IF JOHN NOMINATED BEST ACTOR (1970-2019): PART I

By John H. Foote

No Academy, just me.

In some cases there were six deserving performances, so I broke protocol and nominated all six.

I have seen all the films for each given year, so without further ado, here are my nominees for Best Actor. My winner is marked with an *.

Part II will follow, Best Actress.

1970

• Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces
• Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man
• George C. Scott in Patton*
• Gene Hackman in I Never Sang for My Father
• Melvyn Douglas in I Never Sang for My Father

1971

• Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange
• Gene Hackman in The French Connection*
• Jack Nicholson in Carnal Knowledge
• George C. Scott in The Hospital
• Warren Beatty in McCabe and Mrs. Miller

1972

• Al Pacino in The Godfather
• Marlon Brando in The Godfather*
• Jon Voight in Deliverance
• Robert Redford in Jeremiah Johnson
• Robert Duvall in Tomorrow

1973

• Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail
• Al Pacino in Serpico
• Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris*
• Robert Redford in The Way We Were
• James Caan in Cinderella Liberty

1974

• Jack Nicholson in Chinatown
• Al Pacino in The Godfather Part II*
• Gene Hackman in The Conversation
• Dustin Hoffman in Lenny
• Richard Dreyfus in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

1975

• Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest*
• Gene Hackman in French Connection II
• Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon
• Walter Matthau in The Sunshine Boys
• Warren Beatty in Shampoo

1976

• Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver*
• Giancarlo Gianinni in Seven Beauties
• William Holden in Network
• John Wayne in The Shootist
• Sylvester Stallone in Rocky

1977

• Richard Burton in Equus
• Richard Dreyfus in Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• Bruce Dern in Black Sunday*
• John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever
• George C. Scott in Islands in the Stream

1978

• Jon Voight in Coming Home*
• Warren Beatty in Heaven Can Wait
• Gary Busey in The Buddy Holly Story
• Dustin Hoffman in Straight Time
• Robert De Niro in The Deer Hunter

1979

• Peter Sellers in Being There
• Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now
• Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer*
• Roy Scheider in All That Jazz
• Jack Lemmon in The China Syndrome

1980

• Robert Duvall in The Great Santini
• Robert De Niro in Raging Bull*
• Peter O’Toole in The Stunt Man
• Donald Sutherland in Ordinary People
• Jack Nicholson in The Shining

1981

• Warren Beatty in Reds
• Burt Lancaster in Atlantic City*
• John Travolta in Blow Out
• Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond
• William Hurt in Body Heat

1982

• Paul Newman in The Verdict
• Henry Thomas in E.T. – The Extraterrestrial
• Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie*
• Albert Finney in Shoot the Moon
• Ben Kingsley in Gandhi
• Peter O’Toole in My Favourite Year

1983

• Albert Finney in The Dresser
• Tom Courtenay in The Dresser
• Eric Roberts in Star 80
• Robert Duvall in Tender Mercies*
• Nick Nolte in Under Fire

1984

• F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus*
• Tom Hulce in Amadeus
• Robin Williams in Moscow on the Hudson
• Steve Martin in All of Me
• Albert Finney in Under the Volcano

1985

• Jack Nicholson in Prizzi’s Honor*
• Raul Julia in Kiss of the Spider Woman
• William Hurt in Kiss of the Spider Woman
• Harrison Ford in Witness
• Jon Voight in Runaway Train

1986

• Paul Newman in The Color of Money
• Bob Hoskins in Mona Lisa*
• Christopher Walken in At Close Range
• Sean Penn in At Close Range
• James Woods in Salvador

1987

• Jack Nicholson in Ironweed*
• Michael Douglas in Wall St.
• Steve Martin in Roxanne
• William Hurt in Broadcast News
• Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam

1988

• Gene Hackman in Mississippi Burning*
• Tom Cruise in Rain Man
• Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man
• William Hurt in The Accidental Tourist
• Kevin Costner in Bull Durham

1989

• Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot*
• Morgan Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy
• Tom Cruise in Born on the Fourth of July
• Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society
• Matt Dillon in Drugstore Cowboy

1990

• Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves
• Robin Williams in Awakenings*
• Robert De Niro in Awakenings
• Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands
• Nicolas Cage in Wild at Heart

1991

• Warren Beatty in Bugsy
• Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs*
• Nick Nolte in The Prince of Tides
• Jeff Bridges in The Fisher King
• Robin Williams in The Fisher King

1992

• Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven
• Denzel Washington in Malcolm X*
• Robert Downey Jr. in Chaplin
• Daniel Day Lewis in The Last of the Mohicans
• Jack Lemmon in Glengarry Ross

1993

• Daniel Day Lewis in In the Name of the Father
• Anthony Hopkins in The Remains of the Day Liam Neeson in Schindler’s List
• Tom Hanks in Philadelphia*
• Denzel Washington in Philadelphia

1994

• Paul Newman in Nobody’s Fool
• Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump*
• John Travolta in Pulp Fiction
• Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption
• Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption

1995

• Sean Penn in Dead Man Walking*
• Tom Hanks in Apollo 13
• Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas
• Anthony Hopkins in Nixon
• John Travolta in Get Shorty

1996

• Daniel Day Lewis in The Crucible
• Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire*
• Geoffrey Rush in Shine
• Woody Harrelson in The People vs. Larry Flynt
• Billy Bob Thornton in Slingblade

1997

• Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets
• Peter Fonda Ulee’s Gold
• Robert Duvall in The Apostle*
• Dustin Hoffman in Wag the Dog
• Al Pacino in Donnie Brasco
• Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting

1998

• Edward Norton in American History X*
• Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan
• Ian McKellan in Gods and Monsters
• Nick Nolte in Affliction
• Warren Beatty in Bulworth

1999

• Kevin Spacey in American Beauty
• Edward Norton in Fight Club
• Brad Pitt in Fight Club
• Jim Carrey in Man on the Moon
• Russell Crowe in The Insider*
• Denzel Washington in The Hurricane

2000

• Tom Hanks in Cast Away*
• Ed Harris in Pollock
• Geoffrey Rush in Quills
• George Clooney in O Brother Where Art Thou?
• Michael Douglas in Wonder Boys

2001

• Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums*
• Will Smith in Ali
• Jack Nicholson in The Pledge
• Denzel Washington in Training Day
• Billy Bob Thornton in Monster’s Ball

2002

• Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York
• Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt*
• Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition
• Nicolas Cage in Adaptation
• Robin Williams in One Hour Photo

2003

• Sean Penn in Mystic River*
• Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai
• Bill Murray in Lost in Translation
• Jude Law in Cold Mountain
• Nicolas Cage in Matchstick Men

2004

• Jamie Foxx in Ray
• Leonardo Di Caprio in The Aviator
• Paul Giamatti in Sideways*
• Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby
• Tom Cruise in Collateral

2005

• Viggo Mortensen in A History of Violence
• Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Capote
• Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain*
• Terence Howard in a Hustle and Flow
• Bruno Ganz in Downfall
• Jeff Daniels in The Squid and the Whale

2006

• Leonardo Di Caprio in The Departed
• Matt Damon in The Departed
• Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness
• Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland*
• Peter O’Toole in Venus

2007

• George Clooney in Michael Clayton
• Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood*
• Brad Pitt in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
• Emile Hirsch in Into the Wild
• Viggo Mortensen in Easter Promises

2008

• Leonardo Di Caprio in Revolutionary Road
• Sean Penn in Milk*
• Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler
• Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino
• Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2009

• George Clooney in Up in the Air
• Viggo Mortenson in The Road*
• Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
• Colin Firth in A Single Man
• Matt Damon in The Informant!

2010

• Jeff Bridges in True Grit*
• Colin Firth in The King’s Speech
• Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network
• Ben Foster in The Messengers
• Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine

2011

• Brad Pitt in Moneyball
• George Clooney in The Descendants*
• Jean Dujardin in The Artist
• Michael Fassbender in Shame
• Ryan Gosling in Drive

2012

• Jack Black in Bernie
• Daniel Day Lewis in Lincoln*
• Joaquin Phoenix in The Master
• Denzel Washington in Flight
• Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook

2013

• Leonardo Di Caprio in The Wolf of Wall Street*
• Bruce Dern in Nebraska
• Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave
• Joaquin Phoenix in Her
• Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips
• Christian Bale in American Hustle

2014

• Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Michael Keaton in Birdman*
• Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything
• Bradley Cooper in American Sniper
• Steve Carnell in Foxcatcher

2015

• Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl
• Leonardo Di Caprio in The Revenant*
• Michael Fassbender in Steve Jobs
• Matt Damon in The Martian
• Johnny Depp in Black Mass

2016

• Ryan Gosling in La La Land
• Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea*
• Denzel Washington in Fences
• Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge
• Viggo Mortenson in Captain Fantastic

2017

• Christian Bale in Hostiles
• James Franco in The Disaster Artist*
• Timothy Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name
• James McAvoy in Split
• Daniel Day Lewis in Phantom Thread

2018

• Christian Bale in Vice
• Ryan Gosling in First Man
• Viggo Mortenson in Green Book*
• Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born
• Ethan Hawke in First Reformed

2019

• Joaquin Phoenix in Joker*
• Leonardo Di Caprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Adam Driver in Marriage Story
• Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems
• Talon Egerton in Rocketman

IF JOHN NOMINATED BEST ACTRESS (1970-2019): PART II

IF JOHN NOMINATED BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (1970-2019): PART III

IF JOHN NOMINATED BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (1970-2019): PART IV