academic award for best actor

History

Throughout the past 82 years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, AMPAS has presented a total of 83 Best Actor awards to 74 different actors. Winners of this Academy Award of Merit receive the familiar Oscar statuette, depicting a gold-plated knight holding a crusader's sword and standing on a reel of film. The first recipient was Emil Jannings, who was honored at the 1st Academy Awards ceremony (1929) for his performances in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. The most recent recipient was Jeff Bridges, who was honored at the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony (2010) for his performance in Crazy Heart.

In the first three years of the Academy Awards, individuals such as actors and directors were nominated as the best in their categories. At that time, all of their work during the qualifying period (as many as three films, in some cases) was listed after the award. However, during the 3rd Academy Awards ceremony (1930), only one of those films was cited in each winner's final award, even though each of the acting winners had had two films following their names on the ballots. For the 4th Academy Awards ceremony (1931), 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. Such nominations are limited to five per year. Until the 8th Academy Awards ceremony (1936), nominations for the Best Actor award were intended to include all actors, whether the performance was in either a leading or supporting role. At the 9th Academy Awards ceremony (1937), however, the Best Supporting Actor category was specifically introduced as a distinct award following complaints that the single Best Actor category necessarily favored leading performers with the most screen time. Nonetheless, Lionel Barrymore had received a Best Actor award (A Free Soul, 1931) and Franchot Tone a Best Actor nomination (Mutiny on the Bounty, 1936) for their performances in clear supporting roles. Currently, Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, and Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role constitute the four Academy Awards of Merit for acting annually presented by AMPAS.
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Other awards for acting

Actors have also received special awards, or Academy Honorary Awards, for acting in specific films (such as in the case of James Baskett, who received a special honorary award for Disney's Song of the South). Child actors have also been awarded the Academy Juvenile Award.
[edit]SuperlativesSuperlative Best Actor Best Supporting Actor Overall
Actor with most awards Spencer Tracy
Fredric March
Gary Cooper
Marlon Brando
Dustin Hoffman
Tom Hanks
Jack Nicholson
Daniel Day-Lewis
Sean Penn 2 Walter Brennan 3 Jack Nicholson
Walter Brennan 3
Actor with most nominations Spencer Tracy
Laurence Olivier 9 Jack Nicholson
Claude Rains
Arthur Kennedy
Walter Brennan 4 Jack Nicholson 12
Actor with most nominations
(without ever winning) Peter O'Toole 8 Claude Rains
Arthur Kennedy 4 Peter O'Toole 8
Film with most nominations Mutiny on the Bounty 3 On the Waterfront
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II 3 On the Waterfront
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II 4
Oldest winner Henry Fonda 76 George Burns 80 George Burns 80
Oldest nominee Richard Farnsworth 79 Hal Holbrook 82 Hal Holbrook 82
Youngest winner Adrien Brody 29 Timothy Hutton 20 Timothy Hutton 20
Youngest nominee Jackie Cooper 9 Justin Henry 8 Justin Henry 8


Nine 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), Jack Nicholson (1975, 1997), Daniel Day-Lewis (1989, 2007), and Sean Penn (2003, 2008). Of these, all were Americans except for Daniel Day-Lewis. Tracy and Hanks were the only actors to win their awards in consecutive years. Furthermore, Tracy and Hanks were the same age at the time they received their Academy Awards: 37 for the first and 38 for the second.

The periods between successive wins by the two-time winners are Spencer Tracy and Tom Hanks (1 year), Sean Penn (5 years), Dustin Hoffman (9 years), Gary Cooper (11 years), Fredric March (14 years), Marlon Brando (18 years), Daniel Day-Lewis (18 years), and Jack Nicholson (22 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.

Two actors have won an Academy Award (Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor) for portraying the same character, that of Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, respectively. The actors were Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.

There has been only one announced tie in the history of this category. 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 1969.

Peter Finch is the only posthumous winner of the Best Actor award, though he was alive when his nomination was announced (the only other posthumous winner in any acting category was another Australian, Heath Ledger, who won the Best Supporting Actor award in 2009). The only posthumously nominated performers in this category were James Dean, Spencer Tracy, and Massimo Troisi. Dean was posthumously nominated twice.

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 1975 for a role for which he had previously been nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Michael Corleone, in The Godfather Part II.)

Michael Douglas (1988, Wall Street) and Laurence Olivier (1949, Hamlet) are the only two actors to win the Academy Award for Best Actor and Best Picture (Douglas as a producer of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1976, and Olivier as producer of Hamlet). Olivier is also the only actor to win for acting and producing in the same year. Other Oscar nominees for Best Actor and Best Picture are: Clint Eastwood (acting nominations for Unforgiven, 1993, and Million Dollar Baby, 2005, winner for both in the Best Picture category); Kevin Costner, Best Actor nominee for Dances with Wolves and winning producer for the same film, in 1991; Paul Newman, Best Actor winner for The Color of Money and a Best Picture nominee for Rachel, Rachel in 1969; and Henry Fonda, Best Actor winner for On Golden Pond and a Best Picture nominee for 12 Angry Men in 1958.

Barry Fitzgerald is the only actor to be nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the same character in the same year (as Father Fitzgibbon for Going My Way). The rules were later changed to prevent a recurrence of this.

Several pairs of actors have been nominated for playing the same character or historical figure: Fredric March and James Mason as Norman Maine in 1937's A Star Is Born and the 1954 version, Robert Donat and Peter O'Toole as Chipping in 1939's Goodbye, Mr. Chips and the 1969 version, Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh as Henry V in 1944's Henry V and the 1989 version (both of which were directed by their stars), Charles Laughton and Richard Burton as Henry VIII in The Private Life of Henry VIII and Anne of the Thousand Days, Leslie Howard and Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins in Pygmalion and My Fair Lady, José Ferrer and Gérard Depardieu as Cyrano de Bergerac in 1950's Cyrano de Bergerac and the 1990 version, Robert Montgomery and Warren Beatty as Joe Pendleton in Here Comes Mr. Jordan and Heaven Can Wait, and Anthony Hopkins and Frank Langella as Richard Nixon in Nixon and Frost/Nixon. 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.

Laurence Olivier is the only actor to have won an Oscar for a Shakespearean performance: Best Actor for Hamlet (1948). Olivier also received an Academy Honorary Award for Henry V (1944), which Olivier described as a "fub-off".

Robert Downey, Jr. is the only actor nominated for playing a previous nominee, Charlie 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 1971 (he had also declined his 1962 nomination for Best Supporting Actor for The Hustler); and Marlon Brando, upon winning his second Oscar for The Godfather in 1973.

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), and Lawrence Tibbett in The Rogue Song (1930), of which only a short fragment and the soundtrack survives.

The earliest nominee in this category who is still alive is Jackie Cooper (1931), followed by Mickey Rooney (1939). The earliest winner in this category who is still alive is Ernest Borgnine (1955), followed by Maximilian Schell (1962)—both won over Spencer Tracy and starred in the films for which Tracy was nominated. The few remaining living nominees from the 1940s–50s Hollywood era include Kirk Douglas (3 nominations). Sidney Poitier also received his first nomination in 1958.
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Multiple nominations

The following actors have received multiple Best Actor nominations. The list is sorted by the number of total awards (with the number of total nominations listed in parentheses).2 : Spencer Tracy (9)
2 : Jack Nicholson (8)
2 : Marlon Brando (7)
2 : Dustin Hoffman (7)
2 : Gary Cooper (5)
2 : Tom Hanks (5)
2 : Fredric March (5)
2 : Sean Penn (5)
2 : Daniel Day-Lewis (4) 1 : Laurence Olivier (9)
1 : Paul Newman (8)
1 : Jack Lemmon (7)
1 : Paul Muni (6)
1 : James Stewart (5)
1 : Gregory Peck (5)
1 : Al Pacino (5)
1 : Robert De Niro (5)
1 : Burt Lancaster (4)
1 : Charles Laughton (3)
1 : James Cagney (3)
1 : Ronald Colman (3)
1 : Clark Gable (3)
1 : William Holden (3)
1 : Humphrey Bogart (3)
1 : William Hurt (3)
1 : Bing Crosby (3)

1 : Jon Voight (3)
1 : Robert Duvall (3)
1 : Russell Crowe (3)
1 : Denzel Washington (3)
1 : George Arliss (2)
1 : Robert Donat (2)
1 : José Ferrer (2)
1 : Rex Harrison (2)
1 : Rod Steiger (2)
1 : George C. Scott (2)
1 : Alec Guinness (2)
1 : John Wayne (2)
1 : Peter Finch (2)
1 : Sidney Poitier (2)
1 : Maximilian Schell (2)
1 : Henry Fonda (2)
1 : Nicolas Cage (2)
1 : Gene Hackman (2)
1 : Geoffrey Rush (2)
1 : Ben Kingsley (2)
1 : Jeff Bridges (2)

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Life expectancy of winners

In 2001 Donald A. Redelmeier, MD, and Sheldon M. Singh, BSc published a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine in which they found:

"Winning an Academy Award was associated with a large gain in life expectancy for actors and actresses...Winning an Academy Award can increase a performer’s stature and may add to their longevity. The absolute difference in life expectancy is about equal to the societal consequence of curing all cancers in all people for all time (22, 23). Moreover, movie stars who have won multiple Academy Awards have a survival advantage of 6.0 years (CI, 0.7 to 11.3 years) over performers with multiple films but no victories. Formal education is not the only way to improve health, and strict poverty is not the only way to worsen health. The main implication is that higher status may be linked to lower mortality rates even at very impressive levels of achievement."[1]

The aforementioned authors did an update to 29 March 2006 in which they found 122 more individuals and 144 more deaths since their first publication. Their unadjusted analysis showed a smaller survival advantage of 3.6 years for winners compared to their fellow nominees and costars in the films in which their performance garnered them their award.[2] However, in a 2006 published study by Marie-Pierre Sylvestre, MSc, Ella Huszti, MSc, and James A. Hanley, PhD, the authors found:

"The statistical method used to derive this statistically significant difference gave winners an unfair advantage because it credited an Oscar winner's years of life before winning toward survival subsequent to winning. When the authors of the current article reanalyzed the data using methods that avoided this "immortal time" bias, the survival advantage was closer to 1 year and was not statistically significant. The bias in Redelmeier and Singh's study is not limited to longevity comparisons of persons who reach different ranks within their profession."[3]
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Winners and nominees

Following the Academy's practice, the films below are listed by year of their Los Angeles qualifying run, which is usually (but not always) the film's year of release. For example, the Oscar for Best Actor of 1999 was announced during the award ceremony held in 2000. Winners are listed first in bold, followed by the other nominees.
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1920s
1927–1928 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 Nickie Elkins and The Patent Leather Kid as Patent Leather Kid
1928–1929 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
1929–1930 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 Capt. Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond and Condemned as Michel
Lawrence Tibbett - The Rogue Song as Yegor
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1930s
1930–1931 Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul as Stephen Ashe
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
1931–1932 Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as Dr. Henry L. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde
Wallace Beery - The Champ as Andy "Champ" Purcell (tie)
Alfred Lunt - The Guardsman as The Actor
1932–1933 Charles Laughton - The Private Life of Henry VIII as King Henry VIII of England
Leslie Howard - Berkeley Square as Peter Standish
Paul Muni - I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang as James Allen
1934 Clark Gable - It Happened One Night as Peter Warne
Frank Morgan - The Affairs of Cellini as Alessandro - 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
Franchot Tone - Mutiny on the Bounty as Roger Byam
1936 Paul Muni - The Story of Louis Pasteur as Louis Pasteur
Gary Cooper - Mr. Deeds Goes to Town as Longfellow Deeds
Walter Huston - Dodsworth as Sam Dodsworth
William Powell - My Man Godfrey as Godfrey Park
Spencer Tracy - San Francisco as Father Tim Mullin
1937 Spencer Tracy - Captains Courageous as Manuel
Charles Boyer - Conquest as Emperor 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 Flanagan
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 Arthur 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
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1940s
1940 James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story as Macaulay Connor
Charlie 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 Alvin C. 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 Chisholm
Cornel Wilde - A Song to Remember as Frédéric Chopin
1946 Fredric March - The Best Years of Our Lives as Al Stephenson
Laurence Olivier - Henry V as King Henry V of England
Larry Parks - The Jolson Story as Al Jolson
Gregory Peck - The Yearling as Ezra '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 Charlie Davis
Gregory Peck - Gentleman's Agreement as Philip Schuyler Green aka Greenberg
William Powell - Life with Father as Clarence Day, Sr.
Michael Redgrave - Mourning Becomes Electra as Orin Mannon
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 General Savage
Richard Todd - The Hasty Heart as Cpl. Lachlan 'Lachie' MacLachlan
John Wayne - Sands of Iwo Jima as Sgt. John M. Stryker
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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 Marshal 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 / The Comte de Toulouse-Lautrec
Alec Guinness - The Lavender Hill Mob as Henry Holland
1953 William Holden - Stalag 17 as Sgt. 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 1st Sgt. Milton Warden
1954 Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront as Terry Malloy
Humphrey Bogart - The Caine Mutiny as Lt. Cmdr. Philip Francis Queeg
Bing Crosby - The Country Girl as Frank Elgin
James Mason - A Star Is Born as Norman Maine
Dan O'Herlihy - 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 (posthumous nomination)
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 (posthumous nomination)
Kirk Douglas - Lust for Life as Vincent van Gogh
Rock Hudson - Giant as Jordan "Bick" Benedict Jr.
Laurence Olivier - Richard III as King Richard III of England
1957 Alec Guinness - The Bridge on the River Kwai as Colonel Nicholson
Marlon Brando - Sayonara as Maj. Lloyd 'Ace' Gruver - 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 The Old Man/Narrator
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
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1960s
1960 Burt Lancaster - Elmer Gantry as Elmer Gantry
Trevor Howard - Sons and Lovers as Walter Morel
Jack Lemmon - The Apartment as C. C. 'Bud' 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 Cesar
Paul Newman - The Hustler as 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 Cefalù
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 Professor Henry Higgins
Richard Burton - Becket as Thomas Becket
Peter O'Toole - Becket as King Henry II of England
Anthony Quinn - Zorba the Greek as Alexis Zorba
Peter Sellers - Dr. Strangelove as Group Captain Lionel Mandrake/President Merkin Muffley/Dr. Strangelove
1965 Lee Marvin - Cat Ballou as Kid Shelleen/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 Sir 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 Elkins
Steve McQueen - The Sand Pebbles as Jake Holman
1967 Rod Steiger - In the Heat of the Night as Police Chief 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 (posthumous nomination)
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 King Henry II of England
1969 John Wayne - True Grit as Rooster Cogburn
Richard Burton - Anne of the Thousand Days as King Henry VIII of England
Dustin Hoffman - Midnight Cowboy as Enrico Salvatore 'Ratso' Rizzo
Peter O'Toole - Goodbye, Mr. Chips as Arthur Chipping
Jon Voight - Midnight Cowboy as Joe Buck
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1970s
1970 George C. Scott - Patton as Gen. George S. Patton Jr. (declined)
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 Robert Eroica Dupea
Ryan O'Neal - Love Story as Oliver Barrett IV
1971 Gene Hackman - The French Connection as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle
Peter Finch - Sunday Bloody Sunday as Doctor Daniel Hirsh
Walter Matthau - Kotch as Joseph P. Kotcher
George C. Scott - The Hospital as Doctor Herbert Bock
Chaim Topol - Fiddler on the Roof as Tevye
1972 Marlon Brando - The Godfather as Vito Corleone (declined)
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 SM1 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 as Howard Beale (posthumous win)
Robert De Niro - Taxi Driver as Travis Bickle
Giancarlo Giannini - Seven Beauties 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
Al Pacino - …And Justice for All as Arthur Kirkland
Roy Scheider - All That Jazz as Joe Gideon
Peter Sellers - Being There as Chance
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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 John 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
Warren Beatty - Reds as John 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 Mohandas Karamchand 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/Scott Hayden
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 Detective Captain John Book
James Garner - Murphy's Romance as Murphy Jones
Jack Nicholson - Prizzi's Honor as Charley Partanna
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 Agent 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 King 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
[edit]
1990s
1990 Jeremy Irons - Reversal of Fortune as Claus von Bülow
Kevin Costner - Dances with Wolves as Lieutenant John J. Dunbar
Robert De Niro - Awakenings as Leonard Lowe
Gérard Depardieu - Cyrano de Bergerac as Cyrano de Bergerac
Richard Harris - The Field as 'Bull' McCabe
1991 Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs as 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 Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade
Robert Downey, Jr. - Chaplin as Charlie 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 Andrew Beckett
Daniel Day-Lewis - In the Name of the Father as Gerry Conlon
Laurence Fishburne - What's Love Got to Do with It as Ike Turner
Anthony Hopkins - The Remains of the Day as James Stevens
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 King George III of the United Kingdom
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 (posthumous nomination)
1996 Geoffrey Rush - Shine as David Helfgott
Tom Cruise - Jerry Maguire as Jerry Maguire
Ralph Fiennes - The English Patient as Count Laszlo 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 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 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 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
[edit]
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, Jr.
Sean Penn - I Am Sam as Sam Dawson
Will Smith - Ali as Muhammad Ali
Tom Wilkinson - In the Bedroom as Dr. Matthew Fowler
2002 Adrien Brody - The Pianist as Władysław Szpilman
Nicolas Cage - Adaptation. as Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman
Michael Caine - The Quiet American as Thomas Fowler
Daniel Day-Lewis - Gangs of New York as William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting
Jack Nicholson - About Schmidt as Warren R. Schmidt
2003 Sean Penn - Mystic River as Jimmy Markum
Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 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 J.M. 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
2007 Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood as Daniel Plainview
George Clooney - Michael Clayton as Michael Clayton
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah as Hank Deerfield
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises as Nikolai Luzhin
2008 Sean Penn - Milk as Harvey Milk
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor as Walter Vale
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon as Richard Nixon
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler as Randy "The Ram" Robinson
2009 Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart as Otis "Bad" Blake
George Clooney - Up in the Air as Ryan Bingham
Colin Firth - A Single Man as George Falconer
Morgan Freeman - Invictus as Nelson Mandela
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker as SFC. William James
[edit]
International presence

As the Academy Awards are based in the United States and are centered on the Hollywood film industry, the majority of Academy Award nominees have been Americans. Nonetheless, there is significant international presence at the awards, as evidenced by the following list of nominees for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Australia: Peter Finch, Heath Ledger, Geoffrey Rush
Austria: Paul Muni, Maximilian Schell, Oskar Werner
The Bahamas: Sidney Poitier
Canada: Ryan Gosling, Alexander Knox, Raymond Massey, Walter Pidgeon
France: Charles Boyer, Maurice Chevalier, Gérard Depardieu
Germany: Emil Jannings
Hungary: Paul Lukas
Ireland: Daniel Day-Lewis (Day-Lewis holds dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and currently resides in County Wicklow, Ireland), Barry Fitzgerald, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole,
Israel: Chaim Topol
Italy: Roberto Benigni, Giancarlo Giannini, Marcello Mastroianni, Massimo Troisi,
Mexico: Anthony Quinn
New Zealand: Russell Crowe
Puerto Rico: José Ferrer
Russia: Yul Brynner
Spain: Javier Bardem
United Kingdom: George Arliss, Kenneth Branagh, Michael Caine, Ronald Colman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Robert Donat, Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Alec Guinness, Rex Harrison, Nigel Hawthorne, Anthony Hopkins, Jeremy Irons, Ben Kingsley, Charles Laughton, Jude Law, Ian McKellen, Victor McLaglen, Ray Milland, Liam Neeson, David Niven, Laurence Olivier, Stephen Rea, Paul Scofield, Richard Todd, Tom Wilkinson.