson won his awards a record 22 years apart. O'Toole holds the record for the longest time span between his first and last nominations (44 years), and he also holds the record for the greatest number of nominations without ever winning the award (eight).
Six actors have won both the Best Actor and the Best Supporting Actor awards: Jack Lemmon, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, and Denzel Washington.
There has only been one tie in the history of this category, and it wasn't an exact tie. In 1932, Fredric March received one more vote than Wallace Beery. Academy rules at that time considered such a close margin to be a tie, so both March and Beery received the award. Under the current Academy rules, however, dual awards are only given for exact ties. While that has never happened for the Best Actor award, it did happen for the Best Actress award in 1968.
Peter Finch is the only posthumous winner, and James Dean, Spencer Tracy, and Massimo Troisi are the only other posthumously nominated performers in this category.
Three actors have been nominated for Best Actor more than once for the same character: Bing Crosby as Father O'Malley in ''Going My Way'' and ''The Bells of St. Mary's''; Peter O'Toole as King Henry II in ''Becket'' and ''The Lion in Winter''; and Paul Newman as "Fast Eddie" Felson in ''The Hustler'' and ''The Color of Money''. (Al Pacino was nominated in 1974 for a role for which he had previously been nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Michael Corleone in ''The Godfather Part II''.)
Several pairs of actors have been nominated for playing the same character or historical figure: Fredric March and James Mason as Norman Maine in ''A Star Is Born'', Robert Donat and Peter O'Toole as Chipping in ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'', Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh as Henry V, Charles Laughton and Richard Burton as Henry VIII, Leslie Howard and Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins in ''Pygmalion'' and ''My Fair Lady'', and José Ferrer and Gerard Depardieu as Cyrano de Bergerac. Robert De Niro won Best Supporting Actor for playing Vito Corleone in ''The Godfather Part II'', the role for which Marlon Brando had previously won Best Actor.
Robert Downey Jr. is the only actor nominated for playing a previous nominee, Charles Chaplin, in ''Chaplin''.
Two actors directed their own Oscar-winning performances: Laurence Olivier in ''Hamlet'' and Roberto Benigni in ''Life Is Beautiful''. To date, however, no individual has won both Best Actor and Best Director.
Two winners have declined the award: George C. Scott, who won for ''Patton'' in 1970 (he had also declined his 1961 nomination for Best Supporting Actor for ''The Hustler''); and Marlon Brando, upon winning his second Oscar for ''The Godfather'' in 1972.
A few early winning and nominated performances have subsequently been lost, including Emil Jannings in ''The Way of All Flesh'' (1928), Lewis Stone in ''The Patriot'' (1928) (also starring Jannings), and Lawrence Tibbett in ''The Rogue Song'' (1930), of which only a short fragment and the soundtrack survives.
Following the Academy's practice, the films below are listed by the years of their Los Angeles qualifying run, which is usually (but not always) in the year of release. For example, the Oscar for "Best Actor in 1999" was announced during the award ceremony held in 2000. Winners are listed first in 'bold', followed by the other nominees.

Contents

Superlatives

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

See also

Superlatives

'Category'	'Name'	'Superlative'	'Year'	'Notes'
Most Awards	Spencer Tracy	2 awards (tie)	1938	Awards resulted from 9 nominations.
Most Awards	Fredric March	2 awards (tie)	1946	Awards resulted from 5 nominations.
Most Awards	Gary Cooper	2 awards (tie)	1952	Awards resulted from 5 nominations.
Most Awards	Marlon Brando	2 awards (tie)	1972	Awards resulted from 7 nominations.
Most Awards	Dustin Hoffman	2 awards (tie)	1988	Awards resulted from 7 nominations.
Most Awards	Tom Hanks	2 awards (tie)	1994	Awards resulted from 5 nominations.
Most Awards	Jack Nicholson	2 awards (tie)	1997	Awards resulted from 8 nominations.
Most Nominations	Spencer Tracy	9 nominations (tie)	1967	Nominations resulted in 2 awards.
Most Nominations	Laurence Olivier	9 nominations (tie)	1978	Nominations resulted in 1 award.
Oldest Winner	Henry Fonda	76 years old	1981	''On Golden Pond''
Oldest Nominee	Richard Farnsworth	79 years old	1999	''The Straight Story''
Youngest Winner	Adrien Brody	29 years old	2002	''The Pianist''
Youngest Nominee	Jackie Cooper	9 years old	1930/31	''Skippy''

1920s

★ '1928' 'Emil Jannings - ''The Last Command''' as '"Gen. Dolgorucki/Grand Duke Sergius Alexander"' and '''The Way of All Flesh''' as '"August Schilling"'

★
★ Richard Barthelmess - ''The Noose'' as "Nicky Elkins" and ''The Patent Leather Kid'' as "the Patent Leather Kid"

★
★ Charles Chaplin - ''The Circus'' as "The Little Tramp"

★ '1929' 'Warner Baxter - ''In Old Arizona''' as '"The Cisco Kid"'

★
★ George Bancroft - ''Thunderbolt'' as "Thunderbolt Jim Lang"

★
★ Chester Morris - ''Alibi'' as "Chick Williams (No. 1065)"

★
★ Paul Muni - ''The Valiant'' as "James Dyke"

★
★ Lewis Stone - ''The Patriot'' as "Count Pahlen"

1930s

★ '1930' 'George Arliss - ''Disraeli''' as 'Benjamin Disraeli'

★
★ George Arliss - ''The Green Goddess'' as "The Raja of Rukh"

★
★ Wallace Beery - ''The Big House'' as "'Machine Gun' Butch Schmidt"

★
★ Maurice Chevalier - ''The Big Pond'' as "Pierre Mirande" and ''The Love Parade'' as "Count Alfred Renard"

★
★ Ronald Colman - ''Bulldog Drummond'' as "Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond" and ''Condemned'' as "Michel"

★
★ Lawrence Tibbett - ''The Rogue Song'' as "Yegor"

★ '1931' 'Lionel Barrymore - ''A Free Soul''' as '"Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney"'

★
★ Adolphe Menjou - ''The Front Page'' as "Walter Burns"

★
★ Jackie Cooper - ''Skippy'' as "Skippy Skinner"

★
★ Richard Dix - ''Cimarron'' as "Yancey Cravat"

★
★ Fredric March - ''The Royal Family of Broadway'' as "Tony Cavendish"

★ '1932' 'Fredric March - ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''' as '"Dr. Henry L. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde"' and 'Wallace Beery - ''The Champ''' as '"Champ"' (tie)

★
★ Alfred Lunt - ''The Guardsman'' as "The Actor"

★ '1933' 'Charles Laughton - ''The Private Life of Henry VIII''' as 'King Henry VIII'

★
★ Leslie Howard - ''Berkeley Square'' as "Peter Standish"

★
★ Paul Muni - ''I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang'' as "James Allen/Allen James"

★ '1934' 'Clark Gable - ''It Happened One Night''' as '"Peter Warne"'

★
★ Frank Morgan - ''The Affairs of Cellini'' as Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence

★
★ William Powell - ''The Thin Man'' as "Nick Charles"

★ '1935' 'Victor McLaglen - ''The Informer''' as '"Gypo Nolan"'

★
★ Clark Gable - ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' as Fletcher Christian

★
★ Charles Laughton - ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' as William Bligh

★
★ Paul Muni - ''Black Fury'' as "Joe Radek" (unofficial nomination; write-in candidate)

★
★ Franchot Tone - ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' as Midshipman Roger Byam

★ '1936' 'Paul Muni - ''The Story of Louis Pasteur''' as 'Dr. Louis Pasteur'

★
★ Gary Cooper - ''Mr. Deeds Goes to Town'' as "Longfellow Deeds"

★
★ Walter Huston - ''Dodsworth'' as "Samuel Dodsworth"

★
★ William Powell - ''My Man Godfrey'' as Godfrey "Smith"

★
★ Spencer Tracy - ''San Francisco'' as "Father Tim Mullin"

★ '1937' 'Spencer Tracy - ''Captains Courageous''' as '"Manuel Fidello"'

★
★ Charles Boyer - ''Conquest'' as Napoleon Bonaparte

★
★ Fredric March - ''A Star Is Born'' as "Norman Maine"

★
★ Robert Montgomery - ''Night Must Fall'' as "Danny"

★
★ Paul Muni - ''The Life of Emile Zola'' as Émile Zola

★ '1938' 'Spencer Tracy - ''Boys Town''' as 'Father Edward J. Flanigan'

★
★ Charles Boyer - ''Algiers'' as "Pepe Le Moko"

★
★ James Cagney - ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' as "Rocky Sullivan"

★
★ Robert Donat - ''The Citadel'' as "Dr. Andrew Manson"

★
★ Leslie Howard - ''Pygmalion'' as "Professor Henry Higgins"

★ '1939' 'Robert Donat - ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips''' as '"Charles E. Chipping"'

★
★ Clark Gable - ''Gone with the Wind'' as "Rhett Butler"

★
★ Laurence Olivier - ''Wuthering Heights'' as "Heathcliff"

★
★ Mickey Rooney - ''Babes in Arms'' as "Mickey Moran"

★
★ James Stewart - ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' as "Jefferson Smith"

1940s

★ '1940' 'James Stewart - ''The Philadelphia Story''' as '"Macaulay Connor"'

★
★ Charles Chaplin - ''The Great Dictator'' as "Adenoid Hynkel (Dictator of Tomania)"/"A Jewish Barber"

★
★ Henry Fonda - ''The Grapes of Wrath'' as "Tom Joad"

★
★ Raymond Massey - ''Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' as Abraham Lincoln

★
★ Laurence Olivier - ''Rebecca'' as "Maxim de Winter"

★ '1941' ' Gary Cooper - ''Sergeant York''' as 'Sergeant Alvin York'

★
★ Cary Grant - ''Penny Serenade'' as "Roger Adams"

★
★ Walter Huston - ''The Devil and Daniel Webster'' as "Mr. Scratch"

★
★ Robert Montgomery - ''Here Comes Mr. Jordan'' as "Joe Pendleton"

★
★ Orson Welles - ''Citizen Kane'' as "Charles Foster Kane"

★ '1942' ' James Cagney - ''Yankee Doodle Dandy''' as 'George M. Cohan'

★
★ Ronald Colman - ''Random Harvest'' as "Charles Rainier"

★
★ Gary Cooper - ''The Pride of the Yankees'' as Lou Gehrig

★
★ Walter Pidgeon - ''Mrs. Miniver'' as "Clem Miniver"

★
★ Monty Woolley - ''The Pied Piper'' as "Howard"

★ '1943' ' Paul Lukas - ''Watch on the Rhine''' as '"Kurt Muller"'

★
★ Humphrey Bogart - ''Casablanca'' as "Rick Blaine"

★
★ Gary Cooper - ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' as "Robert Jordan"

★
★ Walter Pidgeon - ''Madame Curie'' as Pierre Curie

★
★ Mickey Rooney - ''The Human Comedy'' as "Homer Macauley"

★ '1944' ' Bing Crosby - ''Going My Way''' as '"Father Chuck O'Malley"'

★
★ Charles Boyer - ''Gaslight'' as "Gregory Anton"

★
★ Barry Fitzgerald - ''Going My Way'' as "Father Fitzgibbon"

★
★ Cary Grant - ''None but the Lonely Heart'' as "Ernie Mott"

★
★ Alexander Knox - ''Wilson'' as Woodrow Wilson

★ '1945' ' Ray Milland - ''The Lost Weekend''' as '"Don Birnam"'

★
★ Bing Crosby - ''The Bells of St. Mary's'' as "Father Chuck O'Malley"

★
★ Gene Kelly - ''Anchors Aweigh'' as "Joseph Brady"

★
★ Gregory Peck - ''The Keys of the Kingdom'' as "Father Francis Chisolm"

★
★ Cornel Wilde - ''A Song to Remember'' as Frederic Chopin

★ '1946' ' Fredric March - ''The Best Years of Our Lives''' as '"Al Stephenson"'

★
★ Laurence Olivier - ''Henry V'' as Henry V of England (Note: Olivier received an Academy Honorary Award for "his Outstanding achievement as actor, producer and director in bringing Henry V to the screen")

★
★ Larry Parks - ''The Jolson Story'' as Al Jolson

★
★ Gregory Peck - ''The Yearling'' as "Penny Baxter"

★
★ James Stewart - ''It's a Wonderful Life'' as "George Bailey"

★ '1947' ' Ronald Colman - ''A Double Life''' as '"Anthony John"'

★
★ John Garfield - ''Body and Soul'' as "Charley Davis"

★
★ Gregory Peck - ''Gentleman's Agreement'' as "Philip Schuyler Green"

★
★ Michael Redgrave - ''Mourning Becomes Electra'' as "Orin Mannon"

★
★ William Powell - ''Life with Father'' as "Clarence 'Father' Day"

★ '1948' ' Laurence Olivier - ''Hamlet''' as '"Hamlet, Prince of Denmark"'

★
★ Lew Ayres - ''Johnny Belinda'' as "Dr. Robert Richardson"

★
★ Montgomery Clift - ''The Search'' as "Ralph 'Steve' Stevenson"

★
★ Dan Dailey - ''When My Baby Smiles at Me'' as "'Skid' Johnson"

★
★ Clifton Webb - ''Sitting Pretty'' as "Lynn Belvedere"

★ '1949' ' Broderick Crawford - ''All the King's Men''' as '"Willie Stark"'

★
★ Kirk Douglas - ''Champion'' as "Michael 'Midge' Kelly"

★
★ Gregory Peck - ''Twelve O'Clock High'' as "Brig. Gen. Frank Savage"

★
★ Richard Todd - ''The Hasty Heart'' as "Cpl. Lachlan 'Lachie' MacLachlan"

★
★ John Wayne - ''Sands of Iwo Jima'' as "Sgt. John Stryker"

1950s

★ '1950' ' José Ferrer - ''Cyrano de Bergerac''' as 'Cyrano de Bergerac'

★
★ Louis Calhern - ''The Magnificent Yankee'' as Oliver Wendell Holmes

★
★ William Holden - ''Sunset Boulevard'' as "Joe Gillis"

★
★ James Stewart - ''Harvey'' as "Elwood P. Dowd"

★
★ Spencer Tracy - ''Father of the Bride'' as "Stanley T. Banks"

★ '1951' ' Humphrey Bogart - ''The African Queen''' as '"Charlie Allnut"'

★
★ Marlon Brando - ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' as "Stanley Kowalski"

★
★ Montgomery Clift - ''A Place in the Sun'' as "George Eastman"

★
★ Arthur Kennedy - ''Bright Victory'' as "Larry Nevins"

★
★ Fredric March - ''Death of a Salesman'' as "Willy Loman"

★ '1952' ' Gary Cooper - ''High Noon''' as '"Will Kane"'

★
★ Marlon Brando - ''Viva Zapata!'' as Emiliano Zapata

★
★ Kirk Douglas - ''The Bad and the Beautiful'' as "Jonathan Shields"

★
★ José Ferrer - ''Moulin Rouge'' as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Comte Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec

★
★ Alec Guinness - ''The Lavender Hill Mob'' as "Henry 'Dutch' Holland"

★ '1953' ' William Holden - ''Stalag 17''' as '"Sergeant J.J. Sefton"'

★
★ Marlon Brando - ''Julius Caesar'' as Mark Antony

★
★ Richard Burton - ''The Robe'' as "Marcellus Gallio"

★
★ Montgomery Clift - ''From Here to Eternity'' as "Pvt. Robert E. Lee 'Prew' Prewitt"

★
★ Burt Lancaster - ''From Here to Eternity'' as "Sgt. Milton Warden"

★ '1954' ' Marlon Brando - ''On the Waterfront''' as '"Terry Malloy"'

★
★ Humphrey Bogart - ''The Caine Mutiny'' as "Phillip Francis Queeg"

★
★ Bing Crosby - ''The Country Girl'' as "Frank Elgin"

★
★ James Mason - ''A Star Is Born'' as "Norman Maine"

★
★ Dan O'Herlihy - ''The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe'' as "Robinson Crusoe"

★ '1955' ' Ernest Borgnine - ''Marty''' as '"Marty Piletti"'

★
★ James Cagney - ''Love Me or Leave Me'' as Martin Snyder

★
★ James Dean - ''East of Eden'' as "Cal Trask" ''(posthumously nominated)''

★
★ Frank Sinatra - ''The Man with the Golden Arm'' as "Frankie Machine"

★
★ Spencer Tracy - ''Bad Day at Black Rock'' as "John J. Macreedy"

★ '1956' ' Yul Brynner - ''The King and I''' as '"King Mongkut of Siam"'

★
★ James Dean - ''Giant'' as "Jett Rink" ''(posthumously nominated)''

★
★ Kirk Douglas - ''Lust for Life'' as Vincent Van Gogh

★
★ Rock Hudson - ''Giant'' as "Bick Benedict"

★
★ Laurence Olivier - ''Richard III'' as Richard III of England

★ '1957' ' Alec Guinness - ''The Bridge on the River Kwai''' as '"Lieutenant-Colonel Nicholson"'

★
★ Marlon Brando - ''Sayonara'' as "Major Lloyd 'Ace Garber, USAF"

★
★ Anthony Franciosa - ''A Hatful of Rain'' as "Polo Pope"

★
★ Charles Laughton - ''Witness for the Prosecution'' as "Sir Wilfrid Robarts"

★
★ Anthony Quinn - ''Wild Is the Wind'' as "Gino"

★ '1958' ' David Niven - ''Separate Tables''' as '"Major Angus Pollock"'

★
★ Tony Curtis - ''The Defiant Ones'' as "John 'Joker' Jackson"

★
★ Paul Newman - ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' as "Brick Pollitt"

★
★ Sidney Poitier - ''The Defiant Ones'' as "Noah Cullen"

★
★ Spencer Tracy - ''The Old Man and the Sea'' as "Santiago"

★ '1959' ' Charlton Heston - ''Ben-Hur''' as '"Judah Ben-Hur"'

★
★ Laurence Harvey - ''Room at the Top'' as "Joe Lampton"

★
★ Jack Lemmon - ''Some Like It Hot'' as "Jerry/Daphne"

★
★ Paul Muni - ''The Last Angry Man'' as "Dr. Sam Abelman"

★
★ James Stewart - ''Anatomy of a Murder'' as "Paul Biegler"

1960s

★ '1960' ' Burt Lancaster - ''Elmer Gantry''' as '"Elmer Gantry"'

★
★ Trevor Howard - ''Sons and Lovers'' as "Walter Morel"

★
★ Jack Lemmon - ''The Apartment'' as "C.C. Baxter"

★
★ Laurence Olivier - ''The Entertainer'' as "Archie Rice"

★
★ Spencer Tracy - ''Inherit the Wind'' as "Henry Drummond"

★ '1961' ' Maximilian Schell - ''Judgment at Nuremberg''' as '"Hans Rolfe"'

★
★ Charles Boyer - ''Fanny'' as "Fanny"

★
★ Paul Newman - ''The Hustler'' as "Fast Eddie Felson"

★
★ Spencer Tracy - ''Judgment at Nuremberg'' as "Chief Judge Dan Haywood"

★
★ Stuart Whitman - ''The Mark'' as "Jim Fuller"

★ '1962' ' Gregory Peck - ''To Kill a Mockingbird''' as '"Atticus Finch"'

★
★ Burt Lancaster - ''Birdman of Alcatraz'' as Robert Stroud

★
★ Jack Lemmon - ''Days of Wine and Roses'' as "Joe Clay"

★
★ Marcello Mastroianni - ''Divorce, Italian Style'' as "Ferdinando Cefalú"

★
★ Peter O'Toole - ''Lawrence of Arabia'' as T. E. Lawrence

★ '1963' ' Sidney Poitier - ''Lilies of the Field''' as '"Homer Smith"'

★
★ Albert Finney - ''Tom Jones'' as "Tom Jones"

★
★ Richard Harris - ''This Sporting Life'' as "Frank Machin"

★
★ Rex Harrison - ''Cleopatra'' as Julius Caesar

★
★ Paul Newman - ''Hud'' as "Hud Bannon"

★ '1964' ' Rex Harrison - ''My Fair Lady''' as '"Henry Higgins"'

★
★ Richard Burton - ''Becket'' as Thomas Becket

★
★ Peter O'Toole - ''Becket'' as Henry II of England

★
★ Anthony Quinn - ''Zorba the Greek'' as "Alexis Zorba"

★
★ Peter Sellers - '' as "Group Captain Lionel Mendrake," "President Merkin Muffley," and "Dr. Strangelove"

★ '1965' ' Lee Marvin - ''Cat Ballou''' as '"Kid Sheleen"' and '"Tim Strawn"'

★
★ Richard Burton - ''The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'' as "Alec Leamas"

★
★ Laurence Olivier - ''Othello'' as "Othello"

★
★ Rod Steiger - ''The Pawnbroker'' as "Sol Nazerman"

★
★ Oskar Werner - ''Ship of Fools'' as "Willie Schumann"

★ '1966' ' Paul Scofield - ''A Man for All Seasons''' as 'Thomas More'

★
★ Alan Arkin - ''The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming'' as "Lt. Rozanov"

★
★ Richard Burton - ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' as "George"

★
★ Michael Caine - ''Alfie'' as "Alfie"

★
★ Steve McQueen - ''The Sand Pebbles'' as "Jake Holman"

★ '1967' ' Rod Steiger - ''In the Heat of the Night''' as '"Bill Gillespie"'

★
★ Warren Beatty - ''Bonnie and Clyde'' as Clyde Barrow

★
★ Dustin Hoffman - ''The Graduate'' as "Benjamin Braddock"

★
★ Paul Newman - ''Cool Hand Luke'' as "Luke Jackson"

★
★ Spencer Tracy - ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' as "Matt Drayton"

★ '1968' ' Cliff Robertson - ''Charly''' as '"Charly Gordon"'

★
★ Alan Arkin - ''The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'' as "John Singer"

★
★ Alan Bates - ''The Fixer'' as "Yakov Bok"

★
★ Ron Moody - ''Oliver!'' as "Fagin"

★
★ Peter O'Toole - ''The Lion in Winter'' as Henry II of England

★ '1969' ' John Wayne - ''True Grit''' as '"Rooster Cogburn"'

★
★ Richard Burton - ''Anne of the Thousand Days'' as Henry VIII of England

★
★ Dustin Hoffman - ''Midnight Cowboy'' as "Enrico 'Ratso' Rizzo"

★
★ Peter O'Toole - ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' as "Arthur Chipping"

★
★ Jon Voight - ''Midnight Cowboy'' as "Joe Buck"

1970s

★ '1970' ' George C. Scott - ''Patton''' (declined) as 'George S. Patton'

★
★ Melvyn Douglas - ''I Never Sang for My Father'' as "Tom Garrison"

★
★ James Earl Jones - ''The Great White Hope'' as "Jack Jefferson"

★
★ Jack Nicholson - ''Five Easy Pieces'' as "Bobby Dupea"

★
★ Ryan O'Neal - ''Love Story'' as "Oliver Barrett IV"

★ '1971' ' Gene Hackman - ''The French Connection''' as '"Detective Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle"'

★
★ Peter Finch - ''Sunday Bloody Sunday'' as "Daniel Hirsh"

★
★ Walter Matthau - ''Kotch'' as "Joseph P. Kotcher"

★
★ George C. Scott - ''The Hospital'' as "Dr. Herbert Bock"

★
★ Topol - ''Fiddler on the Roof'' as "Tevye"

★ '1972' ' Marlon Brando - ''The Godfather''' (declined) as '"Vito Corleone"'

★
★ Michael Caine - ''Sleuth'' as "Milo Tindle"

★
★ Laurence Olivier - ''Sleuth'' as "Andrew Wyke"

★
★ Peter O'Toole - ''The Ruling Class'' as "Jack Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney"

★
★ Paul Winfield - ''Sounder'' as "Nathan Lee Morgan"

★ '1973' ' Jack Lemmon - ''Save the Tiger''' as '"Harry Stoner"'

★
★ Marlon Brando - ''Last Tango in Paris'' as "Paul"

★
★ Jack Nicholson - ''The Last Detail'' as "Billy 'Bad Ass' Buddusky"

★
★ Al Pacino - ''Serpico'' as Frank Serpico

★
★ Robert Redford - ''The Sting'' as "Johnny Hooker"

★ '1974' ' Art Carney - ''Harry and Tonto''' as '"Harry Coombes"'

★
★ Albert Finney - ''Murder on the Orient Express'' as "Hercule Poirot"

★
★ Dustin Hoffman - ''Lenny'' as Lenny Bruce

★
★ Jack Nicholson - ''Chinatown'' as "Jake 'J.J' Gittes"

★
★ Al Pacino - ''The Godfather, Part II'' as "Michael Corleone"

★ '1975' ' Jack Nicholson - ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest''' as '"Randle Patrick McMurphy"'

★
★ Walter Matthau - ''The Sunshine Boys'' as "Willy Clark"

★
★ Al Pacino - ''Dog Day Afternoon'' as "Sonny Wortzik"

★
★ Maximilian Schell - ''The Man in the Glass Booth'' as "Arthur Goldman"

★
★ James Whitmore - ''Give 'em Hell, Harry!'' as Harry S. Truman

★ '1976' ' Peter Finch - ''Network''' (posthumous) as '"Howard Beale"'

★
★ Robert De Niro - ''Taxi Driver'' as "Travis Bickle"

★
★ Giancarlo Giannini - ''Seven Beauties'' (Pasqualino Settebellezze) as "Pasqualino Frafuso"

★
★ William Holden - ''Network'' as "Max Schumacher"

★
★ Sylvester Stallone - ''Rocky'' as "Rocky Balboa"

★ '1977' ' Richard Dreyfuss - ''The Goodbye Girl''' as '"Elliot Garfield"'

★
★ Woody Allen - ''Annie Hall'' as "Alvy Singer"

★
★ Richard Burton - ''Equus'' as "Martin Dysart"

★
★ Marcello Mastroianni - ''A Special Day'' as "Gabriele"

★
★ John Travolta - ''Saturday Night Fever'' as "Tony Manero"

★ '1978' ' Jon Voight - ''Coming Home''' as '"Luke Martin"'

★
★ Warren Beatty - ''Heaven Can Wait'' as "Joe Pendleton"

★
★ Gary Busey - ''The Buddy Holly Story'' as Buddy Holly

★
★ Robert De Niro - ''The Deer Hunter'' as "Michael Vronsky"

★
★ Laurence Olivier - ''The Boys from Brazil'' as "Ezra Lieberman"

★ '1979' ' Dustin Hoffman - ''Kramer vs. Kramer''' as '"Ted Kramer"'

★
★ Jack Lemmon - ''The China Syndrome'' as "Jack Godell"

★
★ Roy Scheider - ''All That Jazz'' as "Joe Gideon"

★
★ Peter Sellers - ''Being There'' as "Chance"

★
★ Al Pacino - ''...And Justice for All'' as "Arthur Kirkland"

1980s

★ '1980' ' Robert De Niro - ''Raging Bull''' as 'Jake LaMotta'

★
★ Robert Duvall - ''The Great Santini'' as "Lieutenant Colonel Bull Meechum"

★
★ John Hurt - ''The Elephant Man'' as Joseph Merrick

★
★ Jack Lemmon - ''Tribute'' as "Scottie Templeton"

★
★ Peter O'Toole - ''The Stunt Man'' as "Eli Cross"

★ '1981' ' Henry Fonda - ''On Golden Pond''' as '"Norman Thayer, Jr."'

★
★ Warren Beatty - ''Reds'' as John Silas Reed

★
★ Burt Lancaster - ''Atlantic City'' as "Lou Pascal"

★
★ Dudley Moore - ''Arthur'' as "Arthur Bach"

★
★ Paul Newman - ''Absence of Malice'' as "Michael Colin Gallagher"

★ '1982' ' Ben Kingsley - ''Gandhi''' as 'Mahatma Gandhi'

★
★ Dustin Hoffman - ''Tootsie'' as "Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels"

★
★ Jack Lemmon - ''Missing'' as Ed Horman

★
★ Paul Newman - ''The Verdict'' as "Frank Galvin"

★
★ Peter O'Toole - ''My Favorite Year'' as "Alan Swann"

★ '1983' ' Robert Duvall - ''Tender Mercies''' as '"Mac Sledge"'

★
★ Michael Caine - ''Educating Rita'' as "Dr. Frank Bryant"

★
★ Tom Conti - ''Reuben, Reuben'' as "Gowan McGland"

★
★ Tom Courtenay - ''The Dresser'' as "Norman"

★
★ Albert Finney - ''The Dresser'' as "Sir"

★ '1984' ' F. Murray Abraham - ''Amadeus''' as '"Antonio Salieri"'

★
★ Jeff Bridges - ''Starman'' as "Starman"

★
★ Albert Finney - ''Under the Volcano'' as "Geoffrey Firmin"

★
★ Tom Hulce - ''Amadeus'' as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

★
★ Sam Waterston - ''The Killing Fields'' as Sydney Schanberg

★ '1985' ' William Hurt - ''Kiss of the Spider Woman''' as '"Luis Molina"'

★
★ Harrison Ford - ''Witness'' as "John Book"

★
★ James Garner - ''Murphy's Romance'' as "Murphy Jones"

★
★ Jack Nicholson - ''Prizzi's Honor'' as "Charley Partaana"

★
★ Jon Voight - ''Runaway Train'' as "Oscar 'Manny' Manheim"

★ '1986' ' Paul Newman - ''The Color of Money''' as '"Fast Eddie Felson"'

★
★ Dexter Gordon - '''Round Midnight'' as "Dale Turner"

★
★ Bob Hoskins - ''Mona Lisa'' as "George"

★
★ William Hurt - ''Children of a Lesser God'' as "James Leeds"

★
★ James Woods - ''Salvador'' as Richard Boyle

★ '1987' ' Michael Douglas - ''Wall Street''' as '"Gordon Gekko"'

★
★ William Hurt - ''Broadcast News'' as "Tom Grunick"

★
★ Marcello Mastroianni - ''Dark Eyes'' as "Romano"

★
★ Jack Nicholson - ''Ironweed'' as "Francis Phelan"

★
★ Robin Williams - ''Good Morning, Vietnam'' as "Adrian Cronauer"

★ '1988' ' Dustin Hoffman - ''Rain Man''' as '"Raymond Babbitt"'

★
★ Gene Hackman - ''Mississippi Burning'' as "Rupert Anderson"

★
★ Tom Hanks - ''Big'' as "Josh Baskin"

★
★ Edward James Olmos - ''Stand and Deliver'' as Jaime Escalante

★
★ Max von Sydow - ''Pelle the Conqueror'' as "Lassefar"

★ '1989' ' Daniel Day-Lewis - ''My Left Foot''' as '"Christy Brown"'

★
★ Kenneth Branagh - ''Henry V'' as Henry V of England

★
★ Tom Cruise - ''Born on the Fourth of July'' as Ron Kovic

★
★ Morgan Freeman - ''Driving Miss Daisy'' as "Hoke Colburn"

★
★ Robin Williams - ''Dead Poets Society'' as "John Keating"

1990s

★ '1990' ' Jeremy Irons - ''Reversal of Fortune''' as 'Claus von Bülow'

★
★ Kevin Costner - ''Dances with Wolves'' as "Lieutenant Dunbar"

★
★ Robert De Niro - ''Awakenings'' as "Leonard Lowe"

★
★ Gerard Depardieu - ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' as Cyrano de Bergerac

★
★ Richard Harris - ''The Field'' as "Bull McCabe"

★ '1991' ' Anthony Hopkins - ''The Silence of the Lambs''' as '"Dr. Hannibal Lecter"'

★
★ Warren Beatty - ''Bugsy'' as Bugsy Siegel

★
★ Robert De Niro - ''Cape Fear'' as "Max Cady"

★
★ Nick Nolte - ''The Prince of Tides'' as "Tom Wingo"

★
★ Robin Williams - ''The Fisher King'' as "Parry"

★ '1992' ' Al Pacino - ''Scent of a Woman''' as '"Lt. Col. Frank Slade"'

★
★ Robert Downey Jr. - ''Chaplin'' as Charles Chaplin

★
★ Clint Eastwood - ''Unforgiven'' as "William 'Bill' Munny"

★
★ Stephen Rea - ''The Crying Game'' as "Fergus"

★
★ Denzel Washington - ''Malcolm X'' as Malcolm X

★ '1993' ' Tom Hanks - ''Philadelphia''' as '"Andy Beckett"'

★
★ Laurence Fishburne - ''What's Love Got to Do with It?'' as Ike Turner

★
★ Anthony Hopkins - ''The Remains of the Day'' as "James Stevens"

★
★ Daniel Day-Lewis - ''In the Name of the Father'' as Gerry Conlon

★
★ Liam Neeson - ''Schindler's List'' as Oskar Schindler

★ '1994' ' Tom Hanks - ''Forrest Gump''' as '"Forrest Gump"'

★
★ Morgan Freeman - ''The Shawshank Redemption'' as "Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding"

★
★ Nigel Hawthorne - ''The Madness of King George'' as George III

★
★ Paul Newman - ''Nobody's Fool'' as "Sully Sullivan"

★
★ John Travolta - ''Pulp Fiction'' as "Vincent Vega"

★ '1995' ' Nicolas Cage - ''Leaving Las Vegas''' as '"Ben Sanderson"'

★
★ Richard Dreyfuss - ''Mr. Holland's Opus'' as "Glenn Holland"

★
★ Anthony Hopkins - ''Nixon'' as Richard Nixon

★
★ Sean Penn - ''Dead Man Walking'' as "Matthew Poncelet"

★
★ Massimo Troisi - ''Il Postino'' as Mario Ruoppolo ''(posthumously nominated)''

★ '1996' ' Geoffrey Rush - ''Shine''' as 'David Helfgott'

★
★ Tom Cruise - ''Jerry Maguire'' as "Jerry Maguire"

★
★ Ralph Fiennes - ''The English Patient'' as Count László de Almásy

★
★ Woody Harrelson - ''The People vs. Larry Flynt'' as Larry Flynt

★
★ Billy Bob Thornton - ''Sling Blade'' as "Karl Childers"

★ '1997' ' Jack Nicholson - ''As Good as It Gets''' as '"Melvin Udall"'

★
★ Matt Damon - ''Good Will Hunting'' as "Will Hunting"

★
★ Robert Duvall - ''The Apostle'' as "Euliss 'Sonny' Dewey - The Apostle E.F."

★
★ Peter Fonda - ''Ulee's Gold'' as "Ulysses 'Ulee' Jackson"

★
★ Dustin Hoffman - ''Wag the Dog'' as "Stanley Motss"

★ '1998' ' Roberto Benigni - ''Life Is Beautiful''' as '"Guido Orefice"'

★
★ Tom Hanks - ''Saving Private Ryan'' as "Captain John H. Miller"

★
★ Ian McKellen - ''Gods and Monsters'' as James Whale

★
★ Nick Nolte - ''Affliction'' as "Wade Whitehouse"

★
★ Edward Norton - ''American History X'' as "Derek Vinyard"

★ '1999' ' Kevin Spacey - ''American Beauty''' as '"Lester Burnham"'

★
★ Russell Crowe - ''The Insider'' as Dr. Jeffrey Wigand

★
★ Richard Farnsworth - ''The Straight Story'' as Alvin Straight

★
★ Sean Penn - ''Sweet and Lowdown'' as "Emmet Ray"

★
★ Denzel Washington -''The Hurricane'' as Rubin "Hurricane" Carter

2000s

★ '2000' ' Russell Crowe - ''Gladiator''' as '"Maximus Decimus Meridius"'

★
★ Javier Bardem - ''Before Night Falls'' as Reinaldo Arenas

★
★ Tom Hanks - ''Cast Away'' as "Chuck Noland"

★
★ Ed Harris - ''Pollock'' as Jackson Pollock

★
★ Geoffrey Rush - ''Quills'' as The Marquis de Sade

★ '2001' ' Denzel Washington - ''Training Day''' as '"Alonzo Harris"'

★
★ Russell Crowe - ''A Beautiful Mind'' as John Forbes Nash

★
★ Sean Penn - ''I Am Sam'' as "Sam Dawson"

★
★ Will Smith - ''Ali'' as Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali

★
★ Tom Wilkinson - ''In the Bedroom'' as "Matt Fowler"

★ '2002' ' Adrien Brody - ''The Pianist''' as 'Władysław Szpilman'

★
★ Nicolas Cage - ''Adaptation.'' as Charlie Kaufman/"Donald Kaufman"

★
★ Daniel Day-Lewis - ''Gangs of New York'' as "William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting"

★
★ Michael Caine - ''The Quiet American'' as "Thomas Fowler"

★
★ Jack Nicholson - ''About Schmidt'' as "Warren Schmidt"

★ '2003' ' Sean Penn - ''Mystic River''' as '"Jimmy Markum"'

★
★ Johnny Depp - '' as "Captain Jack Sparrow"

★
★ Ben Kingsley - ''House of Sand and Fog'' as "Behrani"

★
★ Jude Law - ''Cold Mountain'' as "Inman"

★
★ Bill Murray - ''Lost in Translation'' as "Bob Harris"

★ '2004' ' Jamie Foxx - ''Ray''' as 'Ray Charles'

★
★ Don Cheadle - ''Hotel Rwanda'' as Paul Rusesabagina

★
★ Johnny Depp - ''Finding Neverland'' as Sir James Matthew Barrie

★
★ Leonardo DiCaprio - ''The Aviator'' as Howard Hughes

★
★ Clint Eastwood - ''Million Dollar Baby'' as "Frankie Dunn"

★ '2005' ' Philip Seymour Hoffman - ''Capote''' as 'Truman Capote'

★
★ Terrence Howard - ''Hustle & Flow'' as "Djay"

★
★ Heath Ledger - ''Brokeback Mountain'' as "Ennis Del Mar"

★
★ Joaquin Phoenix - ''Walk the Line'' as Johnny Cash

★
★ David Strathairn - ''Good Night, and Good Luck.'' as Edward R. Murrow

★ '2006' 'Forest Whitaker - ''The Last King of Scotland''' as 'Idi Amin'

★
★ Leonardo DiCaprio - ''Blood Diamond'' as "Danny Archer"

★
★ Ryan Gosling - ''Half Nelson'' as "Dan Dunne"

★
★ Peter O'Toole - ''Venus'' as "Maurice"

★
★ Will Smith - ''The Pursuit of Happyness'' as "Chris Gardner"

See also

★ List of Academy Awards ceremonies

★ List of Best Actor winners by age at win

★ Lists of films

★ List of actors