Emil Jannings, The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh (1928)

Other nominee: Richard Barthelmess (The Noose and The Patent Leather Kid)

Warner Baxter, In Old Arizona (1929)

No official nominees were announced in 1929.

George Arliss, Disraeli (1930)

Other nominees: Wallace Beery (The Big House), Maurice Chevalier (The Big Pond), Ronald Colman (Bulldog Drummond), Ronald Colman (Condemned), George Arliss (The Green Goddess), Maurice Chevalier (The Love Parade), and Lawrence Tibbett (The Rogue Song)

Lionel Barrymore, A Free Soul (1931)

Other nominees: Richard Dix (Cimarron), Adolphe Menjou (The Front Page), Fredric March (The Royal Family of Broadway), and Jackie Cooper (Skippy)

Fredric March, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Wallace Beery, The Champ (1932)

Other nominee: Alfred Lunt (The Guardsman)

Charles Laughton, The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)

Other nominees: Leslie Howard (Berkeley Square) and Paul Muni (I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang)

Clark Gable, It Happened One Night (1934)

Other nominees: Frank Morgan (The Affairs of Cellini) and William Powell (The Thin Man)

Victor McLaglen, The Informer (1935)

Other nominees: Clark Gable (Mutiny on the Bounty), Charles Laughton (Mutiny on the Bounty), and Franchot Tone (Mutiny on the Bounty)

Note: Paul Muni came in second for Black Fury in a write-in campaign.

Paul Muni, The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)

Other nominees: Walter Huston (Dodsworth), Gary Cooper (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town), William Powell (My Man Godfrey), and Spencer Tracy (San Francisco)

Spencer Tracy, Captains Courageous (1937)

Other nominees: Charles Boyer (Conquest), Paul Muni (The Life of Emile Zola), Robert Montgomery (Night Must Fall), and Fredric March (A Star Is Born)

Spencer Tracy, Boys Town (1938)

Other nominees: Charles Boyer (Algiers), James Cagney (Angels with Dirty Faces), Robert Donat (The Citadel), and Leslie Howard (Pygmalion)

Robert Donat, Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939)

Other nominees: Mickey Rooney (Babes in Arms), Clark Gable (Gone with the Wind), James Stewart (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington), and Laurence Olivier (Wuthering Heights)

James Stewart, The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Other nominees: Raymond Massey (Abe Lincoln in Illinois), Henry Fonda (The Grapes of Wrath), Charles Chaplin (The Great Dictator), and Laurence Olivier (Rebecca)

Gary Cooper, Sergeant York (1941)

Other nominees: Orson Welles (Citizen Kane), Walter Huston (The Devil and Daniel Webster), Robert Montgomery (Here Comes Mr. Jordan), and Cary Grant (Penny Serenade)

James Cagney, Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Other nominees: Walter Pidgeon (Mrs. Miniver), Monty Woolley (The Pied Piper), Gary Cooper (The Pride of the Yankees), and Ronald Colman (Random Harvest)

Paul Lukas, Watch on the Rhine (1943)

Other nominees: Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca), Gary Cooper (For Whom the Bell Tolls), Mickey Rooney (The Human Comedy), and Walter Pidgeon (Madame Curie)

Bing Crosby, Going My Way (1944)

Other nominees: Charles Boyer (Gaslight), Barry Fitzgerald (Going My Way), Cary Grant (None But the Lonely Heart), and Alexander Knox (Wilson)

Ray Milland, The Lost Weekend (1945)

Other nominees: Gene Kelly (Anchors Aweigh), Bing Crosby (The Bells of St. Mary's), Gregory Peck (The Keys of the Kingdom), and Cornel Wilde (A Song to Remember)

Fredric March, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Other nominees: Laurence Olivier (Henry V), James Stewart (It's a Wonderful Life), Larry Parks (The Jolson Story), and Gregory Peck (The Yearling)

Ronald Colman, A Double Life (1947)

Other nominees: John Garfield (Body and Soul), Gregory Peck (Gentleman's Agreement), William Powell (Life with Father), and Michael Redgrave (Mourning Becomes Electra)

Laurence Olivier, Hamlet (1948)

Other nominees: Lew Ayres (Johnny Belinda), Montgomery Clift (The Search), Clifton Webb (Sitting Pretty), and Dan Dailey (When My Baby Smiles at Me)

Broderick Crawford, All the King's Men (1949)

Other nominees: Kirk Douglas (Champion), Richard Todd (The Hasty Heart), John Wayne (Sands of Iwo Jima), and Gregory Peck (Twelve O'Clock High)

Jose Ferrer, Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)

Other nominees: Spencer Tracy (Father of the Bride), James Stewart (Harvey), Louis Calhern (The Magnificent Yankee), and William Holden (Sunset Boulevard)

Humphrey Bogart, The African Queen (1951)

Other nominees: Arthur Kennedy (Bright Victory), Fredric March (Death of a Salesman), Montgomery Clift (A Place in the Sun), and Marlon Brando (A Streetcar Named Desire)

Gary Cooper, High Noon (1952)

Other nominees: Kirk Douglas (The Bad and the Beautiful), Alec Guinness (The Lavender Hill Mob), Jose Ferrer (Moulin Rouge), and Marlon Brando (Viva Zapata!)

William Holden, Stalag 17 (1953)

Other nominees: Montgomery Clift (From Here to Eternity), Burt Lancaster (From Here to Eternity), Marlon Brando (Julius Caesar), and Richard Burton (The Robe)

Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront (1954)

Other nominees: Humphrey Bogart (The Caine Mutiny), Bing Crosby (The Country Girl), Dan O'Herlihy (Robinson Crusoe), and James Mason (A Star Is Born)

Ernest Borgnine, Marty (1955)

Other nominees: Spencer Tracy (Bad Day at Black Rock), James Dean (East of Eden), James Cagney (Love Me or Leave Me), and Frank Sinatra (The Man with the Golden Arm)

Yul Brynner, The King and I (1956)

Other nominees: James Dean (Giant), Rock Hudson (Giant), Kirk Douglas (Lust for Life), and Laurence Olivier (Richard III)

Alec Guinness, The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Other nominees: Anthony Franciosa (A Hatful of Rain), Marlon Brando (Sayonara), Anthony Quinn (Wild Is the Wind), and Charles Laughton (Witness for the Prosecution)

David Niven, Separate Tables (1958)

Other nominees: Paul Newman (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Sidney Poitier (The Defiant Ones), Tony Curtis (The Defiant Ones), and Spencer Tracy (The Old Man and the Sea)

Charlton Heston, Ben-Hur (1959)

Other nominees: James Stewart (Anatomy of a Murder), Paul Muni (The Last Angry Man), Laurence Harvey (Room at the Top), Jack Lemmon (Some Like It Hot)

Burt Lancaster, Elmer Gantry (1960)

Other nominees: Jack Lemmon (The Apartment), Laurence Olivier (The Entertainer), Spencer Tracy (Inherit the Wind), and Trevor Howard (Sons and Lovers)

Maximilian Schell, Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Other nominees: Charles Boyer (Fanny), Paul Newman (The Hustler), Spencer Tracy (Judgment at Nuremberg), and Stuart Whitman (The Mark)

Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Other nominees: Burt Lancaster (Birdman of Alcatraz), Jack Lemmon (Days of Wine and Roses), Marcello Mastroianni (Divorce Italian Style), and Peter O'Toole (Lawrence of Arabia)

Sindey Poitier, Lilies of the Field (1963)

Other nominees: Rex Harrison (Cleopatra), Paul Newman (Hud), Richard Harris (This Sporting Life), and Albert Finney (Tom Jones)

Rex Harrison, My Fair Lady (1964)

Other nominees: Peter O'Toole (Becket), Richard Burton (Becket), Peter Sellers (Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb), and Anthony Quinn (Zorba the Greek)

Lee Marvin, Cat Ballou (1965)

Other nominees: Laurence Olivier (Othello), Rod Steiger (The Pawnbroker), Oskar Werner (Ship of Fools), and Richard Burton (The Spy Who Came in From the Cold)

Paul Scofield, A Man for All Seasons (1966)

Other nominees: Michael Caine (Alfie), Alan Arkin (The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming), Steve McQueen (The Sand Pebbles), and Richard Burton (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)

Rod Steiger, In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Other nominees: Warren Beatty (Bonnie and Clyde), Paul Newman (Cool Hand Luke), Dustin Hoffman (The Graduate), and Spencer Tracy (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner)

Cliff Robertson, Charly (1968)

Other nominees: Alan Bates (The Fixer), Alan Arkin (The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter), Peter O'Toole (The Lion in Winter) , and Ron Moody (Oliver!)

John Wayne, True Grit (1969)

Other nominees: Richard Burton (Anne of the Thousand Days), Peter O'Toole (Goodbye, Mr. Chips), Dustin Hoffman (Midnight Cowboy), and Jon Voight (Midnight Cowboy)

George C. Scott, Patton (1970)

Other nominees: Jack Nicholson (Five Easy Pieces), James Earl Jones (The Great White Hope), Melvyn Douglas (I Never Sang for My Father), and Ryan O'Neal (Love Story)

Gene Hackman, The French Connection (1971)

Other nominees: Topol (Fiddler on the Roof), George C. Scott (The Hospital), Walter Matthau (Kotch), and Peter Finch (Sunday Bloody Sunday)

Marlon Brando, The Godfather (1972)

Other nominees: Peter O'Toole (The Ruling Class), Laurence Olivier (Sleuth), Michael Caine (Sleuth), and Paul Winfield (Sounder)

Jack Lemmon, Save the Tiger (1973)

Other nominees: Jack Nicholson (The Last Detail), Marlon Brando (Last Tango in Paris), Al Pacino (Serpico), and Robert Redford (The Sting)

Art Carney, Harry and Tonto (1974)

Other nominees: Jack Nicholson (Chinatown), Al Pacino (The Godfather Part II), Dustin Hoffman (Lenny), and Albert Finney (Murder on the Orient Express)

Jack Nicholson, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Other nominees: Al Pacino (Dog Day Afternoon), James Whitmore (Give 'em Hell, Harry!), Maximilian Schell (The Man in the Glass Booth), and Walter Matthau (The Sunshine Boys)

Peter Finch, Network (1976)

Other nominees: William Holden (Network), Sylvester Stallone (Rocky), Giancarlo Giannini (Seven Beauties), and Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver)