Academy Awards: Nominees and Winners: Actor in a Leading Role 1940 1949


· 1940 James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story as Macaulay Connor (winner)
o Charles Chaplin - The Great Dictator as Adenoid Hynkel (Dictator of Tomania) / A Jewish Barber
o Henry Fonda - The Grapes of Wrath as Tom Joad
o Raymond Massey - Abe Lincoln in Illinois as Abraham Lincoln
o Laurence Olivier - Rebecca as 'Maxim' de Winter

· 1941 Gary Cooper - Sergeant York as Alvin Cullum York (winner)
o Cary Grant - Penny Serenade as Roger Adams
o Walter Huston - The Devil and Daniel Webster as Mr. Scratch
o Robert Montgomery - Here Comes Mr. Jordan as Joe Pendleton
o Orson Welles - Citizen Kane as Charles Foster Kane

· 1942 James Cagney - Yankee Doodle Dandy as George M. Cohan (winner)
o Ronald Colman - Random Harvest as Charles Rainier
o Gary Cooper - The Pride of the Yankees as Henry Louis 'Lou' Gehrig
o Walter Pidgeon - Mrs. Miniver as Clem Miniver
o Monty Woolley - The Pied Piper as Howard

· 1943 Paul Lukas - Watch on the Rhine as Kurt Muller (winner)
o Humphrey Bogart - Casablanca as Rick Blaine
o Gary Cooper - For Whom the Bell Tolls as Robert Jordan
o Walter Pidgeon - Madame Curie as Pierre Curie
o Mickey Rooney - The Human Comedy as Homer Macauley

· 1944 Bing Crosby - Going My Way as Father Chuck O'Malley (winner)
o Charles Boyer - Gaslight as Gregory Anton
o Barry Fitzgerald - Going My Way as Father Fitzgibbon
o Cary Grant - None but the Lonely Heart as Ernie Mott
o Alexander Knox - Wilson as Woodrow Wilson

· 1945 Ray Milland - The Lost Weekend as Don Birnam (winner)
o Bing Crosby - The Bells of St. Mary's as Father Chuck O'Malley
o Gene Kelly - Anchors Aweigh as Joseph Brady
o Gregory Peck - The Keys of the Kingdom as Father Francis Chisholm
o Cornel Wilde - A Song to Remember as Frédéric Chopin

· 1946 Fredric March - The Best Years of Our Lives as Al Stephenson (winner)
o Laurence Olivier - Henry V as King Henry V of England
o Larry Parks - The Jolson Story as Al Jolson
o Gregory Peck - The Yearling as Ezra 'Penny' Baxter
o James Stewart - It's a Wonderful Life as George Bailey

· 1947 Ronald Colman - A Double Life as Anthony John (winner)
o John Garfield - Body and Soul as Charlie Davis
o Gregory Peck - Gentleman's Agreement as Philip Schuyler Green aka Greenberg
o Michael Redgrave - Mourning Becomes Electra as Orin Mannon
o William Powell - Life with Father as Clarence Day, Sr.

· 1948 Laurence Olivier - Hamlet as Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (winner)
o Lew Ayres - Johnny Belinda as Dr. Robert Richardson
o Montgomery Clift - The Search as Ralph 'Steve' Stevenson
o Dan Dailey - When My Baby Smiles at Me as 'Skid' Johnson
o Clifton Webb - Sitting Pretty as Lynn Belvedere

· 1949 Broderick Crawford - All the King's Men as Willie Stark (winner)
o Kirk Douglas - Champion as Michael 'Midge' Kelly
o Gregory Peck - Twelve O'Clock High as General Savage
o Richard Todd - The Hasty Heart as Cpl. Lachlan 'Lachie' MacLachlan
o John Wayne - Sands of Iwo Jima as Sgt. John M. Stryker