Re: 1978-1987 Best Actor Winners
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 4:45 am
Jon Voight gave his most impressive performance in 1978's Coming Home. He deserved the win.
Voight's Midnight Cowboy co-star, Dustin Hoffman finally got an Oscar for 1979's Kramer vs. Kramer. He deserved the win even if it wasn't as iconic a role as were those in the three films for which he was previously nominated.
Robert De Niro was at his best in Raging Bull but my favorite De Niro performance remains the one he gave four years earlier in Taxi Driver.
That Henry Fonda had to wait 42 years to receive his second Oscar nomination and then finally win the damn thing on his deathbed remains one of the greatest examples of Oscar injustice. He should have won for both The Grapes of Wrath and On Golden Pond and been nominated several times in-between.
Ben Kingsley was the best thing about Richard Attenborough's overlong Gandhi but 1982 was the year they should should have finally recognized Paul Newman for The Verdict.
Robert Duvall gave his best performance in 1980's The Great Santini but 1983's Tender Mercies was a close second.
F. Murray Abraham deserved a nomination for 1984's Gandhi but Albert Finney deserved to win for Under the Volcano.
William Hurt's mannered performance in 1985's Kiss of the Spider Woman was still the best of a very weak year.
Paul Newman finally got an Oscar for 1986's The Color of Money but Bob Hoskins gave the year's most impressive male performance in Mona Lisa.
Michael Douglas gave his best performance in 1987's Wall Street but it was a another weak year for the guys.
Since the question I asked was who was best or "most deserving", I'm going to go with most deserving in this case - and vote for Henry Fonda. My choices in order: Fonda, Voight, Newman, Duvall, Kingsley, De Niro, Hoffman, Hurt, Abraham, and Douglas.
Voight's Midnight Cowboy co-star, Dustin Hoffman finally got an Oscar for 1979's Kramer vs. Kramer. He deserved the win even if it wasn't as iconic a role as were those in the three films for which he was previously nominated.
Robert De Niro was at his best in Raging Bull but my favorite De Niro performance remains the one he gave four years earlier in Taxi Driver.
That Henry Fonda had to wait 42 years to receive his second Oscar nomination and then finally win the damn thing on his deathbed remains one of the greatest examples of Oscar injustice. He should have won for both The Grapes of Wrath and On Golden Pond and been nominated several times in-between.
Ben Kingsley was the best thing about Richard Attenborough's overlong Gandhi but 1982 was the year they should should have finally recognized Paul Newman for The Verdict.
Robert Duvall gave his best performance in 1980's The Great Santini but 1983's Tender Mercies was a close second.
F. Murray Abraham deserved a nomination for 1984's Gandhi but Albert Finney deserved to win for Under the Volcano.
William Hurt's mannered performance in 1985's Kiss of the Spider Woman was still the best of a very weak year.
Paul Newman finally got an Oscar for 1986's The Color of Money but Bob Hoskins gave the year's most impressive male performance in Mona Lisa.
Michael Douglas gave his best performance in 1987's Wall Street but it was a another weak year for the guys.
Since the question I asked was who was best or "most deserving", I'm going to go with most deserving in this case - and vote for Henry Fonda. My choices in order: Fonda, Voight, Newman, Duvall, Kingsley, De Niro, Hoffman, Hurt, Abraham, and Douglas.