Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie

This is a list of winners of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.

Award winners

;1950s
*1952: Thomas Mitchell
*1953: "no award"
*1954: Robert Cummings – "12 Angry Men"
*1955: Lloyd Nolan – "Caine Mutiny Court Marshal"
*1956: Jack Palance – "Requiem for a Heavyweight"
*1957: Peter Ustinov – "The Life of Samuel Johnson"
*1958: "no award"
*1959: Fred Astaire – "An Evening With Fred Astaire"

;1960s
*1960: Laurence Olivier – "The Moon and the Sixpence"
*1961: Maurice Evans – "Macbeth"
*1962: Peter Falk – "The Price of Tomatoes"
*1963: Trevor Howard – "The Invincible Mr. Disraeli"
*1964: Jack Klugman – "The Blacklist"
*1965: Alfred Lunt – "The Magnificent Yankee"
*1966: Cliff Robertson – "The Game"
*1967: Peter Ustinov – "Barefoot in Athens"
*1968: Melvyn Douglas – "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"
*1969: Paul Scofield – "Male of the Species"

;1970s
*1970: Peter Ustinov – "A Storm in Summer"
*1971: George C. Scott – "The Price"
*1972: Keith Michell – "The Six Wives of Henry VIII"
*1973: Laurence Olivier – "Long Day's Journey Into Night"
*1973: Anthony Murphy (actor) – "Tom Brown's Schooldays"
*1974: Hal Holbrook – "Pueblo"
*1974: William Holden – "The Blue Knight
*1975: Laurence Olivier – "Love Among the Ruins"
*1975: Peter Falk – "Columbo"
*1976: Anthony Hopkins – "The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case"
*1976: Hal Holbrook – "Sandburg's Lincoln"
*1977: Ed Flanders – "Harry S. Truman Plain Speaking"
*1977: Christopher Plummer – "The Moneychangers
*1978: Fred Astaire – "A Family Upside Down"
*1978: Michael Moriarty – "Holocaust"
*1979: Peter Strauss – "The Jericho Mile"

;1980s
*1980: Powers Boothe – ""
*1981: Anthony Hopkins – "The Bunker"
*1982: Mickey Rooney – "Bill"
*1983: Tommy Lee Jones – "The Executioner's Song"
*1984: Laurence Olivier – "King Lear"
*1985: Richard Crenna – "The Rape of Richard Beck"
*1986: Dustin Hoffman – "Death of a Salesman"
*1987: James Woods – "Promise"
*1988: Jason Robards – "Inherit the Wind"
*1989: James Woods – "My Name is Bill W"

;1990
*1990: Hume Cronyn – "Age-Old Friends"
*1991: John Gielgud – "Summer's Lease"
*1992: Beau Bridges – ""
*1993: Robert Morse – "Tru"
*1994: Hume Cronyn – "To Dance With the White Dog"
*1995: Raul Julia – "The Burning Season"
*1996: Alan Rickman – ""
*1997: Armand Assante – "Gotti"
*1998: Gary Sinise – "George Wallace"
*1999: Stanley Tucci – "Winchell"

2000s

* 2000: Jack Lemmon – "Tuesdays with Morrie"
** Beau Bridges – "P. T. Barnum"
** Brian Dennehy – "Death of a Salesman"
** William H. Macy – "A Slight Case of Murder"
** Liev Schreiber – "RKO 281"

* 2001: Kenneth Branagh – "Conspiracy"
** Andy Garcia – ""
** Gregory Hines – "Bojangles"
** Ben Kingsley – ""
** Barry Pepper – "61*"

* 2002: Albert Finney – "The Gathering Storm"
** Kenneth Branagh – "Shackleton"
** Beau Bridges – "We Were the Mulvaneys"
** James Franco – "James Dean"
** Michael Gambon – "Path to War"

* 2003: William H. Macy – "Door to Door"
** Brad Garrett – "Gleason
** Paul Newman – "Our Town"
** Tom Wilkinson – "Normal"
** James Woods – ""

* 2004: Al Pacino – "Angels in America"
** Antonio Banderas – "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself"
** James Brolin – "The Reagans"
** Mos Def – "Something the Lord Made"
** Alan Rickman – "Something the Lord Made"

* 2005: Geoffrey Rush – "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers"
** Kenneth Branagh – "Warm Springs"
** Ed Harris – "Empire Falls"
** William H. Macy – "The Wool Cap"
** Jonathan Rhys Meyers – "Elvis"

* 2006: Andre Braugher – "Thief"
** Charles Dance – "Bleak House"
** Ben Kingsley – "Mrs. Harris"
** Donald Sutherland – "Human Trafficking"
** Jon Voight – "Pope John Paul II"

* 2007: Robert Duvall – "Broken Trail"
** Jim Broadbent – "Longford
** William H. Macy – ""
** Matthew Perry – "The Ron Clark Story"
** Tom Selleck – ""

* 2008: Paul Giamatti – "John Adams"
** Ralph Fiennes – "Bernard and Doris"
** Ricky Gervais – ""
** Kevin Spacey – "Recount"
** Tom Wilkinson – "Recount"