Official Nominations: Robert De Niro. Fred Astaire. Jeff Bridges. Michael V Gazzo. Lee Strasberg.
Lets be clear – basically any of the male supporting cast from The Godfather II could be nominated here. We get three of them, but there’s room for more, and there’s a case for De Niro being in the Lead category too. Any way you slice this though, De Niro wins. His Vito Corleone performance is a marked step up from anything he had done previously, and he arguably covers more ground than Brando did. The legendary teacher, Lee Strasberg got a nod too – ordinarily I would be cynical about this, but his performance is terrific – as is Gazzo’s as the side-switching ‘Five Fingers’. Elsewhere, Jeff Bridges continues his string of early hits with an endearing performance as the petty crook Lightfoot, while Fred Astaire gets the unnecessary veteran nod in The Towering Inferno – thankfully there isn’t much dancing.
My Winner: Robert De Niro
My Nominations: Robert De Niro. Jeff Bridges. Michael V Gazzo. Lee Strasberg. John Cazale. Gastone Moschin. Kris Kristofferson. Christopher Lee. Gene Wilder. Marty Feldman. Peter Boyle.
Four make it over, and a host of others join them. The Godfather Part II is the big winner, with the dastardly duo of Fredo and Don Fanucci joining their comrades, while Wilder gets a nod here for Blazing Saddles as well as a lead nod in the other category. Feldman and Boyle both excel in Young Frankenstein, Christopher Lee makes for one of the most charming and memorable Bond villains, and Kris Kristofferson brings the beard and heart-throbbing in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
My Winner: Robert De Niro
The Spac Hole 
Great post 🙂 I would choose Robert De Niro as well. Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂