Saturn Award for Best Actor
The Saturn Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed, who felt that films within those genres were never given the appreciation they deserved.[1] The physical award is a representation of the planet Saturn, surrounded with a ring of film. The award was initially and is still sometimes loosely referred to as a Golden Scroll. The award for Best Actor was first introduced in 1976 for the 1974 and 1975 years, to reward a lead performance by a male actor in film.
The record for most awards is held by Robert Downey, Jr. with three wins, with Mark Hamill and Jeff Bridges as the only two others to have won twice. each winning twice. Harrison Ford is the most nominated actor in the category with six nominations (all of them for playing either Han Solo or Indiana Jones), with William Shatner being second with five (four of them for playing Captain Kirk). Anthony Hopkins and Martin Landau are the only actors to have won the Saturn Award for Best Actor and an Academy Award for the same role; however, Landau won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and not Best Actor.
Winners and nominees
Legend:
"†" indicates an Academy Award-winning actor on the same category.
"‡" indicates an Academy Award-nominated actor on the same category.
"§" indicates an Academy Award-winning actor on a different category.
1970s
| Year | Actor | Film | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974/75 (3rd) |
James Caan | Rollerball | Jonathan E. |
| Don Johnson | A Boy and His Dog | Vic | |
| 1976 (4th) |
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| David Bowie | The Man Who Fell to Earth | Thomas Jerome Newton | |
| 1977 (5th) |
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| George Burns | Oh, God! | God | |
| Richard Dreyfuss | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | Roy Neary | |
| William Shatner | Kingdom of the Spiders | Dr. Rack Hansen | |
| Harrison Ford | Star Wars | Han Solo | |
| Mark Hamill | Star Wars | Luke Skywalker | |
| Michael York | The Island of Dr. Moreau | Andrew Braddock | |
| 1978 (6th) |
Warren Beatty | Heaven Can Wait ‡ | Joe Pendleton |
| Christopher Lee | The Wicker Man | Lord Summerisle | |
| Laurence Olivier | The Boys from Brazil ‡ | Ezra Lieberman | |
| Christopher Reeve | Superman | Clark Kent / Superman | |
| Donald Sutherland | Invasion of the Body Snatchers | Matthew Bennell | |
| 1979 (7th) |
George Hamilton | Love at First Bite | Count Vladimir Dracula |
| Christopher Lee | Arabian Adventure | Caliph Alquazar | |
| Frank Langella | Dracula | Count Dracula | |
| William Shatner | Star Trek: The Motion Picture | James T. Kirk | |
| Malcolm McDowell | Time After Time | H. G. Wells |
