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