By John H. Foote
Part III and again, same drill, no group doing the choosing just me. This is among my favourite categories because so many stars have been born out of it, just as so many one-win wonders have come and gone. I have no trouble nominating multiple actors from the same film, and in one year, no less than seven actors get the nod for supporting, five from a single film with a single winner.
Bizarre? Too bad, it is what I thought should have happened and each one was deserving.
Again, I found it interesting how many great performances the Academy honoured just as there are a huge amount of missed performances, in some cases, missed performances that deserved to win.
Here we go….
1970
- Chief Dan George in Little Big Man
- Richard Castellano in Lovers and Other Strangers
- John Marley in Love Story
- John Mills in Ryan’s Daughter*
- Robert Duvall in M*A*S*H
1971
- Ben Johnson in The Last Picture Show*
- Jeff Bridges in The Last Picture Show
- Roy Scheider in The French Connection
- Bruce Dern in Drive He Said
- Tom Baker in Nicholas and Alexandra
1972
- James Caan in The Godfather
- Robert Duvall in The Godfather
- Richard Castellano in The Godfather
- Joel Grey in Cabaret*
- Jack Albertson in The Poseidon Adventure
1973
- Max Von Sydow in The Exorcist
- Jason Miller in The Exorcist
- Charlie Martin Smith in American Graffiti
- Paul LeMat in American Graffiti*
- Randy Quaid in The Last Detail
1974
- Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II*
- Robert Duvall in The Godfather Part II
- John Cazale in The Godfather Part II
- Lee Strasberg in The Godfather Part II
- Michael V. Gazzo in The Godfather Part II
- John Huston in Chinatown
- Bruce Dern in The Great Gatsby
1975
- Brad Dourif in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- Will Sampson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- Chris Sarandon in Dog Day Afternoon
- Robert Shaw in Jaws*
- Burgess Meredith in The Day of the Locust
1976
- Jason Robards in All the President’s Men*
- Burgess Meredith in Rocky
- Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man
- Peter Finch in Network
- Robert Duvall in Network
1977
- Jason Robards in Julia
- Francois Truffaut in Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Alec Guinness in Star Wars
- Peter Firth in Equus*
- Harrison Ford in Heroes
1978
- Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter
- John Savage in The Deer Hunter
- Bruce Dern in Coming Home*
- John Hurt in Midnight Express
- Jack Warden in Heaven Can Wait
1979
- Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now
- Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now*
- Justin Henry in Kramer vs. Kramer
- Melvyn Douglas in Being There
- Fredric Forrest in The Rose
1980
- Joe Pesci in Raging Bull*
- Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People
- Jason Robards in Melvin and Howard
- Michael Caine in Dressed to Kill
- Michael O’Keefe in The Great Santini
1981
- John Gielgud in Arthur
- Jack Nicholson in Reds*
- Howard Rollins in Ragtime
- Mandy Patinkin in Ragtime
- Robert De Niro in True Confessions
1982
- Robert Preston in Victor-Victoria*
- John Lithgow in The World According to Garp
- Kevin Kline in Sophie’s Choice
- Lou Gossett in An Officer and a Gentleman
- James Mason in The Verdict
1983
- Ed Harris in The Right Stuff
- Sam Shepard in The Right Stuff
- Jerry Lewis in The King of Comedy
- Jack Nicholson in Terms of Endearment*
- Gene Hackman in Under Fire
1984
- Jeffrey Jones in Amadeus
- John Malkovich in Places in the Heart*
- Danny Glover in Places in the Heart
- Ralph Richardson in Greystoke – The Legend of Tarzan
- John Lone in Iceman
- Pat Morita in The Karate Kid
1985
- Eric Stoltz in Mask
- Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future
- Klaus Maria Brandeur in Out of Africa*
- William Hickey in Prizzi’s Honor
- Eric Roberts in Runaway Train
1986
- Tom Berenger in Platoon
- Willem Dafoe in Platoon
- Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet*
- MIchael Caine in Hannah and Her Sisters
- Tom Cruise in The Color of Money
- Ray Liotta in Something Wild
1987
- Morgan Freeman in Street Smart*
- Robert De Niro in Angel Heart
- Sean Connery in The Untouchables
- Denzel Washington in Cry Freedom
- Vincent D’Nofrio in Full Metal Jacket
1988
- Dean Stockwell in Married to the Mob*
- River Phoenix in Running on Empty
- Tim Robbins in Bull Durham
- Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda
- Martin Landau in Tucker – The Man and His Dream
1989
- Denzel Washington in Glory*
- Morgan Freeman in Glory
- Dan Ackroyd in Driving Miss Daisy
- Jack Nicholson in Batman
- Martin Landau in Crimes and Misdemeanors
1990
- Graham Greene in Dances with Wolves*
- Joe Pesci in GoodFellas
- Paul Sorvino in GoodFellas
- Al Pacino in Dick Tracy
- Bruce Davison in Longtime Companion
1991
- Ben Kingsley in Bugsy
- Tommy Lee Jones in JFK*
- Joe Pesci in JFK
- Robert Duvall in Rambling Rose
- Samuel L. Jackson in Jungle Fever
1992
- Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men
- Gene Hackman in Unforgiven*
- Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own
- Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game
- Forest Whitaker in The Crying Game
1993
- Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List*
- Ben Kingsley in Schindler’s List
- Leonardo Di Caprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?
- Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive
- Chazz Palminteri in A Bronx Tale
1994
- Gary Sinise in Forrest Gump
- Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction
- Martin Landau in Ed Wood*
- Chazz Palminteri in Bullets Over Broadway
- Tommy Lee Jones in Natural Born Killers
1995
- Ed Harris in Apollo 13*
- Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects
- Kevin Spacey in Seven
- Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys
- Joe Pesci in Casino
1996
- William H. Macy in Fargo
- Edward Norton in Primal Fear
- Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Maguire
- Robert Carlyle in Trainspotting*
- Paul Scofield in The Crucible
1997
- Burt Reynolds in Boogie Nights*
- Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting
- Kevin Spacey in L.A. Confidential
- Russell Crowe in L.A. Confidential
- Robert Forster in Jackie Browne
- Greg Kinnear in As Good as It Gets
1998
- Ed Harris in The Truman Show*
- Robert Duvall in A Civil Action
- Jeremy Davies in Saving Private Ryan
- Nick Nolte in The Thin Red Line
- Billy Bob Thornton in A Simple Plan
1999
- Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense
- Tom Cruise in Magnolia*
- Chris Cooper in American Beauty
- Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules
- Christopher Plummer in The Insider
- Michael Clark Duncan in The Green Mile
2000
- Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator
- Benicio Del Toro in Traffic*
- Gary Oldman in The Contender
- Jeff Bridges in The Contender
- Willem Dafoe in Shadow of the Vampire
2001
- Ethan Hawke in Training Day
- Ian McKellan in The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring
- Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast*
- Steve Buscemi in Ghost World
- Jon Voight in Ali
2002
- Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can
- Chris Cooper in Adaptation*
- Paul Newman in Road to Perdition
- Dennis Quaid in Far from Heaven
- Dennis Haysbert in Far from Heaven
- Ed Harris in The Hours
2003
- Tim Robbins in Mystic River
- Viggo Mortenson in The Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King*
- Sean Astin in The Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King
- Ken Watanabe in The Last Samurai
- Alec Baldwin in The Cooler
2004
- Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby
- Thomas Haden Church in Sideways*
- Alan Alda in The Aviator
- Clive Owen in Closer
- Peter Sarsgaard in Kinsey
2005
- Matt Dillon in Crash
- Paul Giamatti in Cinderella Man
- George Clooney in Syriana*
- Jake Gyllenhall in Brokeback Mountain
- William Hurt in A History of Violence
2006
- Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children
- Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls
- Jack Nicholson in The Departed*
- Djimon Honsou in Blood Diamond
- Michael Sheen in The Queen
2007
- Robert Downey Jr. in Zodiac
- Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
- Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men*
- Paul Dano in There Will Be Blood
- Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton
2008
- Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder
- Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder
- Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight*
- Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt
- Josh Brolin in Milk
2009
- Anthony Mackie in The Hurt Locker
- Woody Harrelson in The Messengers
- Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds*
- Brad Pitt in Inglorious Basterds
- Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
2010
- Geoffrey Rush in The Kings Speech
- Andrew Garfield in The Social Network
- John Hawkes in Winter’s Bone
- Jeremy Renner in The Town
- Christian Bale in The Fighter*
2011
- Christopher Plummer in Beginners
- Jonah Hill in Moneyball
- Albert Brooks in Driver
- Ezra Miller in We Need to Talk About Kevin*
- Kenneth Branagh in My Week with Marilyn
2012
- Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln
- Phillip Seymour Hoffman in The Master
- Samuel L. Jackson in Django Unchained*
- Leonardo Di Caprio in Django Unchained
- Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook
2013
- Michael Fassbender in 12 Years a Slave
- Jonah Hill in The Wolf of Wall Street
- Tom Hanks in Saving Mr. Banks
- Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club*
- Jeremy Renner in American Hustle
2014
- J.K. Simmons in Whiplash*
- Robert Duvall in The Judge
- Paul Dano in Love and Mercy
- Edward Norton in Birdman
- Ethan Hawke in Boyhood
2015
- Tom Hardy in The Revenant
- Sylvester Stallone in Creed*
- Michael Rylance in Bridge of Spies
- Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation
- Robert Redford in Truth
2016
- Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water
- Ben Foster in Hell or High Water
- Mahershala Ali in Moonlight*
- Kevin Costner in Hidden Figures
- Michael Shannon in Nocturnal Animals
2017
- Sam Rockwell in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri*
- Woody Harrelson in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project
- Armie Hammer in Call Me by Your Name
- Richard Jenkins in The Shape of Water
2018
- Adam Driver in BlacKkKlansman
- Mahershala Ali in Green Book*
- Sam Elliott in A Star is Born
- Richard E. Grant in Can You Ever Forgive Me?
- Sam Rockwell in Vice
2019
- Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
- Joe Pesci in The Irishman*
- Al Pacino in The Irishman
- Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood
- Taiki Watiti in Jo Jo Rabbit
IF JOHN NOMINATED BEST ACTOR (1970-019): PART I
IF JOHN NOMINATED BEST ACTRESS (1970-2019): PART II
IF JOHN NOMINATED BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (1970-2019): PART IV

John H. Foote is a well-recognized Canadian film critic/historian who has been an active critic for 30 years. His deep love for the movies began at a very young age. He began his career as co-host of the popular TV show Reel to Real where he remained for nine years. While on TV he began dabbling in education, eventually ascending to Director of the Toronto Film School, where he also taught film history. After leaving the college to care for his wife, he returned to teaching at Humber College where he taught both Film History and Method Acting Theory. John has written two books: “Clint Eastwood – Evolution of a Filmmaker” and the upcoming “Spielberg – American Film Visionary”. He is currently working on two books, one about the films of the seventies and another on the films of Martin Scorsese. Through his career he has worked in TV, radio, print and the web. John has interviewed everyone in the industry (more than 300 interviews) except Jack Nicholson, he says sadly. Highlights include Martin Scorsese, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow.