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Ranking 1930s Best Actor Oscar Winners

The 1930s (and the late 1920s) were the first decade for the Academy Awards, so they ended up making a lot of bad choices not only in the BP category, but also in the acting ones. This is my ranking of all Best Actor Oscar winners based on the actors’ legacy, the performances in their respective movies and their competition in their respective years.

13. Spencer Tracy – Captains Courageous

For some unbeknownst reason to me, the was just obsessed with Spencer Tracy during this period, which resulted in the unprecedented two consecutive wins in this category. Unfortunately, neither one was deserved with this particular win being particularly egregious. Captains Courageous is a good movie, but Freddie Bartholomew himself stole the show from Tracy and he should have been nominated. Tracy was just bad, over-the-top and very unconvincing in his Portuguese accent.

Actor Who Should Have Won: Fredric March – A Star Is Born

Best Actor of the Year: Cary Grant – The Awful Truth

12. Lionel Barrymore – A Free Soul

These days actors get their supporting acting Oscars for what are basically main roles. But this time around in the early thirties, the opposite actually happened, and it was simply ridiculous. Yes, Lionel Barrymore is a fantastic classic actor, but his win here for such a small, though strong role is silly. He was good, but the role was incredibly small in contrast to other characters. Most of the other nominees this year were quite forgettable, so this was just a bad year for this category.

Actor Who Should Have Won: Adolphe Menjou – The Front Page

Best Actor of the Year:  Wallace Beery – Min and Bill

11. Spencer Tracy – Boys Town

Spencer Tracy won his second consecutive Oscar for his role in 1938’s Boys Town. This was a much better performance than the hammy one he gave in Captains Courageous, but still it’s far from great. He is okay and serviceable, but not terribly amazing, and certainly not memorable at any capacity. It was, thus, a horrible choice by the biased Academy that was particularly bad for this year’s amazing slate where literally every other choice would have been infinitely better and quite legitimate.

Actor Who Should Have Won: James Cagney – Angels with Dirty Faces

Best Actor of the Year: James Cagney – Angels with Dirty Faces

10. George Arliss – Disraeli

George Arliss is this very odd actor playing this very odd man in this strange early biopic that was also nominated for Best Picture at the 2^nd Academy Awards. Objectively speaking, although theatrical, his acting fits the role and for the most part he is solid and certainly not bad or anything like that. However, he certainly never should have won given that there were better nominees from this slate. Even worse, there was one highly talented performance in a classic movie that was utterly snubbed in this instance.

Actor Who Should Have Won: Wallace Beery – The Big House

Best Actor of the Year: Lew Ayres – All Quiet on the Western Front

9. Paul Muni – The Story of Louis Pasteur

Paul Muni was much better in the great ‘I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang’, but in this tiresome biopic he was only fine. Again, his performance is good, but far from his best and especially far from deserving a freaking Oscar, especially in a stacked field with Huston and Cooper both delivering tremendous, worthy of a win performances. This was the start of the Academy’s obsession with not only biopics as Best Picture contenders, but also their main actors as surefire picks for the win, and it still remains an unfortunate flaw of theirs.

Actor Who Should Have Won: Walter Huston – Dodsworth

Best Actor of the Year: William Powell – My Man Godfrey

8. Warner Baxter – In Old Arizona

1929 was a transitional year for the whole industry and not just the Academy, which saw their second year here. It was a transition from silent to sound movies, thus clearly the quality of most of the nominees this year wasn’t great. I personally did not find any acting performance truly terrific in this period, so I would actually agree with the Academy’s pick. Warner Baxter was not outstanding in In Old Arizona, but he was undeniably charismatic, charming and very memorable in the role of the Cisco Kid.

Actor Who Should Have Won: In Agreement

Best Actor of the Year: In Agreement

7. Robert Donat – Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Probably in a different, weaker year, I would have been fine with Robert Donat winning Best Actor because he is quite good in Goodbye, Mr. Chips. He has always been a great actor and he was memorable and strong in this very meaty role. However, this isn’t just any other year. This was 1939, for crying out loud, and in such an amazing, all-time best year, this choice simply does not suffice. There were so many more deserving nominees here, thus this pick remains one of the most controversial for all the justified reasons.

Actor Who Should Have Won: James Stewart – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Best Actor of the Year: James Stewart – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

6. Wallace Beery – The Champ

Wallace Beery was probably the second Spencer Tracy of the thirties for two reasons: he always played the same role and the Academy obviously adored him. He was always the coarse, redneck type of man in most of his movies, and he undeniably excelled at playing these men as he fitted the roles physically in particular. The Champ saw another one of those strong turns and I was fine with him being nominated, but for me Fredric March should have been the sole winner and this double win wasn’t necessary.

Actor Who Should Have Won: Fredric March – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Best Actor of the Year: Fredric March – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

5. Clark Gable – It Happened One Night

This is the point in the list where we suddenly jump not just to great, but superb performances. Clark Gable is iconic in the classic romantic comedy It Happened One Night. He is suave, charming and simply hilarious while his chemistry with Claudette Colbert was palpable. When you think about Clark Gable, you either think of Rhett Butler or Peter Warne. The only reason why he is somewhat lowly placed here is because the role itself is more comedic and lightweight, but nonetheless fantastic.

Actor Who Should Have Won: In Agreement

Best Actor of the Year: In Agreement

4. Charles Laughton – The Private Life of Henry VIII

Yes, I usually complain about the Academy’s obsession with biopics and their central actors, but in this case I simply cannot complain because what Charles Laughton did here is astonishing. This biographical movie is more comedic and lightweight than dramatic, which made it timeless and much more entertaining than many others, especially from this decade. His performance is larger-than-life and his mannerisms and humor are outstanding. Laughton was one of the biggest stars of this period, so I am glad that the Oscars recognized him.

Actor Who Should Have Won: In Agreement

Best Actor of the Year: In Agreement

3. Victor McLaglen – The Informer

Although The Informer’s impact diminishes upon subsequent viewings due to its problematic storytelling, there is no denying the power in its acting. Victor McLaglen never quite became a star, but this was his finest performance where he rightfully ended up winning an Oscar. Everybody did a great job in this excellent cast, but he shone through in a powerhouse performance in what was a very difficult, heartbreaking role. This was a rare tragic, complex role for a male actor in the thirties and he delivered in spades.

Actor Who Should Have Won: In Agreement

Best Actor of the Year: In Agreement

2. Fredric March – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

This was Fredric March’s movie to shine and he basically did just that. He killed it both as a struggling, complex, but still likable Jekyll as well as dark, menacing and brutish Hyde. He is over-the-top for sure, but suitably so and this is the good kind of overacting which serves the material well. He sold all his emotional sequences. He entirely deserved his Oscar as this is his finest acting achievement undoubtedly. Plus, it was amazing to witness the Academy actually giving such a big win for what is a genre picture at its core.

Actor Who Should Have Won: In Agreement

Best Actor of the Year: In Agreement

1. Emil Jannings – The Last Command

Selling not only anger, but also fear, what Emil Jannings did here was nothing short of remarkable. He played such a powerful, heroic and ultimately tragic figure so confidently and with such force that he stole the show from everybody else in this very intriguing movie overall. This remains only one of two silent wins in this category and the only win for a German actor so far. While it might seem odd that I put a silent, lesser-known performance on the top of the list, for anybody who has seen this incredible work, it should prove not surprising in the least.

Actor Who Should Have Won: In Agreement

Best Actor of the Year: In Agreement