| | 1982: Mickey Rooney, Bill |
| | 1983: Anthony Andrews, Brideshead Revisited |
| | 1984: Richard Chamberlain, The Thorn Birds |
| | 1985: Ted Danson, Something About Amelia |
| | 1986: Dustin Hoffman, Death of a Salesman |
| | 1987: James Woods, Promise |
| | 1988: Randy Quaid, LBJ: The Early Years |
| | 1989: Stacy Keach, Hemingway & Michael Caine, Jack the Ripper |
| | 1990: Robert Duvall, Lonesome Dove |
| | 1991: James Garner, Decoration Day |
| | 1992: Beau Bridges, Without Warning: The James Brady Story |
| | 1993: Robert Duvall, Stalin |
| | 1994: James Garner, Barbarians at the Gate |
| | 1995: Raul Julia, The Burning Season |
| | 1996: Gary Sinise, Truman |
| | 1997: Alan Rickman, Rasputin |
| | 1998: Ving Rhames, Don King: Only in America-Ving Rhames asked Jack Lemmon, who was also nominated, on the stage and tributed the award to him. |
| | 1999: Stanley Tucci, Winchell |
| | 2000: Jack Lemmon, Inherit The Wind |
| | 2001: Brian Dennehy, Arthur Miller's Death Of a Salesman |
| | 2002: James Franco, James Dean |
| | 2003: Albert Finney, The Gathering Storm |
| | 2004: Al Pacino, Angels in America |
| | 2005: Geoffrey Rush, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers |
| | 2006: Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Elvis |
| | 2007: Bill Nighy, Gideon's Daughter |