1937 Spencer Tracy - Captains Courageous as Manuel 1938 Spencer Tracy - Boys Town as Father Edward J. Flanigan 1939 Robert Donat - Goodbye, Mr. Chips as Charles E. Chipping 1940 James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story as Macaulay Connor 1941 Gary Cooper - Sergeant York as Sergeant Alvin York 1942 James Cagney - Yankee Doodle Dandy as George M. Cohan 1943 Paul Lukas - Watch on the Rhine as Kurt Muller 1944 Bing Crosby - Going My Way as Father Chuck O'Malley 1945 Ray Milland - The Lost ...