Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play presented since 1947, is awarded to actors in productions of new or revival plays.

Award winners

1940s

*1947 - José Ferrer – "Cyrano de Bergerac" / Fredric March – "Years Ago"

*1948 - Henry Fonda – "Mister Roberts" / Paul Kelly – "Command Decision" / Basil Rathbone – "The Heiress"

*1949 - Rex Harrison – "Anne of the Thousand Days"

1950s

*1950 - Sidney Blackmer – "Come Back, Little Sheba"
*1951 - Claude Rains – "Darkness at Noon"
*1952 - José Ferrer – "The Shrike"
*1953 - Tom Ewell – "The Seven Year Itch"
*1954 - David Wayne – "The Teahouse of the August Moon"
*1955 - Alfred Lunt – "Quadrille"

*1956 - Paul Muni – "Inherit the Wind":::Ben Gazzara – "A Hatful of Rain":::Boris Karloff – "The Lark":::Michael Redgrave – "Tiger at the Gates" :::Edward G. Robinson – "Middle of the Night"

*1957 - Fredric March – "Long Day's Journey into Night":::Maurice Evans – "The Apple Cart":::Wilfred Hyde-White – "The Reluctant Debutante":::Eric Portman – "Separate Tables":::Ralph Richardson – "The Waltz of the Toreadors":::Cyril Ritchard – "Visit to a Small Planet"

*1958 - Ralph Bellamy – "Sunrise at Campobello":::Richard Burton – "Time Remembered":::Hugh Griffith – "Look Homeward, Angel":::Laurence Olivier – "The Entertainer":::Anthony Perkins – "Look Homeward, Angel":::Peter Ustinov – "Romanoff and Juliet":::Emlyn Williams – "A Boy Growing Up"

*1959 - Jason Robards, Jr. – "The Disenchanted":::Cedric Hardwicke – "A Majority of One":::Alfred Lunt – "The Visit":::Christopher Plummer – "J.B.":::Cyril Ritchard – "The Pleasure of His Company":::Robert Stephens – "Epitaph for George Dillon"

1960s

*1960 - Melvyn Douglas – "The Best Man":::Lee Tracy – "The Best Man":::Jason Robards, Jr. – "Toys in the Attic":::Sidney Poitier – "A Raisin in the Sun":::George C. Scott – "The Andersonville Trial"

*1961 - Zero Mostel – "Rhinocéros"::: Hume Cronyn – "Big Fish, Little Fish":::Sam Levene – "The Devil's Advocate":::Anthony Quinn – "Becket"
*1962 - Paul Scofield – "A Man for All Seasons":::Fredric March – "Gideon":::John Mills – "Ross":::Donald Pleasence – "The Caretaker"
*1963 - Arthur Hill – "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?":::Charles Boyer – "Lord Pengo":::Paul Ford – "Never Too Late":::Bert Lahr – "The Beauty Part"
*1964 - Alec Guinness – "Dylan":::Richard Burton – "Hamlet":::Albert Finney – "Luther":::Jason Robards, Jr. – "After the Fall"

*1965 - Walter Matthau – "The Odd Couple":::John Gielgud – "Tiny Alice":::Donald Pleasence – "Poor Bitos":::Jason Robards – "Hughie"
*1966 - Hal Holbrook – "Mark Twain Tonight":::Roland Culver – "Ivanov":::Donal Donnelly and Patrick Bedford – "Philadelphia, Here I Come!":::Nicol Williamson – "Inadmissible Evidence"
*1967 - Paul Rogers – "The Homecoming":::Hume Cronyn – "A Delicate Balance":::Donald Madden – "Black Comedy":::Donald Moffat – "Right You Are" and "The Wild Duck"
*1968 - Martin Balsam – "You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running":::Albert Finney – "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg":::Milo O'Shea – "Staircase":::Alan Webb – "I Never Sang for My Father"

*1969 - James Earl Jones – "The Great White Hope":::Art Carney – "Lovers":::Alec McCowen – "Hadrian the Seventh":::Donald Pleasence – "The Man in the Glass Booth"

1970s

*1970 - Fritz Weaver – "Child's Play":::James Coco – "The Last of the Red Hot Lovers":::Frank Grimes – "Borstal Boy":::Stacy Keach – "Indians"
*1971 - Brian Bedford – "The School for Wives":::John Gielgud – "Home":::Alec McCowen – "The Philanthropist":::Ralph Richardson – "Home"

*1972 - Cliff Gorman – "Lenny":::Tom Aldredge – "Sticks and Bones":::Donald Pleasence – "Wise Child":::Jason Robards – "The Country Girl"
*1973 - Alan Bates – "Butley":::Jack Albertson – "The Sunshine Boys":::Wilfrid Hyde-White – "The Jockey Club Stakes":::Paul Sorvino – "That Championship Season"
*1974 - Michael Moriarty – "Find Your Way Home":::Zero Mostel – "Ulysses in Nighttown":::Jason Robards – "A Moon for the Misbegotten":::George C. Scott – "Uncle Vanya":::Nicol Williamson – "Uncle Vanya"
*1975 - John Kani – "Sizwe Banzi is Dead" and :: - Winston Ntshona – "The Island":::Jim Dale – "Scapino":::Peter Firth – "Equus":::Henry Fonda – "Clarence Darrow":::Ben Gazzara – "Hughie and Duet":::John Wood – "Sherlock Holmes"
*1976 - John Wood – "Travesties":::Moses Gunn – "The Poison Tree":::George C. Scott – "Death of a Salesman":::Donald Sinden – "Habeas Corpus"

*1977 - Al Pacino – "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel":::Tom Courtenay – "Otherwise Engaged":::Ben Gazzara – "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?":::Ralph Richardson – "No Man's Land"

*1978 - Barnard Hughes – "Da":::Hume Cronyn – "The Gin Game":::Frank Langella – "Dracula":::Jason Robards – "A Touch of the Poet"
*1979 - Tom Conti – "Whose Life Is It Anyway?":::Philip Anglim – "The Elephant Man":::Jack Lemmon – "Tribute":::Alec McCowen – "St. Mark's Gospel"

1980s

*1980 - John Rubinstein – "Children of a Lesser God":::Charles Brown – "Home":::Gerald Hiken – "Strider":::Judd Hirsch – "Talley's Folly"
*1981 - Ian McKellen – "Amadeus":::Tim Curry – "Amadeus":::Roy Dotrice – "A Life":::Jack Weston – "The Floating Light Bulb"
*1982 - Roger Rees – "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby":::Tom Courtenay – "The Dresser":::Milo O'Shea – "Mass Appeal":::Christopher Plummer – "Othello"

*1983 - Harvey Fierstein – "Torch Song Trilogy":::Jeffrey DeMunn – "K2":::Edward Herrmann – "Plenty":::Tony Lo Bianco – "A View from the Bridge"
*1984 - Jeremy Irons – "The Real Thing":::Calvin Levels – "Open Admissions":::Rex Harrison – "Heartbreak House":::Ian McKellen – "Ian McKellen Acting Shakespeare"
*1985 - Derek Jacobi – "Much Ado About Nothing":::Jim Dale – "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg":::Jonathan Hogan – "As Is":::John Lithgow – "Requiem for a Heavyweight"
*1986 - Judd Hirsch – "I'm Not Rappaport":::Hume Cronyn – "The Petition":::Ed Harris – "Precious Sons":::Jack Lemmon – "Long Day's Journey into Night"
*1987 - James Earl Jones – "Fences":::Philip Bosco – "You Never Can Tell":::Richard Kiley – "All My Sons":::Alan Rickman – "Les Liaisons Dangereuses"
*1988 - Ron Silver – "Speed-the-Plow":::Derek Jacobi – "Breaking the Code":::John Lithgow – "M. Butterfly":::Robert Prosky – "A Walk in the Woods"
*1989 - Philip Bosco – "Lend Me a Tenor":::Mikhail Baryshnikov – "Metamorphosis":::Victor Garber – "Lend Me a Tenor":::Bill Irwin – "Largely New York"

1990s

*1990 - Robert Morse – "Tru":::Charles S. Dutton – "The Piano Lesson":::Dustin Hoffman – "The Merchant of Venice":::Tom Hulce – "A Few Good Men"
*1991 - Nigel Hawthorne – "Shadowlands":::Peter Frechette – "Our Country's Good":::Tom McGowan – "La Bête":::Courtney B. Vance – "Six Degrees of Separation"

*1992 - Judd Hirsch – "Conversations with My Father":::Alan Alda – "Jake's Women":::Alec Baldwin – "A Streetcar Named Desire":::Brian Bedford – "Two Shakespearean Actors"
*1993 - Ron Leibman – "":::K. Todd Freeman – "The Song of Jacob Zulu":::Liam Neeson – "Anna Christie":::Stephen Rea – "Someone Who'll Watch Over Me"
*1994 - Stephen Spinella – "":::Brian Bedford – "Timon of Athens":::Christopher Plummer – "No Man's Land":::Sam Waterston – "Abe Lincoln in Illinois"

*1995 - Ralph Fiennes – "Hamlet":::Brian Bedford – "The Molière Comedies":::Roger Rees – "Indiscretions":::Joe Sears – "A Tuna Christmas"
*1996 - George Grizzard – "A Delicate Balance":::Philip Bosco – "Moon Over Buffalo":::George C. Scott – "Inherit the Wind":::Martin Shaw – "An Ideal Husband"

*1997 - Christopher Plummer – "Barrymore":::Brian Bedford – "London Assurance":::Michael Gambon – "Skylight":::Antony Sher – "Stanley"
*1998 - Anthony LaPaglia – "A View from the Bridge":::Richard Briers – "The Chairs":::John Leguizamo – "Freak":::Alfred Molina – "'Art'"

*1999 - Brian Dennehy – "Death of a Salesman":::Brian F. O'Byrne – "The Lonesome West":::Corin Redgrave – "Not About Nightingales":::Kevin Spacey – "The Iceman Cometh"

2000s

*2000 - Stephen Dillane – "The Real Thing":::Gabriel Byrne – "A Moon for the Misbegotten":::Philip Seymour Hoffman – "True West":::John C. Reilly – "True West":::David Suchet – "Amadeus"
*2001 - Richard Easton – "The Invention of Love":::Seán Campion – "Stones in His Pockets":::Conleth Hill – "Stones in His Pockets":::Brian Stokes Mitchell – "King Hedley II":::Gary Sinise – "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

*2002 - Alan Bates – "Fortune's Fool":::Billy Crudup – "The Elephant Man":::Liam Neeson – "The Crucible":::Alan Rickman – "Private Lives":::Jeffrey Wright – "Topdog/Underdog"
*2003 - Brian Dennehy – "Long Day's Journey into Night":::Brian Bedford – "Tartuffe":::Eddie Izzard – "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg":::Paul Newman – "Our Town":::Stanley Tucci – "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune"
*2004 - Jefferson Mays – "I Am My Own Wife":::Simon Russell Beale – "Jumpers":::Kevin Kline – "Henry IV":::Frank Langella – "Match":::Christopher Plummer – "King Lear"

*2005 - Bill Irwin – "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?":::Philip Bosco – "Twelve Angry Men":::Billy Crudup – "The Pillowman":::James Earl Jones – "On Golden Pond":::Brían F. O'Byrne – "Doubt"

*2006 - Richard Griffiths – "The History Boys":::Ralph Fiennes – "Faith Healer":::Željko Ivanek – "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial":::Oliver Platt – "Shining City":::David Wilmot – "The Lieutenant of Inishmore"

*2007 - Frank Langella – "Frost/Nixon":::Boyd Gaines – "Journey's End":::Brían F. O'Byrne – "The Coast of Utopia":::Christopher Plummer – "Inherit the Wind":::Liev Schreiber – "Talk Radio"

*2008 - Mark Rylance – "Boeing Boeing":::Ben Daniels – "Les Liaisons Dangereuses":::Laurence Fishburne – "Thurgood":::Rufus Sewell – "Rock 'n' Roll":::Patrick Stewart – "Macbeth"

Award records

*Alan Bates (2)
*Brian Dennehy (2)
*José Ferrer (2)
*Judd Hirsch (2)
*James Earl Jones (2)
*Fredric March (2)