As part of my 'History of the Academy Awards' presentation pack, I aim to have a specific printed section for the Academy Award winning actors and actresses. Below, I have done some initial research into the history of the given awards, as well as the specific recipients of the award. Unlike the Best Film category of my printed media, this time I will print only the winners (and not the nominees), as I feel this has less impact in general interest than the nominees for Best Film.
ACADEMY AWARD WINNING ACTORS/ROLES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Actor
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.
HISTORY
Throughout the past 84 years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, AMPAS has presented a total of 85 Best Actor awards to 76 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 the1st Academy Awards ceremony (1929) for his performances in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. The most recent recipient was Jean Dujardin, who was honored at the 84th Academy Awards ceremony (2011) for his performance in The Artist.
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.
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 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 current Academy rules, however, dual awards are given only for exact ties. While that has never happened for the Best Actor award, it did happen for the Best Actress award in 1968 when Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand both won, Hepburn for her role as Eleanor of Aquitane in The Lion in Winter and Streisand for her portrayal of Fanny Brice in Funny Lady. It was the second consecutive Oscar for Hepburn, who had won the award solo in 1967 for her star turn opposite Spencer Tracy in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner.
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, andMassimo Troisi. James Dean is the only actor to be posthumously nominated twice for 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 asKing 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; John Wayne, Best Actor winner for True Grit and a Best Picture nominee for The Alamo in 1961; Robert Redford, Best Actor nominee for The Sting and Best Picture nominee forQuiz Show; and Henry Fonda, Best Actor winner for On Golden Pond and a Best Picture nominee for 12 Angry Men in 1958. Warren Beatty has received Best Actor and Best Picture nominations for Bonnie and Clyde, Heaven Can Wait, Reds, and Bugsy, with no wins in either category.
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.
Four African-American actors have won the award: Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx and Forest Whitaker.
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, Anthony Hopkins and Frank Langella as Richard Nixon in Nixon andFrost/Nixon, and John Wayne and Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn in the 1969's True Grit and 2010 version. 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).
Robert Downey, Jr. is the only actor nominated for playing a previous nominee, Charlie Chaplin, in Chaplin. As of 2012, the only other actor to have been nominated for playing a previous nominee is Kenneth Branagh for portraying Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn, though Branagh was nominated in the Supporting Actor category.
Jeff Bridges is one of the oldest actors ever to win an Academy Award; he was also one of the youngest actors ever to be nominated. In 2010, he won his Oscar for Crazy Heart at the age of 60; in 1972, he was nominated for The Last Picture Show at age 22.
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 Mickey Rooney (1939), followed by Kirk Douglas (1949). The earliest winner in this category who is still alive is Ernest Borgnine(1955), followed by Maximilian Schell (1961)—both won over Spencer Tracy 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. Ernest Borgnine is the oldest Best Actor still alive, as well as the only best actor winner to have ever reached the age of 90. He is also one of the oldest actors who still works in Hollywood.
The earliest Oscars where all 5 Best Actor nominees are still alive is the 56th Academy Awards (1983), while the most recent where all 5 have died is the 38th Academy Awards (1965).
As of 2011 the earliest Oscars where all 4 acting winners are alive is the 34th Academy Awards (1961), while the most recent where all 4 have died is the 54th Academy Awards (1981).
The earliest Oscars where both lead acting winning are alive is at the 34th Academy Awards. The most recent where both have died is at the 54th Academy Awards
The earliest Oscars where all 20 acting nominations are alive is at the 56th Academy Awards (1983), the most recent all 20 have died is at the 15th Academy Awards (1942).
1927/8
ACTOR//Emil Jannings
FILM//The Last Command/The Way of All Flesh
ROLE//Grand Duke Sergius Alexander/August Schilling
1928/9
ACTOR//Mary Pickford
FILM//Coquette
ROLE//Norma Besant
1929/30
ACTOR//Warner Baxter
FILM//In Old Arizona
ROLE//The Cisco Kid
1930/1
ACTOR//Lionel Barrymore
FILM//A Free Soul
ROLE//Stephen Ashe
1931/2
ACTOR//Wallace Beery/Fredric March
FILM//The Champ/Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
ROLE//Andy "Champ" Purcell/Dr. Henry L Jeykll/Mr Hyde
1932/3
ACTOR//Charles Laughton
FILM//The Private Life of Henry VIII
ROLE//King Henry VIII of England
1934
ACTOR//Clark Gable
FILM//It Happened One Night
ROLE//Peter Warne
1935
ACTOR//Victor McLagen
FILM//The Informer
ROLE//Gypo Nolan
1936
ACTOR//Paul Muni
FILM//The Story of Louis Pasteur
ROLE//Louis Pasteur
1937
ACTOR//Spencer Tracy
FILM//Captain Courageous
ROLE//Manuel
1938
ACTOR//Spencer Tracy
FILM//Boys Town
ROLE//Father Flanagan
1939
ACTOR//Robert Donat
FILM//Goodbye, Mr.Chips
ROLE//Charles Edward Chipping
1940
ACTOR//James Stewart
FILM//The Philadelphia Story
ROLE//Macaulay Connor
1941
ACTOR//Gary Cooper
FILM//Sergeant York
ROLE//Alvin C.York
1942
ACTOR//James Cagney
FILM//Yankee Doodle Dandy
ROLE//George M. Cohan
1943
ACTOR//Paul Lukas
FILM//Watch on the Rhine
ROLE//Kurt Muller
1944
ACTOR//Bing Crosby
FILM//Going My Way
ROLE//Father Chuck O'Malley
1945
ACTOR//Ray Milland
FILM//The Lost Weekend
ROLE//Don Birnam
1946
ACTOR//Fredrich March
FILM//The Best Years of Our Lives
ROLE//Al Stephenson
1947
ACTOR//Ronald Colman
FILM//A Double Life
ROLE//Antony John
1948
ACTOR//Laurence Olivier
FILM//Hamlet
ROLE//Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
1949
ACTOR//Broderick Crawford
FILM//All the King's Men
ROLE//Willie Stark
1950
ACTOR//Jose Ferrer
FILM//Cyrano de Bergerac
ROLE//Cyrano de Bergerac
1951
ACTOR//Humphrey Bogart
FILM//The African Queen
ROLE//Charlie Allnut
1952
ACTOR//Gary Cooper
FILM//High Noon
ROLE//Marshall Will Kane
1953
ACTOR//William Holden
FILM//Stalag 17
ROLE//Sgt. J J Sefton
1954
ACTOR//Marlon Brando
FILM//On the Waterfront
ROLE//Terry Malloy
1955
ACTOR//Ernest Borgnine
FILM//Marty
ROLE//Marty Piletti
1956
ACTOR//Yul Brynner
FILM//The King and I
ROLE//King Mongkut of Siam
1957
ACTOR//Alec Guinness
FILM//The Bridge on the River Kwai
ROLE//Colonel Nicholson
1958
ACTOR//David Niven
FILM//Separate Tables
ROLE//Major Angus Pollock
1959
ACTOR//Charlton Heston
FILM//Ben-Hur
ROLE//Judah Ben-Hur
1960
ACTOR//Burt Lancaster
FILM//Elmer Gantry
ROLE//Elmer Gantry
1961
ACTOR//Maximilian Schell
FILM//Judgement at Nuremberg
ROLE//Hans Rolfe
1962
ACTOR//Gregory Peck
FILM//To Kill A Mockingbird
ROLE//Atticus Finch
1963
ACTOR//Sidney Poitier
FILM//Lillies of the Field
ROLE//Homer Smith
1964
ACTOR//Rex Harrison
FILM//My Fair Lady
ROLE//Professor Henry Higgins
1965
ACTOR//Lee Marvin
FILM//Cat Ballou
ROLE//Kid Shellen/Tim Strawn
1966
ACTOR//Paul Scofield
FILM//A Man for All Seasons
ROLE//Sir Thomas More
1967
ACTOR//Rod Steiger
FILM//In the Heat of the Night
ROLE//Police Chief Bill Gillespie
1968
ACTOR//Cliff Robertson
FILM//Charly
ROLE//Charly Gordon
1969
ACTOR//John Wayne
FILM//True Grit
ROLE//Rooster Cogburn
1970
ACTOR//George C. Scott (declined)
FILM//Patton
ROLE//Gen. George S. Patton Jr.
1971
ACTOR//Gene Hackman
FILM//The French Connection
ROLE//Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle
1972
ACTOR//Marlon Brando (declined)
FILM//The Godfather
ROLE//Vito Coreleone
1973
ACTOR//Jack Lemmon
FILM//Save the Tiger
ROLE//Harry Stoner
1974
ACTOR//Art Carney
FILM//Harry and Tonto
ROLE//Harry Coombes
1975
ACTOR//Jack Nicholson
FILM//One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
ROLE//Randle Patrick McMurphy
1976
ACTOR//Peter Finch (posthumous win)
FILM//Network
ROLE//Howard Beale
1977
ACTOR//Richard Dreyfuss
FILM//The Goodbye Girl
ROLE//Elliot Garfield
1978
ACTOR//Jon Voight
FILM//Coming Home
ROLE//Luke Martin
1979
ACTOR//Dustin Hoffman
FILM//Kramer vs. Kramer
ROLE//Ted Kramer
1980
ACTOR//Robert De Niro
FILM//Raging Bull
ROLE//Jake LaMotta
1981
ACTOR//Henry Fonda
FILM//On Golden Pond
ROLE//Norman Thayer
1982
ACTOR//Ben Kingsley
FILM//Gandhi
ROLE//Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
1983
ACTOR//Robert Duvall
FILM//Tender Mercies
ROLE//Mac Sledge
1984
ACTOR//F. Murray Abraham
FILM//Amadeus
ROLE//Antonio Salieri
1985
ACTOR//William Hurt
FILM//Kiss of the Spider Woman
ROLE//Luis Molina
1986
ACTOR//Paul Newman
FILM//The Colour of Money
ROLE//Fast Eddie Felson
1987
ACTOR//Michael Douglas
FILM//Wall Street
ROLE//Gordon Gekko
1988
ACTOR//Dustin Hoffman
FILM//Rain Man
ROLE//Raymond Babbitt
1989
ACTOR//Daniel Day-Lewis
FILM//My Left Foot
ROLE//Christy Brown
1990
ACTOR//Jeremy Irons
FILM//Reversal of Fortune
ROLE//Claus van Bulow
1991
ACTOR//Anthony Hopkins
FILM//The Silence of the Lambs
ROLE//Hannibal Lecter
1992
ACTOR//Al Pacino
FILM//Scent of a Woman
ROLE//Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade
1993
ACTOR//Tom Hanks
FILM//Philadelphia
ROLE//Andrew Beckett
1994
ACTOR//Tom Hanks
FILM//Forrest Gump
ROLE//Forrest Gump
1995
ACTOR//Nicholas Cage
FILM//Leaving Las Vegas
ROLE//Ben Sanderson
1996
ACTOR//Geoffrey Rush
FILM//Shine
ROLE//David Helfgott
1997
ACTOR//Jack Nicholson
FILM//As Good As It Gets
ROLE//Melvin Udall
1998
ACTOR//Robert Benigni
FILM//Life Is Beautiful
ROLE//Guido Orefice
1999
ACTOR//Kevin Spacey
FILM//American Beauty
ROLE//Lester Burnham
2000
ACTOR//Russell Crowe
FILM//Gladiator
ROLE//Maximus Decimus Meridius
2001
ACTOR//Denzel Washington
FILM//Training Day
ROLE//Alonzo Harris
2002
ACTOR//Adrien Brody
FILM//The Pianist
ROLE//Władysław Szpilman
2003
ACTOR//Sean Penn
FILM//Mystic River
ROLE//Jimmy Markum
2004
ACTOR//Jamie Foxx
FILM//Ray
ROLE//Ray Charles
2005
ACTOR//Philip Seymour Hoffman
FILM//Capote
ROLE//Truman Capote
2006
ACTOR//Forest Whitaker
FILM//The Last King of Scotland
ROLE//Idi Amin
2007
ACTOR//Daniel Day-Lewis
FILM//There Will Be Blood
ROLE//Daniel Plainview
2008
ACTOR//Sean Penn
FILM//Milk
ROLE//Harvey Milk
2009
ACTOR//Jeff Bridges
FILM//Crazy Heart
ROLE//Ottis 'Bad' Blake
2010
ACTOR//Colin Firth
FILM//The King's Speech
ROLE//King George VI
2011
ACTOR//Jean DuJardin
FILM//The Artist
ROLE//George Valentin
