Best Actor Oscar Winners

Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 9:21 am

The following list of Best Actor Oscar winners includes every recipient of the industry’s highest award up to 2009. And in addition to this handy resource, I’ve also included a few interesting tidbits of information to help you get your Oscar fix.

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List of Best Actor Oscar Winners from 1927 to 2009

1927-1928 Emil JanningsThe Last Command as Gen. Dolgorucki / Grand Duke Sergius Alexander

1928-1929 Warner BaxterIn Old Arizona as The Cisco Kid

1929-1930 George ArlissDisraeli as Benjamin Disraeli

1930-1931 Lionel BarrymoreA Free Soul as Stephen Ashe

1931-1932 Fredric MarchDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as Dr. Henry L. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde

1932-1933 Charles LaughtonThe Private Life of Henry VIII as King Henry VIII of England

1934 Clark GableIt Happened One Night as Peter Warne

1935 Victor McLaglenThe Informer as Gypo Nolan

1936 Paul MuniThe Story of Louis Pasteur as Louis Pasteur

1937 Spencer TracyCaptains Courageous as Manuel

1938 Spencer TracyBoys Town as Father Flanagan

1939 Robert DonatGoodbye, Mr. Chips as Mr. Chips

1940 James StewartThe Philadelphia Story as Macaulay Connor

1941 Gary CooperSergeant York as Alvin C. York

1942 James CagneyYankee Doodle Dandy as George M. Cohan

1943 Paul LukasWatch on the Rhine as Kurt Muller

1944 Bing CrosbyGoing My Way as Father Chuck O’Malley

1945 Ray MillandThe Lost Weekend as Don Birnam

1946 Fredric MarchThe Best Years of Our Lives as Al Stephenson

1947 Ronald ColmanA Double Life as Anthony John

1948 Laurence Olivier Hamlet as Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

1949 Broderick CrawfordAll the King’s Men as Willie Stark

1950 José FerrerCyrano de Bergerac as Cyrano de Bergerac

1951 Humphrey BogartThe African Queen as Charlie Allnut

1952 Gary CooperHigh Noon as Marshal Will Kane

1953 William HoldenStalag 17 as Sgt. J.J. Sefton

1954 Marlon BrandoOn the Waterfront as Terry Malloy

1955 Ernest BorgnineMarty as Marty Piletti

1956 Yul BrynnerThe King and I as King Mongkut of Siam

1957 Alec GuinnessThe Bridge on the River Kwai as Colonel Nicholson

1958 David NivenSeparate Tables as Major Angus Pollock

1959 Charlton HestonBen-Hur as Judah Ben-Hur

1960 Burt LancasterElmer Gantry as Elmer Gantry

1961 Maximilian SchellJudgment at Nuremberg as Hans Rolfe

1962 Gregory PeckTo Kill a Mockingbird as Atticus Finch

1963 Sidney PoitierLilies of the Field as Homer Smith

1964 Rex HarrisonMy Fair Lady as Professor Henry Higgins

1965 Lee MarvinCat Ballou as Kid Shelleen/Tim Strawn

1966 Paul ScofieldA Man for All Seasons as Sir Thomas More

1967 Rod SteigerIn the Heat of the Night as Police Chief Bill Gillespie

1968 Cliff RobertsonCharly as Charly Gordon

1969 John WayneTrue Grit as Marshal Reuben J. ‘Rooster’ Cogburn

1970 George C. ScottPatton as Gen. George S. Patton Jr. (declined)

1971 Gene HackmanThe French Connection as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle

1972 Marlon BrandoThe Godfather as Don Vito Corleone (declined)

1973 Jack LemmonSave the Tiger as Harry Stoner

1974 Art CarneyHarry and Tonto as Harry Coombes

1975 Jack NicholsonOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as R.P. McMurphy

1976 Peter FinchNetwork as Howard Beale (posthumous win)

1977 Richard DreyfussThe Goodbye Girl as Elliot Garfield

1978 Jon VoightComing Home as Luke Martin

1979 Dustin HoffmanKramer vs. Kramer as Ted Kramer

1980 Robert De NiroRaging Bull as Jake LaMotta

1981 Henry FondaOn Golden Pond as Norman Thayer

1982 Ben KingsleyGandhi as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

1983 Robert DuvallTender Mercies as Mac Sledge

1984 F. Murray AbrahamAmadeus as Antonio Salieri

1985 William HurtKiss of the Spider Woman as Luis Molina

1986 Paul NewmanThe Color of Money as Fast Eddie Felson

1987 Michael DouglasWall Street as Gordon Gekko

1988 Dustin HoffmanRain Man as Raymond Babbitt

1989 Daniel Day-LewisMy Left Foot as Christy Brown

1990 Jeremy IronsReversal of Fortune as Claus von Bülow

1991 Anthony HopkinsThe Silence of the Lambs as Hannibal Lecter

1992 Al PacinoScent of a Woman as Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade

1993 Tom Hanks Philadelphia as Andrew Beckett

1994 Tom HanksForrest Gump as Forrest Gump

1995 Nicolas CageLeaving Las Vegas as Ben Sanderson

1996 Geoffrey RushShine as David Helfgott

1997 Jack NicholsonAs Good as It Gets as Melvin Udall

1998 Roberto BenigniLife Is Beautiful as Guido Orefice

1999 Kevin SpaceyAmerican Beauty as Lester Burnham

2000 Russell CroweGladiator as Maximus Decimus Meridius

2001 Denzel WashingtonTraining Day as Alonzo Harris

2002 Adrien BrodyThe Pianist as Władysław Szpilman

2003 Sean PennMystic River as Jimmy Markum

2004 Jamie FoxxRay as Ray Charles

2005 Philip Seymour HoffmanCapote as Truman Capote

2006 Forest WhitakerThe Last King of Scotland as Idi Amin

2007 Daniel Day-LewisThere Will Be Blood as Daniel Plainview

2008 Sean PennMilk as Harvey Milk

Best Actor Factoids

The only performer to win a Best Actor Oscar after his death was Peter Finch (Network).

Several people have been nominated for Best Actor and Best Director in the same year (Kevin Costner, for example), but they’ve never won both awards.

Peter O’Toole has been nominated for Best Actor a record eight times without a win.

Adrien Brody became the youngest Best Actor winner at the age of 29 (The Pianist).

Henry Fonda became the oldest Best Actor winner at the age of 76 (On Golden Pond).

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at the Best Actor Oscar winners. For more reading joy, be sure to click the following links:

 

 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 9:21 am and is filed under Academy Awards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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