Tony Awards
From Jose Ferrer ("Cyrano de Bergerac") in 1947 to Mark Rylance ("Boeing-Boeing") in 2008, the Tony Awards have awarded excellence in Broadway theatre throughout the years.
Multiple winners of the Leading Actor in a Play Tony have included Brian Dennehy, Judd Hirsch, and James Earl Jones.
Who Won Lead Actor in a Play Tony Awards?
| 2008 Mark Rylance ("Boeing-Boeing") |  
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| Other Nominees: Ben Daniels (Les Liaisons Dangereuses); Laurence Fishburne (Thurgood); Rufus Sewell (Rock 'n' Roll); Patrick Stewart (Macbeth) | |
| 2007 Frank Langella ("Frost/Nixon") | |
| Other Nominees: Boyd Gaines (Journey's End); Brian F O'Byrne (The Coast of Utopia); Christopher Plummer (Inherit The Wind); Live Schreiber (Talk Radio) | |
| 2006 Richard Griffiths ("The History Boys") | |
| Other Nominees: Ralph Fiennes (Faith Healer); Zeljko Ivanek (The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial); Oliver Platt (Shining City); David Wilmot (The Lieutenant of Inishmore) | |
| 2005 Bill Irwin ("Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?") | |
| Other Nominees: Philip Bosco (Twelve Angry Men); Billy Crudup (The Pillowman); James Earl Jones (On Golden Pond); Brian F O'Byrne (Doubt) | |
| 2004 Jefferson Mays ("I Am My Own Wife") | |
| Other Nominees: Simon Russell Beale (Jumpers); Kevin Kline (Henry IV); Frank Langella (Match); Christopher Plummer (King Lear) | |
| 2003 Brian Dennehy ("Long Day's Journey Into Night") | |
| Other Nominees: Brian Bedford (Tartuffe); Eddie Izzard (A Day in the Life of Joe Egg); Paul Newman (Our Town); Stanley Tucci (Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) | |
| 2002 Alan Bates ("Fortune's Fool") | |
| Other Nominees: Billy Crudup (The Elephant Man); Liam Neeson (The Crucible); Alan Rickman (Private Lives); Jeffrey Wright (Topdog/Underdog) | |
| 2001 Richard Easton ("The Invention of Love") | |
| Other Nominees: Sean 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) | |
| 2000 Stephen Dillane ("The Real Thing") | |
| Other Nominees: Gabriel Byrne (A Moon for the Misbegotten); Philip Seymour Hoffman (True West); John C Reilly (True West); David Suchet (Amadeus) | |
| 1999 Brian Dennehy ("Death of a Salesman") | |
| Other Nominees: Brian F O'Byrne (The Lonesome West); Corin Redgrave (Not About Nightingales); Kevin Spacey (The Iceman Cometh) | |
| 1998 Anthony LaPaglia ("A View From The Bridge") | 
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| Other Nominees: Richard Briers (The Chairs); John Leguizamo (Freak); Alfred Molina (Art) | |
| 1997 Christopher Plummer ("Barrymore") | |
| Other Nominees: Brian Bedford (London Assurance); Michael Gambon (Skylight); Antony Sher (Stanley) | |
| 1996 George Grizzard ("A Delicate Balance") | 
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| Other Nominees: Philip Bosco (Moon Over Buffalo); George C Scott (Inherit the Wind); Martin Shaw (An Ideal Husband) | |
| 1995 Ralph Fiennes ("Hamlet") | |
| Other Nominees: Brian Bedford (The Moliere Comedies); Roger Rees (Indiscretions); Joe Sears (A Tuna Christmas) | |
| 1994 Stephen Spinella ("Angels In America: Perestroika") | |
| Other Nominees: Brian Bedford (Timon of Athens); Christopher Plummer (No Man's Land); Sam Waterston (Abe Lincoln in Illinois) | |
| 1993 Ron Leibman ("Angels In America: Millennium Approaches") | |
| Other Nominees: K Todd Freeman (The Song of Jacob Zulu); Liam Neeson (Anna Christie); Stephen Rea (Someone Who'll Watch Over Me) | |
| 1992 Judd Hirsch ("Conversations With My Father") | |
| Other Nominees: Alan Alda (Jake's Women); Alec Baldwin (A Streetcar Named Desire); Brian Bedford (Two Shakespearean Actors) | |
| 1991 Nigel Hawthorne ("Shadowlands") | |
| Other Nominees: Peter Frechette (Our Country's Good); Tom McGowan (La Bete); Courtney B Vance (Six Degrees of Separation) | |
| 1990 Robert Morse ("Tru") | |
| Other Nominees: Charles S Dutton (The Piano Lesson); Dustin Hoffman (The Merchant of Venice); Tom Hulce (A Few Good Men) | |
| 1989 Philip Bosco ("Lend Me A Tenor") | |
| Other Nominees: Mikhail Baryshnikov (Metamorphosis); Victor Garber (Lend Me a Tenor); Bill Irwin (Largely New York) | |
| 1988 Ron Silver ("Speed the Plow") | |
| Other Nominees: Derek Jacobi (Breaking the Code); John Lithgow (M Butterfly); Robert Prosky (A Walk in the Woods) | |
| 1987 James Earl Jones ("Fences") | |
| Other Nominees: Philip Bosco (You Can Never Tell); Richard Kiley (All My Sons); Alan Rickman (Les Liaisons Dangereuses) | |
| 1986 Judd Hirsch ("I'm Not Rappaport") | |
| Other Nominees: Hume Cronyn (The Petition); Ed Harris (Precious Sons); Jack Lemmon (Long Day's Journey Into Night) | |
| 1985 Derek Jacobi ("Much Ado About Nothing") | |
| Other Nominees: Jim Dale (Joe Egg); Jonathan Hogan (As Is); John Lithgow (Requiem for a Heavyweight) | |
| 1984 Jeremy Irons ("The Real Thing") | |
| Other Nominees: Calvin Levels (Open Admissions); Rex Harrison (Heartbreak House); Ian McKellen (Ian McKellen Acting Shakespeare) | |
| 1983 Harvey Fierstein ("Torch Song Trilogy") | |
| Other Nominees: Jeffrey DeMunn (K2); Edward Herrmann (Plenty); Tony Lo Bianco (A View From the Bridge) | |
| 1982 Roger Rees ("The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby") | |
| Other Nominees: Tom Courtenay (The Dresser); Milo O'Shea (Mass Appeal); Christopher Plummer (Othello) | |
| 1981 Ian McKellen ("Amadeus") | 
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| Other Nominees: Tim Curry (Amadeus); Roy Dotrice (A Life); Jack Weston (The Floating Light Bulb) | |
| 1980 John Rubinstein ("Children Of A Lesser God") | |
| Other Nominees: Charles Brown (Home); Gerlad Hiken (Strider); Judd Hirsch (Talley's Folly) | |
| 1979 Tom Conti ("Who's Life Is It Anyway?") | |
| Other Nominees: Philip Anglim (The Elephant Man); Jack Lemmon (Tribute); Alec McCowen (St Mark's Gospel) | |
| 1978 Barnard Hughes ("Da") | |
| Other Nominees: Hume Cronyn (The Gin Game); Frank Langella (Dracula); Jason Robards (A Touch of the Poet) | |
| 1977 Al Pacino ("The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel") | |
| Other Nominees: Tom Courtenay (Otherwise Engaged); Ben Gazzara (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?); Ralph Richardson (No Man's Land) | |
| 1976 John Wood ("Travesties") | |
| Other Nominees: Moses Gunn (The Poison Tree); George C Scott (Death of a Salesman); Donald Sinden (Habeas Corpus) | |
| 1975 John Kani ("Sizwe Banzi is Dead") | |
| Other Nominees: James Dale (Scapino); Peter Firth (Equus); Henry Fonda (Clarence Darrow); Ben Gazzara (Hughie and Duet); John Wood (Sherlock Holmes) | |
| 1975 Winston Ntshona ("The Island") | |
| Other Nominees: James Dale (Scapino); Peter Firth (Equus); Henry Fonda (Clarence Darrow); Ben Gazzara (Hughie and Duet); John Wood (Sherlock Holmes) | |
| 1974 Michael Moriarty ("Find Your Way Home") | |
| Other Nominees: Zero Mostel (Ulysses in Nighttown); Jason Robards (A Moon for the Misbegotten); Geoge C Scott (Uncle Vanya); Nicol Williamson (Uncle Vanya) | |
| 1973 Alan Bates ("Butley") | |
| Other Nominees: The Sunshine Boys (Jack Albertson); Wilfrid Hyde White (The Jockey Club Stakes); Paul Sorvino (That Championship Season) | |
| 1972 Cliff Gorman ("Lenny") | |
| Other Nominees: Tom Aldredge (Sticks and Bones); Donald Pleasence (Wise Child); Jason Robards (The Country Girl) | |
| 1971 Brian Bedford ("The School for Wives") | |
| Other Nominees: John Gielgud (Home); Alec McGowen (The Philanthropist); Ralph Richardson (Home) | |
| 1970 Fritz Weaver ("Child's Play") | |
| Other Nominees: James Coco (Last of the Red Hot Lovers); Frank Grimes (Borstal Boy); Stacy Keach (Indians) | |
| 1969 James Earl Jones ("The Great White Hope") | |
| Other Nominees: Art Carney (Lovers); Alec McGowen (Hadrian VII); Donald Pleasence (The Man in the Glass Booth) | |
| 1968 Martin Balsam ("You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running") | |
| Other Nominees: Albert Finney (Joe Egg); Milo O'Shea (Staircase); Alan Webb (I Never Sang for My Father) | |
| 1967 Paul Rogers ("The Homecoming") | |
| Other Nominees: Hume Cronyn (A Delicate Balance); Donald Madden (Black Comedy); Donald Moffat (Right You Are and the Wild Duck) | |
| 1966 Hal Holbrook ("Mark Twain Tonight") | |
| Other Nominees: Roland Culber (Ivanov); Donal Donnelly (Philadelphia Here I Come); Patrick Bedford (Philadelphia Here I Come); Nicol Williamson (Inadmissable Evidence) | |
| 1965 Walter Matthau ("The Odd Couple") | |
| Other Nominees: John Gielgud (Tiny Alice); Donald Pleasence (Poor Bitos); Jason Robards (Hughie) | |
| 1964 Alec Guinness ("Dylan") | |
| Other Nominees: Richard Burton (Hamlet); Albert Finney (Luther); Jason Robards (After the Fall) | |
| 1963 Arthur Hill ("Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?") | |
| Other Nominees: Charles Boyer (Lord Pengo); Paul Ford (Never Too Late); Bert Lahr (The Beauty Part) | |
| 1962 Paul Scofield ("A Man For All Seasons") | 
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| Other Nominees: Fredric March (Gideon); John Mills (Ross); Donald Pleasence (The Caretaker) | |
| 1961 Zero Mostel ("Rhinoceros") | |
| Other Nominees: Hume Cronyn (Big Fish Little Fish); Sam Levene (The Devil's Advocate); Anthony Quinn (Beckett) | |
| 1960 Melvyn Douglas ("The Best Man") | |
| Other Nominees: Lee Tracy (The Best Man); Jason Robards (Toys in the Attic); Sidney Poitier (A Raisin in the Sun); George C Scott (The Andersonville Trial) | |
| 1959 Jason Robards ("The Disenchanted") | |
| Other Nominees: 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) | |
| 1958 Ralph Bellamy ("Sunrise at Campobello") | |
| Other Nominees: 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) | |
| 1957 Fredric March ("Long Day's Journey Into Night") | |
| Other Nominees: Maurice Evans (The Apple Cart); Wilfred Hyde-White (The Reluctant Debutante); Eric Portman (Separate Table); Ralph Richardson (The Waltz of the Toreadors); Cyril Ritchard (A Visit To A Small Planet) | |
| 1956 Paul Muni ("Inherit the Wind") | |
| Other Nominees: Ben Gazzara (A Hatful of Rain); Boris Karloff (The Lark); Michael Redgrave (Tiger at the Gates); Edward G Robinson (Middle of the Night) | |
| 1955 Alfred Lunt ("Quadrille") | |
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| 1954 David Wayne ("The Teahouse of the August Moon") | |
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| 1953 Tom Ewell ("The Seven Year Itch") | |
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| 1952 Jose Ferrer ("The Shrike") | |
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| 1951 Claude Rains ("Darkness at Noon") | |
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| 1950 Sidney Blackmer ("Come Back Little Sheba") | |
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| 1949 Rex Harrison ("Anne of the Thousand Days") | |
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| 1948 Henry Fonda ("Mister Roberts") | |
| Other Nominees: Paul Kelly (Command Decision); Basil Rathbone (The Heiress) | |
| 1947 Jose Ferrer ("Cyrano de Bergerac") | |
| Other Nominees: Fredric March (Years Ago) | |
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