Greatest Film Performances by Year 1940 ‑ 1949

1. James Cagney - White Heat
2. Olivia de Havilland - The Heiress
3. Setsuko Hara - Late Spring
4. Alec Guinness - Kind Hearts and Coronets
5. Chishu Ryu - Late Spring
6. Orson Welles - The Third Man
7. Katharine Hepburn - Adam's Rib
8. Broderick Crawford - All the King's Men
9. Mercedes McCambridge - All the King's Men
10. Vittorio Gassman - Bitter Rice
10. Ralph Richardson - The Heiress
10. Kirk Douglas - Champion
10. Spencer Tracy - Adam's Rib
10. Dennis Price - Kind Hearts and Coronets
10. Robert Ryan - The Set-Up
10. Richard Todd - The Hasty Heart
10. John Wayne - Sands of Iwo Jima
10. Takashi Shimura - Stray Dog
10. Deborah Kerr - Edward, My Son
10. Gregory Peck - Twelve O'Clock High

1. Laurence Olivier - Hamlet
2. Humphrey Bogart - Treasure of the Sierra Madre
3. Lamberto Maggiorani - Bicycle Thieves
4. Jane Wyman - Johnny Belinda
5. Olivia de Havilland - The Snake Pit
6. Montgomery Clift - Red River
7. Edward G. Robinson - Key Largo
8. Joan Fontaine - Letter From an Unknown Woman
9. Moira Shearer - The Red Shoes
10. Lauren Bacall - Key Largo
11. Walter Huston - Treasure of the Sierra Madre
12. John Wayne - Red River
13. Takashi Shimura - Drunken Angel
14. Anna Magnani - L’amore
15. Irene Dunne – I Remember Mama
16. Barbara Stanwyck - Sorry, Wrong Number
17. Montgomery Clift - The Search
18. Anton Walbrook - The Red Shoes
19. Alec Guinness - Oliver Twist
20. Ingrid Bergman - Joan of Arc

1. Robert Mitchum - Out of the Past
2. Charlie Chaplin - Monsieur Verdoux
3. Richard Widmark - Kiss of Death
4. Ronald Colman - A Double Life
5. Deborah Kerr - Black Narcissus
6. Rosalind Russell - Mourning Becomes Electra
7. Loretta Young - The Farmer's Daughter
8. John Garfield - Body and Soul
9. William Powell - Life with Father
10. Joan Crawford - Possessed
11. Susan Hayward - Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman
12. Michael Redgrave - Mourning Becomes Electra
13. Gregory Peck - Gentleman's Agreement
14. Rita Hayworth - The Lady from Shanghai
15. Edmund Gwenn - Miracle on 34th Street
16. Robert Ryan - Crossfire
17. Jane Greer - Out of the Past
18. Celeste Holm - Gentleman's Agreement
19. Richard Attenborough - Brighton Rock
20. James Mason - Odd Man Out

1. James Stewart - It's a Wonderful Life
2. Fredric March - The Best Years of Our Lives
3. Olivia de Havilland - To Each His Own
4. Ingrid Bergman - Notorious
5. Cary Grant - Notorious
6. Claude Rains - Notorious
7. Donna Reed - It's a Wonderful Life
8. Humphrey Bogart - The Big Sleep
9. Michele Morgan - Pastoral Symphony
10. Lana Turner - The Postman Always Rings Twice
11. Gregory Peck - The Yearling
12. Jean Marais - Beauty and the Beast
13. Rita Hayworth - Gilda
14. Rosalind Russell - Sister Kenny
15. Lauren Bacall - The Big Sleep
16. Jennifer Jones - A Duel in the Sun
17. Harold Russell - The Best Years of Our Lives
18. Jane Wyman - The Yearling
19. Lionel Barrymore - It's a Wonderful Life
20. Franco Interlenghi - Shoeshine

1. Joan Crawford - Mildred Pierce
2. Ray Milland - The Lost Weekend
3. Anna Magnani - Rome, Open City
4. Celia Johnson - Brief Encounter
5. Ingrid Bergman - Spellbound
6. Greer Garson - The Valley of Decision
7. Trevor Howard - Brief Encounter
8. Gregory Peck - Spellbound
9. Arletty - Children of Paradise
10. Jean-Louis Barrault - Children of Paradise
11. Aldo Fabrizi - Rome, Open CIty
12. Gene Tierney - Leave Her to Heaven
13. Gene Kelly - Anchors Aweigh
14. Ingrid Bergman - The Bells of St. Mary's
15. Bing Crosby - The Bells of St. Mary's
16. Cornel Wilde - Leave Her to Heaven
17. Angela Lansbury - The Picture of Dorian Gray
18. Robert Mitchum - The Story of G.I. Joe
19. Cornel Wilde - A Song to Remember
20. Jennifer Jones - Love Letters

1. Barbara Stanwyck - Double Indemnity
2. Ingrid Bergman - Gaslight
3. Laurence Olivier - Henry V
4. Cary Grant - Arsenic And Old Lace
5. Charles Boyer - Gaslight
6. Humphrey Bogart - To Have and Have Not
7. Nikolai Cherkasov - Ivan the Terrible Part I
8. Bing Crosby - Going My Way
9. Barry Fitzgerald - Going My Way
10. Lauren Bacall - To Have and Have Not
11. Alexander Knox - Wilson
12. Cary Grant - None But The Lonely Heart
13. Elizabeth Taylor - National Velvet
14. Claudette Colbert - Since You Went Away
15. Greer Garson - Mrs. Parkington
16. Bette Davis - Mr. Skeffington
17. Edward G. Robinson - Double Indemnity
18. Fred MacMurray - Double Indemnity
19. Margaret O'Brien - Meet Me in St. Louis
20. Clifton Webb - Laura

1. Joseph Cotten - Shadow of a Doubt
2. Jennifer Jones - The Song Of Bernadette
3. Paul Lukas - Watch on the Rhine
4. Ingrid Bergman - For Whom the Bell Tolls
5. Jean Arthur - The More the Merrier
6. Roger Livesey - The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp
7. Greer Garson - Madame Curie
8. Joan Fontaine - The Constant Nymph
9. Deborah Kerr - The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp
10. Katina Paxinou - For Whom the Bell Tolls
11. Mickey Rooney - The Human Comedy
12. Joel McCrea - The More the Merrier
13. Gary Cooper - For Whom the Bell Tolls
14. Charles Coburn - The More the Merrier
15. Joan Fontaine - Jane Eyre
16. Humphrey Bogart - Sahara
17. Teresa Wright - Shadow of a Doubt
18. Lisbeth Moving- Day of Wrath
19. Walter Pidgeon - Madame Curie
20. Akim Tamiroff - For Whom the Bell Tolls

1. Humphrey Bogart - Casablanca
2. Ingrid Bergman - Casablanca
3. James Cagney - Yankee Doodle Dandy
4. Greer Garson - Mrs. Miniver
5. Carole Lombard - To Be or Not To Be
6. Agnes Moorehead - The Magnificent Ambersons
7. Henry Fonda - The Ox-Bow Incident
8. Katharine Hepburn - Woman of the Year
9. Bette Davis - Now, Voyager
10. Gary Cooper - The Pride of the Yankees
11. Claude Rains - Casablanca
12. Monty Woolley - The Pied Piper
13. Ronald Colman - Random Harvest
14. Teresa Wright - Mrs. Miniver
15. Joseph Cotten - The Magnificent Ambersons
16. Paul Henreid - Casablanca
17. Walter Pidgeon - Mrs. Miniver
18. Teresa Wright - The Pride of the Yankees
19. Susan Peters - Random Harvest
20. Gene Kelly - For Me and My Gal

1. Orson Welles - Citizen Kane
2. Humphrey Bogart - The Maltese Falcon
3. Barbara Stanwyck - The Lady Eve
4. Joan Fontaine - Suspicion
5. Gary Cooper - Sergeant Yorke
6. Peter Lorre - The Maltese Falcon
7. Humphrey Bogart - High Sierra
8. Bette Davis - The Little Foxes
9. Greer Garson - Blossoms in the Dust
10. Walter Huston - All That Money Can Buy
11. Robert Montgomery - Here Comes Mr. Jordan
12. Alida Valli - Old-Fashioned World
12. Barbara Stanwyck - Ball of Fire
13. Olivia de Havilland - Hold Back the Dawn
14. Sydney Greenstreet - The Maltese Falcon
15. Cary Grant - Penny Serenade
16. Gary Cooper - Ball of Fire
17. Joel McCrea - Sullivan's Travels
18. Donald Crisp - How Green Was My Valley
19. Joseph Cotten - Citizen Kane
20. Lon Chaney Jr. - The Wolf Man

1. Charlie Chaplin - The Great Dictator
2. Katharine Hepburn - The Philadelphia Story
3. Henry Fonda - The Grapes of Wrath
4. James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story
5. Laurence Olivier - Rebecca
6. Cary Grant - His Girl Friday
7. Joan Fontaine - Rebecca
8. Rosalind Russell - His Girl Friday
9. Cary Grant - The Philadelphia Story
10. Bette Davis - The Letter
11. Ginger Rogers - Kitty Foyle
12. Judith Anderson - Rebecca
13. Martha Scott - Our Town
14. James Stewart - The Shop Around the Corner
15. Raymond Massey - Abe Lincoln in Illinois
16. Margaret Sullavan - The Shop Around the Corner
17. John Carradine - The Grapes of Wrath
18. Walter Brennan - The Westerner
19. W.C. Fields - The Bank Dick
20. Jane Darwell - The Grapes of Wrath