Academy Award for Best Actor

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Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Prior to the 49th Academy Awards ceremony (1976), this award was simply known as the Academy Award of Merit for Performance by an Actor. Since its inception, however, the award has commonly been referred to as the Oscar for Best Actor. While actors are nominated for this award by Academy members who are actors and actresses themselves, winners are selected by the Academy membership as a whole.

[edit] History

Throughout the past 79 years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, AMPAS has presented a total of 80 Best Actor awards to 73 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 (1927/1928) for his performances in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. The most recent recipient was Forest Whitaker, who was honored at the 79th Academy Awards ceremony (2006) for his performance in The Last King of Scotland.

In the first three years of the Academy Awards, individuals such as actors and directors 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, during the 3rd Academy Awards ceremony (1929/1930), 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 (1930/1931), 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 (1935), 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 (1936), 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, 1935) 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.

[edit] Superlatives

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.

Superlative Best Actor Best Supporting Actor Overall
Most Awards Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gary Cooper,
Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks
and Jack Nicholson - 2
Walter Brennan - 3 Walter Brennan and Jack Nicholson - 3
Most Nominations Spencer Tracy and Laurence Olivier - 9 Walter Brennan, Claude Rains,
Arthur Kennedy, and Jack Nicholson - 4
Jack Nicholson - 12
Oldest Winner Henry Fonda - 76 George Burns - 80 George Burns - 80
Oldest Nominee Richard Farnsworth - 79 Ralph Richardson - 82 Ralph Richardson - 82
Youngest Winner Adrien Brody - 29 Timothy Hutton - 20 Timothy Hutton - 20
Youngest Nominee Jackie Cooper - 9 Justin Henry - 8 Justin Henry - 8

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

[edit] 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.

[edit] 1920s

[edit] 1930s

[edit] 1940s

[edit] 1950s

[edit] 1960s

[edit] 1970s

[edit] 1980s

[edit] 1990s

[edit] 2000s

[edit] Nationalities of winners

Number Annual Year Name Nationality
1 1st 1927 / 1928 Emil Jannings Image:Flag of Switzerland.svg
2 2nd 1928 / 1929 Warner Baxter Image:Flag of the United States.svg
3 3rd 1929 / 1930 George Arliss Image:Flag of England.svg
4 4th 1930 / 1931 Lionel Barrymore Image:Flag of the United States.svg
5 5th 1931 / 1932 Fredric March Image:Flag of the United States.svg
6 5th 1931 / 1932 Wallace Beery Image:Flag of the United States.svg
7 6th 1932 / 1933 Charles Laughton Image:Flag of England.svg
8 7th 1934 Clark Gable Image:Flag of the United States.svg
9 8th 1935 Victor McLaglen Image:Flag of England.svg
10 9th 1936 Paul Muni Image:Flag of the United States.svg
11 10th 1937 Spencer Tracy Image:Flag of the United States.svg
12 11th 1938 Spencer Tracy Image:Flag of the United States.svg
13 12th 1939 Robert Donat Image:Flag of England.svg
14 13th 1940 James Stewart Image:Flag of the United States.svg
15 14th 1941 Gary Cooper Image:Flag of the United States.svg
16 15th 1942 James Cagney Image:Flag of the United States.svg
17 16th 1943 Paul Lukas Image:Flag of Hungary.svg
18 17th 1944 Bing Crosby Image:Flag of the United States.svg
19 18th 1945 Ray Milland Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg
20 19th 1946 Fredric March Image:Flag of the United States.svg
21 20th 1947 Ronald Colman Image:Flag of England.svg
22 21st 1948 Laurence Olivier Image:Flag of England.svg
23 22nd 1949 Broderick Crawford Image:Flag of the United States.svg
24 23rd 1950 José Ferrer Image:Flag of Puerto Rico.svg
25 24th 1951 Humphrey Bogart Image:Flag of the United States.svg
26 25th 1952 Gary Cooper Image:Flag of the United States.svg
27 26th 1953 William Holden Image:Flag of the United States.svg
28 27th 1954 Marlon Brando Image:Flag of the United States.svg
29 28th 1955 Ernest Borgnine Image:Flag of the United States.svg
30 29th 1956 Yul Brynner Image:Flag of Russia.svg
31 30th 1957 Alec Guinness Image:Flag of England.svg
32 31st 1958 David Niven Image:Flag of England.svg
33 32nd 1959 Charlton Heston Image:Flag of the United States.svg
34 33rd 1960 Burt Lancaster Image:Flag of the United States.svg
35 34th 1961 Maximilian Schell Image:Flag of Austria.svg
36 35th 1962 Gregory Peck Image:Flag of the United States.svg
37 36th 1963 Sidney Poitier Image:Flag of the Bahamas.svg
38 37th 1964 Rex Harrison Image:Flag of England.svg
39 38th 1965 Lee Marvin Image:Flag of the United States.svg
40 39th 1966 Paul Scofield Image:Flag of England.svg
41 40th 1967 Rod Steiger Image:Flag of the United States.svg
42 41st 1968 Cliff Robertson Image:Flag of the United States.svg
43 42nd 1969 John Wayne Image:Flag of the United States.svg
44 43rd 1970 George C. Scott Image:Flag of the United States.svg
45 44th 1971 Gene Hackman Image:Flag of the United States.svg
46 45th 1972 Marlon Brando Image:Flag of the United States.svg
47 46th 1973 Jack Lemmon Image:Flag of the United States.svg
48 47th 1974 Art Carney Image:Flag of the United States.svg
49 48th 1975 Jack Nicholson Image:Flag of the United States.svg
50 49th 1976 Peter Finch Image:Flag of England.svg
51 50th 1977 Richard Dreyfuss Image:Flag of the United States.svg
52 51st 1978 Jon Voight Image:Flag of the United States.svg
53 52nd 1979 Dustin Hoffman Image:Flag of the United States.svg
54 53rd 1980 Robert De Niro Image:Flag of the United States.svg
55 54th 1981 Henry Fonda Image:Flag of the United States.svg
56 55th 1982 Ben Kingsley Image:Flag of England.svg
57 56th 1983 Robert Duvall Image:Flag of the United States.svg
58 57th 1984 F. Murray Abraham Image:Flag of the United States.svg
59 58th 1985 William Hurt Image:Flag of the United States.svg
60 59th 1986 Paul Newman Image:Flag of the United States.svg
61 60th 1987 Michael Douglas Image:Flag of the United States.svg
62 61st 1988 Dustin Hoffman Image:Flag of the United States.svg
63 62nd 1989 Daniel Day-Lewis Image:Flag of England.svg
64 63rd 1990 Jeremy Irons Image:Flag of England.svg
65 64th 1991 Anthony Hopkins Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg
66 65th 1992 Al Pacino Image:Flag of the United States.svg
67 66th 1993 Tom Hanks Image:Flag of the United States.svg
68 67th 1994 Tom Hanks Image:Flag of the United States.svg
69 68th 1995 Nicolas Cage Image:Flag of the United States.svg
70 69th 1996 Geoffrey Rush Image:Flag of Australia.svg
71 70th 1997 Jack Nicholson Image:Flag of the United States.svg
72 71st 1998 Roberto Benigni Image:Flag of Italy.svg
73 72nd 1999 Kevin Spacey Image:Flag of the United States.svg
74 73rd 2000 Russell Crowe Image:Flag of New Zealand.svg
75 74th 2001 Denzel Washington Image:Flag of the United States.svg
76 75th 2002 Adrien Brody Image:Flag of the United States.svg
77 76th 2003 Sean Penn Image:Flag of the United States.svg
78 77th 2004 Jamie Foxx Image:Flag of the United States.svg
79 78th 2005 Philip Seymour Hoffman Image:Flag of the United States.svg
80 79th 2006 Forest Whitaker Image:Flag of the United States.svg
Nationality Awards Awards Winners Winners
United States 54 68% 47 64%
England 14 18% 14 19%
All Others 12 15% 12 16%
Total 80 100% 73 100%

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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