Top 10 longest Best Actor Oscar-winning performances [PHOTOS]
In all but two cases over the past decade, the Oscar for Best Actor has gone to performers who exceed their lineups’ screen time averages by at least four minutes. This illustrates the academy’s near-exclusive favoritism toward lengthy lead male roles, which has only increased in recent years. Scroll through our photo gallery to find out which 10 Best Actor-winning performances are the longest of all time.
This countdown is presented in terms of physical screen time, meaning any time an actor actually appears on screen or can be heard off screen. Moments involving silent and non-visible scene presence do not apply here. Unfortunately, one of this category’s 98 winning performances – Emil Jannings (“The Way of All Flesh,” 1929) – could not be counted since the film is lost, but its reported 94-minute running time indicates that he would not have made the cut anyway.
Six of the entrants on this list are from the 21st century, while others date all the way back to the 32nd Academy Awards in 1960. The overall screen time average for winners in this category is one hour, nine minutes, and 47 seconds, which 51 champs have surpassed.
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