Greatest Film Performances by Year
(US/UK) 1970 - 1979

1979

  1. Dustin Hoffman - Kramer vs Kramer
  2. Peter Sellers - Being There
  3. Sally Field - Norma Rae
  4. Robert Duvall - Apocalypse Now
  5. Al Pacino - ...And Justice for All
  6. Robert Duvall - The Great Santini
  7. Meryl Streep - Kramer vs Kramer
  8. Jack Lemmon - The China Syndrome
  9. Melvyn Douglas - Being There
10. Martin Sheen - Apocalypse Now
11. Bettle Midler - The Rose
12. Jill Clayburgh - Starting Over
13. Roy Scheider - All That Jazz
14. Frederic Forrest - The Rose
15. Jill Clayburgh - La Luna
16. James Woods - The Onion Field
17. Jane Fonda - The China Syndrome
18. Sigourney Weaver - Alien
19. Mariel Hemingway - Manhattan
20. Justin Henry - Kramer vs Kramer

1978

  1. Robert De Niro - The Deer Hunter
  2. Jon Voight - Coming Home
  3. Christopher Walken - The Deer Hunter
  4. Jane Fonda - Coming Home
  5. Jill Clayburgh - An Unmarried Woman
  6. Gary Busey - The Buddy Holly Story
  7. Laurence Olivier - The Boys from Brazil
  8. Maggie Smith - California Suite
  9. Meryl Streep - The Deer Hunter
10. Warren Beatty - Heaven Can Wait
11. Glenda Jackson - Stevie
12. Geraldine Page - Interiors
13. Brad Davis - The Midnight Express
14. Ellen Burstyn - Same Time, Next Year
15. Maureen Stapleton - Interiors
16. Richard Farnsworth - Comes a Horseman
17. John Hurt - The Midnight Express
18. John Savage - The Deer Hunter
19. Anthony Hopkins - Magic
20. John Cazale - The Deer Hunter

1977

  1. Diane Keaton - Annie Hall
  2. Richard Dreyfuss - The Goodbye Girl
  3. Alec Guinness - Star Wars
  4. Jane Fonda - Julia
  5. Richard Burton - Equus
  6. Woody Allen - Annie Hall
  7. John Travolta - Saturday Night Fever
  8. Marsha Mason - The Goodbye Girl
  9. Anne Bancroft - The Turning Point
10. Jason Robards - Julia
11. Vanessa Redgrave - Julia
12. Lily Tomlin - The Late Show
13. Diane Keaton - Looking For Mr. Goodbar
14. Robert De Niro - New York, New York
15. Maximilian Schell - Julia
16. Peter Firth - Equus
17. Shirley MacLaine - The Turning Point
18. Richard Dreyfuss - Close Encounters of the Third Kind
19. Art Carney - The Late Show
20. Paul Newman - Slap Shot

1976

  1. Robert De Niro - Taxi Driver
  2. Peter Finch - Network
  3. Sylvester Stallone - Rocky
  4. Faye Dunaway - Network
  5. Sissy Spacek - Carrie
  6. Jason Robards - All the President's Men
  7. Laurence Olivier - Marathon Man
  8. William Holden - Network
  9. Dustin Hoffman - Marathon Man
10. Jodie Foster - Taxi Driver
11. David Carradine - Bound for Glory
12. Dustin Hoffman - All the President's Men
13. Piper Laurie - Carrie
14. Burgess Meredith - Rocky
15. Robert Redford - All the President's Men
16. Talia Shire - Rocky
17. Rita Moreno - The Ritz
18. Robert Duvall - Network
19. Kris Kristofferson - A Star Is Born
20. John Wayne - The Shootist

1975

  1. Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  2. Al Pacino - Dog Day Afternoon
  3. Louise Fletcher - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  4. George Burns - The Sunshine Boys
  5. Faye Dunaway - The Flight of Condor
  6. Robert Shaw - Jaws
  7. Lily Tomlin - Nashville
  8. Glenda Jackson - Hedda
  9. Roone Blakley - Nashville
10. Maximilian Schell - The Man in the Glass Booth
11. Walter Matthau - The Sunshine Boys
12. Henry Gibson - Nashville
13. James Whitmore - Give 'em Hell, Harry!
14. Ann-Margaret - Tommy
15. Richard Dreyfuss - Jaws
16. Tim Curry - The Rocky Horror Picture Show
17. Burgess Meredith - The Day of the Locust
18. Michael Caine - The Man Who Would Be King
19. Sean Connery - The Man Who Would Be King
20. Brad Dourif - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

1974

  1. Al Pacino - The Godfather Part II
  2. Jack Nicholson - Chinatown
  3. Ellen Burstyn - Alice Don't Live Here Anymore
  4. Gena Rowland - A Woman Under Influence
  5. Robert De Niro - The Godfather Part II
  6. Gene Hackman - The Conversation
  7. Dustin Hoffman - Lenny
  8. Art Carney - Harry & Tonto
  9. Faye Dunaway - Chinatown
10. Gene Wilder - Young Frankenstein
11. Valerie Perrine - Lenny
12. Diane Ladd - Alice Don't Live Here Anymore
13. John Cazale - The Godfather Part II
14. John Huston - Chinatown
15. Albert Finney - Murder on the Orient Express
16. Lee Strasberg - The Godfather Part II
17. Michael V. Gazzo - The Godfather Part II
18. Diahann Carroll - Claudine
19. Ingrid Bergman - Murder on the Orient Express
20. James Caan - The Gambler

1973

  1. Al Pacino - Serpico
  2. Jack Nicholson - The Last Detail
  3. Jack Lemmon - Save the Tiger
  4. Robert De Niro - Mean Streets
  5. Glenda Jackson - A Touch of Class
  6. Harvey Keitel - Mean Streets
  7. Tatum O'Neal - Paper Moon
  8. Robert Redford - The Sting
  9. Linda Blair - The Exorcist
10. Paul Newman - The Sting
11. Barbra Streisand - The Way We Were
12. Ellen Burstyn - The Exorcist
13. Gene Hackman - Scarecrow
14. Marsha Mason - Cinderella Liberty
15. Joanne Woodward - Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams
16. John Houseman - The Paper Chase
17. Julie Christie - Don't Look Now
18. Sissy Spacek - Badlands
19. Max von Sydow - The Exorcist
20. Christopher Lee - The Wicker Man

1972

  1. Marlon Brando - The Godfather
  2. Al Pacino - The Godfather
  3. Marlon Brando - Last Tango in Paris
  4. Laurence Olivier - Sleuth
  5. Peter O'Toole - The Ruling Class
  6. Liza Minneli - Cabaret
  7. Michael Caine - Sleuth
  8. James Caan - The Godfather
  9. Joel Grey - Cabaret
10. Robert Duvall - The Godfather
11. Diana Ross - The Lady Sings the Blues
12. Cicely Tyson - Sounder
13. Jon Voight - Deliverance
14. Joanne Woodward - The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
15. Marisa Berenson - Cabaret
16. Paul Winfield - Sounder
17. Maggie Smith - Travels with My Aunt
18. Robert Redford - The Candidate
19. Jeanne Berlin - The Heartbreak Kid
20. Goldie Hawn - Butterflies Are Free

1971

  1. Gene Hackman - The French Connection
  2. Jane Fonda - Klute
  3. Malcolm McDowell - A Clockwork Orange
  4. Topol - Fiddler on the Roof
  5. Gene Wilder - Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
  6. Peter Finch - Sunday Bloody Sunday
  7. Julie Christie - McCabe & Mrs. Miller
  8. Vanessa Redgrave - Mary, Queen of Scotts
  9. George C. Scott - Hospital
10. Glenda Jackson - Sunday Bloody Sunday
11. Ben Johnson - The Last Picture Show
12. Roy Scheider - The French Connection
13. Clint Eastwood - Dirty Harry
14. Ruth Gordon - Harold & Maude
15. Jeff Bridges - The Last Picture Show
16. Donald Sutherland - Clute
17. Walter Matthau - Kotch
18. Ellen Burstyn - The Last Picture Show
19. Ann-Margret - Carnal Knowledge
20. Leonard Frey - Fiddler on the Roof

1970

  1. George C. Scott - Patton
  2. Jack Nicholson - Five Easy Pieces
  3. Gene Hackman - I Never Sang for My Father
  4. Melvin Douglas - I Never Sang for My Father
  5. James Earl Jones - The Great White Hope
  6. Carrie Snodgress - Diary of a Mad Housewife
  7. Albert Finney - Scrooge
  8. Caren Black - Five Easy Pieces
  9. Karl Malden - Patton
10. Jane Alexander - The Great White Hope
11. Ali MacGraw - Love Story
12. Ryan O'Neal - Love Story
13. John Mills - Ryan's Daughter
14. Sally Kellerman - M*A*S*H
15. Barbra Streisand - An Owl and Pussycat
16. Elliott Gould - M*A*S*H
17. Dustin Hoffman - Little Big Man
18. Donald Sutherland - M*A*S*H
19. Helen Hayes - The Airport
20. Chief Dan George - Little Big Man