| Event | Award Recipient(s) | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Jack Nicholson | As Good As It Gets | |
| 1997 | Geoffrey Rush | Shine | |
| 1996 | Nicolas Cage | Leaving Las Vegas | |
| 1995 | Tom Hanks | Forrest Gump | |
| 1994 | Tom Hanks | Philadelphia | |
| 1993 | Al Pacino | Scent of a Woman | |
| 1992 | Anthony Hopkins | Silence of the Lambs, The | |
| 1991 | Jeremy Irons | Reversal of Fortune | |
| 1990 | Daniel Day-Lewis | My Left Foot | |
| 1989 | Dustin Hoffman | Rain Man | |
| 1988 | Michael Douglas | Wall Street | |
| 1987 | Paul Newman | Color of Money, The | |
| 1986 | William Hurt | Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) | |
| 1985 | F. Murray Abraham | Amadeus | |
| 1984 | Robert Duvall | Tender Mercies | |
| 1983 | Ben Kingsley | Gandhi | |
| 1982 | Henry Fonda | On Golden Pond | |
| 1981 | Robert De Niro | Raging Bull | |
| 1980 | Dustin Hoffman | Kramer vs. Kramer | |
| 1979 | Jon Voight | Coming Home | |
| 1978 | Richard Dreyfuss | Goodbye Girl, The | |
| 1977 | Peter Finch Posthumously |
Network | |
| 1976 | Jack Nicholson | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | |
| 1975 | Art Carney | Harry and Tonto | |
| 1974 | Jack Lemmon | Save the Tiger | |
| 1973 | Marlon Brando Refused |
Godfather, The | |
| 1972 | Gene Hackman | French Connection, The | |
| 1971 | George C. Scott Refused |
Patton (1970) | |
| 1970 | John Wayne | True Grit | |
| 1969 | Cliff Robertson | Charly | |
| 1968 | Rod Steiger | In the Heat of the Night | |
| 1967 | Paul Scofield | Man for All Seasons, A | |
| 1966 | Lee Marvin | Cat Ballou | |
| 1965 | Rex Harrison | My Fair Lady | |
| 1964 | Sidney Poitier | Lilies of the Field | |
| 1963 | Gregory Peck | To Kill a Mockingbird | |
| 1962 | Maximilian Schell | Judgment at Nuremberg | |
| 1961 | Burt Lancaster | Elmer Gantry | |
| 1960 | Charlton Heston | Ben-Hur | |
| 1959 | David Niven | Separate Tables | |
| 1958 | Alec Guinness | Bridge on the River Kwai, The | |
| 1957 | Yul Brynner | King and I, The | |
| 1956 | Ernest Borgnine | Marty | |
| 1955 | Marlon Brando | On the Waterfront | |
| 1954 | William Holden | Stalag 17 (1953) | |
| 1953 | Gary Cooper | High Noon | |
| 1952 | Humphrey Bogart | African Queen, The | |
| 1951 | Jose Ferrer | Cyrano de Bergerac | |
| 1950 | Broderick Crawford | All the King's Men | |
| 1949 | Laurence Olivier | Hamlet | |
| 1948 | Ronald Colman | Double Life, A | |
| 1947 | Fredric March | Best Years of Our Lives, The | |
| 1946 | Ray Milland | Lost Weekend, The | |
| 1945 | Bing Crosby | Going My Way (1944) | |
| 1944 | Paul Lukas | Watch on the Rhine | |
| 1943 | James Cagney | Yankee Doodle Dandy | |
| 1942 | Gary Cooper | Sergeant York (1941) | |
| 1941 | James Stewart | Philadelphia Story, The | |
| 1940 | Robert Donat | Goodbye, Mr. Chips | |
| 1939 | Spencer Tracy | Boys Town (1938) | |
| 1938 | Spencer Tracy | Captains Courageous | |
| 1937 | Paul Muni | Story of Louis Pasteur, The | |
| 1936 | Victor McLaglen | The Informer | |
| 1935 | Clark Gable | It Happened One Night | |
| 1934 | Charles Laughton | Private Life of Henry VIII, The | |
| 1933 | Wallace Beery | Champ, The | |
| 1933 | Fredric March | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | |
| 1932 | Lionel Barrymore | Free Soul, A | |
| 1931 | George Arliss | Disraeli | |
| 1930 | Warner Baxter | In Old Arizona | |
| 1929 | Emil Jannings | Last Command, The | |
| 1929 | Way of All Flesh, The |
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