| Clue | Actor | Year |
| My role as Rocky in 'They Shoot Horses, Don't They?' was just enough to beat out Nicholson's drunk lawyer in 'Easy Rider' | |
| Even if Nicholson had all 'Five Easy Pieces' he still couldn't beat my General Patton in 'Patton' | |
| I was able to pull through as Harry Stoner in 'Save the Tiger' even up against Nicholson's Bad Ass in 'The Last Detail' | |
| Playing Harry Coombes in 'Harry and Tonto', I could outwit even the great J.J. Gittes from 'Chinatown' | |
| Playing the famous playwrite Eugene O'Neil in 'Reds' wasn't enough to beat my performance as Hobson in 'Arthur' | |
| My performance as Luis Molina in the indie film 'Kiss of the Spider Woman' was able to make 'Prizzi's Honor' into Prizzi's shame | |
| I said greed was good in 'Wall Street' and it turns out it's true because I was able to take the win from Nicholson in 'Ironweed' | |
| My wild west sheriff in 'Unforgiven' was even more dastardly than Nicholson's Colonel Jessup in 'A Few Good Men' | |
| Nicholson got old in 'About Schmidt', but I stayed young in 'The Pianist' and am therefore the youngest winner of this award | |