Your Favorite Performances from 1930 to the present

[Detective Jim McLeod]

my choices-

Bradley Cooper in Nightmare Alley
Alana Haim in Licorice Pizza
Jude Hill in Belfast
Cate Blanchett in Nightmare Alley

[laffite]

Grant Withers and Mary Astor are brilliant together in this one scene in Other Men's Women (1931). I won't say anything more about it but if there is such a thing as a bucket scene, this is one of them. The movie itself is a bomb. The scene starts at about the 15 minute mark and goes to about 23 minutes. No other scenes by them except at the very end, a very short one. (See that too) It was recently shown on TCM and it may come back. Please watch for it.

[Swithin]

Supporting Actor

Peter Capaldi, Benediction

Totally agree with your choice from my favorite movie of the year. I've read a lot of Sassoon's work, both the poetry and the semi-autobiographical Sherston books, and was happy to see a film about at least part of his life made so well. That final scene on the bench: heartbreaking.

[laffite]

Oh, per year. One example each year. Oh well, so much for that.

[Detective Jim McLeod]

1930

Actor- Lew Ayres in All Quiet On The Western Front
Actress- N/A
Supporting Actor- Boris Karloff in The Criminal Code
Supporting Actress- Lillian Roth in Animal Crackers

[Detective Jim McLeod]

more from the 1930s-

1931

Actor- Fredric March in Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
Actress-Irene Dunne in Cimarron
Supporting Actor- Dwight Frye in Dracula
Supporting Actress- Miriam Hopkins in Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

1932
Actor-Lee Tracy in Blessed Event
Actress- Ann Dvorak in Three On A Match
Supporting Actor-Leslie Banks in The Most Dangerous Game
Supporting Actress- Eva Moore in The Old Dark House

1933
Actor- Claude Rains in The Invisible Man
Actress- Barbara Stanwyck in Baby Face
Supporting Actor- Robert Armstrong in King Kong
Supporting Actress- Aline MacMahon in Gold Diggers Of 1933

1934
Actor- Clark Gable In It Happened One Night
Actress-Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night
Supporting Actor- Henry Kleinbach in Babes In Toyland
Supporting Actress- Charlotte Henry in Babes In Toyland

1935
Actor- Charles Laughton in Mutiny On The Bounty
Actress-Constance Bennett in After Office Hours
Supporting Actor- Ernest Thesiger in Bride Of Frankenstein
Supporting Actress- Frances Drake in Mad Love

[Swithin]

Love your choices of Eva Moore ("No beds!") and Ernest Thesiger. Btw, Eva Moore was Laurence Olivier's mother-in-law. Her daughter was Jill Edmond, who was married to Olivier 1930-1940. Ernest Thesiger was from an aristocratic family. His grandfather was the 1st Lord Chelmsford.

[laffite]

1936

Ruth Chatterton, Walter Huston, and Mary Astor (all three for that year)

[Detective Jim McLeod]

the rest of the 1930s-

1936

Actor- Clark Gable in San Francisco
Actress- Irene Dunne in Show Boat
Supporting Actor-Paul Robeson in Show Boat
Supporting Actress- Bonita Granville in These Three

1937
Actor-Fredric March in A Star Is Born
Actress- Luise Rainer in The Good Earth
Supporting Actor-Humphrey Bogart in Dead End
Supporting Actress- Claire Trevor in Dead End

1938
Actor- James Cagney in Angels With Dirty Faces
Actress- Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby
Supporting Actor- Basil Rathbone in The Adventures Of Robin Hood
Supporting Actress- May Whitty in The Lady Vanishes

1939
Actor- Henry Fonda in Young Mr Lincoln
Actress- Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind
Supporting Actor-Bela Lugosi in Son Of Frankenstein
Supporting Actress-Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard Of Oz

[Detective Jim McLeod]

First half of the 1940s-

1940

Actor-Henry Fonda in The Grapes Of Wrath
Actress- Bette Davis in The Letter
Supporting Actor-Walter Brennan in The Westerner
Supporting Actress- Judith Anderson in Rebecca

1941
Actor- Orson Welles in Citizen Kane
Actress- Barbara Stanwyck in Ball Of Fire
Supporting Actor- Laird Cregar in I Wake Up Screaming
Supporting Actress- Mary Astor in The Maltese Falcon

1942
Actor- Henry Fonda in The Ox Bow Incident
Actress- Bette Davis in Now Voyager
Supporting Actor- Dana Andrews in The Ox Bow Incident
Supporting Actress- Gladys Cooper in Now Voyager

1943
Actor- Joseph Cotten in Shadow Of A Doubt
Actress- Teresa Wright in Shadow Of A Doubt
Supporting Actor- Vincent Price in The Song Of Bernadette
Supporting Actress- Louise Albritton in Son Of Dracula

1944
Actor- Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity
Actress- Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity
Supporting Actor- Claude Rains in Mr Skeffington-Clifton Webb in Laura (tie)
Supporting Actress- Elena Verdugo in House Of Frankenstein

[Detective Jim McLeod]

the rest of the 1940s-

1945
Actor- Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend
Actress- Judy Garland in The Clock
Supporting Actor- Howard da Silva in The Lost Weekend
Supporting Actress- Margaret Rutherford in Blithe Spirit

1946
Actor- James Stewart in It's A Wonderful Life
Actress- Ingrid Bergman in Notorious
Supporting Actor-Victor Mature in My Darling Clementine
Supporting Actress- Kim Hunter in Stairway To Heaven

1947
Actor- William Powell in Life With Father
Actress- Joan Crawford in Possessed
Supporting Actor- Edmund Gwenn in Miracle On 34th Street
Supporting Actress- Wanda Hendrix in Ride The Pink Horse

1948
Actor- Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre
Actress- Olivia de Havilland in The Snake Pit
Supporting Actor- Walter Huston in The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre
Supporting Actress- Jarmila Novotna in The Search

1949
Actor-Kirk Douglas in Champion
Actress- Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress
Supporting Actor- Arthur Kennedy in Champion
Supporting Actress- Betty Garrett in On The Town

[Lomm]

Big task. I'm going to limit myself to actor and actress, by year. I haven't seen a WHOLE lot of movies predating 1933, but I'll still try from 1931 (I just don't know enough about 1930, besides Wings). Some of these were harder than I thought they'd be. Some powerhouse years in there!

1931 - Bela Lugosi, Dracula
Garbo, Mata Hari

1932 - Gable/Harlow, Red Dust Honorable mention: Mae West, She Done Him Wrong

1933 - Warner Baxter, Penthouse
Harlow again, Dinner at Eight

1934 - Easy one: Powell/Loy, The Thin Man

1935 - Spencer Tracy, Whipsaw
Katharine Hepburn, Sylvia Scarlett

1936 - Gary Cooper, Mr Deeds Goes to Town (Just edging out William Powell in My Man Godfrey)
Carole Lombard, My Man Godfrey

1937 - Gotta go with the power couple again. Powell/Loy, After the Thin Man

1938 - Errol Flynn, Robin Hood
Katharine Hepburn, Bringing up Baby This was a good year for film. I could easily pick Holiday for Hepburn and Grant, as well as Grant over Flynn for this movie.

1939 - Again Bill Powell and Myrna Loy, Another Thin Man

1940 - Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, His Girl Friday

1941 - Joel McCRea, Sullivan's Travels (Sorry again Bill Powell, not this time; I love this movie)
Myrna Loy, Shadow of the Thin Man

1942 - Gary Cooper, The Pride of the Yankees
Ingrid Bergman, Casablanca

1943 - Joel McCrea and Jean Arthur, The More the Merrier

1944 - Cary Grant, Arsenic and Old Lace
Gene Tierney, Laura

1945 - Ray Milland, The Lost Weekend
Dorothy McGuire, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

1946 - James Stewart and Donna Reed, It's a Wonderful Life

1947 - Danny Kaye, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Myrna Loy, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

1948 - Cary Grant and Myrna Loy, Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House

1949 - Tracy/Hepburn, Adam's Rib

1950 - Cheating with two women and no male actor: Gloria Swanson, Sunset Blvd and Anne Baxter, All About Eve

1951 - Bogey/Hepburn, The African Queen

1952 - Cary Grant, Monkey Business
Debbie Reynolds, Singin' in the Rain

1953 - Gregory Peck, Roman Holiday
Marilyn Monroe, Niagara

1954 - Marlon Brando, On The Waterfront
Judy Holliday, It Should Happen to You

1955 - James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause
Marilyn Monroe, The Seven Year Itch

1956 - James Stewart, The Man Who Knew Too Much
Marilyn Monroe, Bus Stop

1957 - Cary Grant, An Affair to Remember
Audrey Hepburn, Love in the Afternoon

1958 - Cary Grant, Houseboat
Kim Novak, Vertigo

1959 - Cary Grant, North by Northwest (also Rock Hudson, Pillow Talk, and hell, Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot)
Marilyn Monroe, Some Like it Hot (also Doris Day, Pillow Talk! )

1960 - Jack Lemmon/Shirley MacLaine, The Apartment

I think I'll stop with 1960 for now, and revisit this later for 1960 and beyond.

[Detective Jim McLeod]

on to 1950s-

1950
Actor- William Holden in Sunset Blvd
Actress- Eleanor Parker in Caged
Supporting Actor- George Sanders in All About Eve
Supporting Actress- Hope Emerson in Caged

1951
Actor- Kirk Douglas in Detective Story
Actress- Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire
Supporting Actor- Karl Malden in A Streetcar Named Desire
Supporting Actress- Jan Sterling in Ace In The Hole

1952
Actor- Gary Cooper in High Noon
Actress- Shirley Booth in Come Back Little Sheba
Supporting Actor- Donald O'Connor in Singin In The Rain
Supporting Actress- Marie Windsor in The Narrow Margin

1953
Actor- Montgomery Clift in From Here To Eternity
Actress- Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday
Supporting Actor- Frank Sinatra in From Here To Eternity
Supporting Actress- Thelma Ritter in Pickup On South Street

1954
Actor- Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront
Actress- Judy Garland in A Star Is Born
Supporting Actor- Karl Malden in On The Waterfront
Supporting Actress- Eva Marie Saint in On The Waterfront

[Swithin]

1939

Actor -- Ronald Colman in The Light that Failed
Actress -- Bette Davis in Dark Victory
Supporting Actor -- Nigel Bruce in The Hound of the Baskervilles (his first appearance as Dr. Watson)
Supporting Actress -- Gladys George in The Roaring Twenties