My vote went to Alec Guinness, though I loved Ernest Borgnine in Marty so it was a close call for me.
Brando was excellent as well and Olivier was very good. I also liked Ferrer a lot in Cyrano.
I'm not as fond of Crawford in All the King's Men, Bogart in The African Queen, or Brynner in The King and I, though they weren't bad.
1948-1957 Best Actor Winners
Re: 1948-1957 Best Actor Winners
1948: Olivier was the best of the nominees - the competition was quite a sorry bunch. Yes Wayne and Bogart should have been nominated.
1949: Crawford and Douglas stand out amongst the nominees. Prefer Douglas though. Peck is too mannered. He was far better in The Gunfighter the following year.
1950: Am not a fan of Jose Ferrer's Cyrano. Or of Stewart in Harvey. Of the nominees I prefer Tracy, Holden and Calhern....in that order. I think Peck, in The Gunfighter, gave the year's best performance. But as is often the case many performances miss out with the Academy.
1951: Wish Bogart had won his Oscar for Casablanca instead. Brando is much better than Bogart in The African Queen. Even Clift and Kennedy give far superior performances than Bogart.
1952: Douglas should have won the Oscar. I also liked Brando as Zapata.
1953: Clift should have won the Oscar. Also prefer Lancaster to Holden's winning performance. Burton's nod was absurd.
1954: Brando. Nobody else came close to that performance. Not even Mason who I thought was miscast. An American actor should have played the part. I often find American accents very jarring but in Mason's case his Brit accent was jarring in that production.
1955: A very strong lineup of nominees. Dean should have won but Borgnine is also tremendous. Dean, Borgnine, Tracy, Cagney, Sinatra.....like the nominees in that order.
1956: Brynner followed by Douglas, Hudson and Olivier. Dean's old age makeup (and old age acting) is a disaster though he is good during the film's earlier bits.
1957: Guinness followed closely by Laughton.
Overall - Brando, Guinness, Olivier, Borgnine and Brynner.
1949: Crawford and Douglas stand out amongst the nominees. Prefer Douglas though. Peck is too mannered. He was far better in The Gunfighter the following year.
1950: Am not a fan of Jose Ferrer's Cyrano. Or of Stewart in Harvey. Of the nominees I prefer Tracy, Holden and Calhern....in that order. I think Peck, in The Gunfighter, gave the year's best performance. But as is often the case many performances miss out with the Academy.
1951: Wish Bogart had won his Oscar for Casablanca instead. Brando is much better than Bogart in The African Queen. Even Clift and Kennedy give far superior performances than Bogart.
1952: Douglas should have won the Oscar. I also liked Brando as Zapata.
1953: Clift should have won the Oscar. Also prefer Lancaster to Holden's winning performance. Burton's nod was absurd.
1954: Brando. Nobody else came close to that performance. Not even Mason who I thought was miscast. An American actor should have played the part. I often find American accents very jarring but in Mason's case his Brit accent was jarring in that production.
1955: A very strong lineup of nominees. Dean should have won but Borgnine is also tremendous. Dean, Borgnine, Tracy, Cagney, Sinatra.....like the nominees in that order.
1956: Brynner followed by Douglas, Hudson and Olivier. Dean's old age makeup (and old age acting) is a disaster though he is good during the film's earlier bits.
1957: Guinness followed closely by Laughton.
Overall - Brando, Guinness, Olivier, Borgnine and Brynner.
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CalWilliam
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Re: 1948-1957 Best Actor Winners
Also Alec Guinness, without much hesitation. Only Brando and Olivier are threats among this group, although I don't dislike any of them. This would have been more distinguished had Holden won for Sunset Boulevard, Brando for A Streetcar Named Desire, Monty Clift for From Here to Eternity and James Dean for East of Eden, indeed.
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Big Magilla
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1948-1957 Best Actor Winners
They got a lot more wrong than they did right with these winners, only two of which I agreed with and even those two had strong alternates in the running.
Olivier was the best of the nominees in 1948, but where were Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and John Wayne in Red River? Bogart should have won this.
Crawford was impressive as Willie Stark, a stand-in for the real-life Huey Long in All the King's Men, but Gregory Peck was more impressive in Twelve O'Clock High for which he won the NYFC award the following year when it was eligible in New York.
Ferrer was fine repeating his stage triumph in Cyrano de Bergerac but William Holden was finer in Sunset Blvd.
Bogart's makeup award for The African Queen was nice but both Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire and Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun made stronger impressions.
Cooper's Oscar for High Noon seems more like a vote for the film that should've won Best Picture than it does as a vote for his performance. Non-nominated John Wayne in The Quiet Man was my pick for the year's best in this category.
Holden's makeup Oscar for Stalag 17 came at another defeat for Montgomery Clift who should've won for From Here to Eternity.
Brando finally won on his fourth consecutive nomination for On the Waterfront. He deserved it, but Bing Crosby in best dramatic role in The Country Girl wouldn't have been a bad choice either. In fact, Brando himself expected Crosby to win.
Ernest Borgnine was stellar in Marty but James Dean should have won posthumously for East of Eden.
Yul Brynner was marvelous in The King and I but this is the one Olivier should have won for Richard III. Having won already, though, it might just as easily have gone to Kirk Douglas in Lust for Life.
Alec Guinness richly deserved his win for The Bridge on the River Kwai, a role turned down by Charles Laughton who said he didn't understand the character. Ironically, Laughton was the only other nominee worthy of a win that year for Witness for the Prosecution.
So, for me it comes down to a choice between Brando and Guinness. I'm voting for the consistently fine Guinness over the sporadically great Brando.
Olivier was the best of the nominees in 1948, but where were Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and John Wayne in Red River? Bogart should have won this.
Crawford was impressive as Willie Stark, a stand-in for the real-life Huey Long in All the King's Men, but Gregory Peck was more impressive in Twelve O'Clock High for which he won the NYFC award the following year when it was eligible in New York.
Ferrer was fine repeating his stage triumph in Cyrano de Bergerac but William Holden was finer in Sunset Blvd.
Bogart's makeup award for The African Queen was nice but both Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire and Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun made stronger impressions.
Cooper's Oscar for High Noon seems more like a vote for the film that should've won Best Picture than it does as a vote for his performance. Non-nominated John Wayne in The Quiet Man was my pick for the year's best in this category.
Holden's makeup Oscar for Stalag 17 came at another defeat for Montgomery Clift who should've won for From Here to Eternity.
Brando finally won on his fourth consecutive nomination for On the Waterfront. He deserved it, but Bing Crosby in best dramatic role in The Country Girl wouldn't have been a bad choice either. In fact, Brando himself expected Crosby to win.
Ernest Borgnine was stellar in Marty but James Dean should have won posthumously for East of Eden.
Yul Brynner was marvelous in The King and I but this is the one Olivier should have won for Richard III. Having won already, though, it might just as easily have gone to Kirk Douglas in Lust for Life.
Alec Guinness richly deserved his win for The Bridge on the River Kwai, a role turned down by Charles Laughton who said he didn't understand the character. Ironically, Laughton was the only other nominee worthy of a win that year for Witness for the Prosecution.
So, for me it comes down to a choice between Brando and Guinness. I'm voting for the consistently fine Guinness over the sporadically great Brando.