| Event | Award Recipient | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Helen Hunt | As Good As It Gets |
| 1997 | Frances McDormand | Fargo |
| 1996 | Susan Sarandon | Dead Man Walking |
| 1995 | Jessica Lange | Blue Sky |
| 1994 | Holly Hunter | Piano, The |
| 1993 | Emma Thompson | Howards End |
| 1992 | Jodie Foster | Silence of the Lambs, The |
| 1991 | Kathy Bates | Misery |
| 1990 | Jessica Tandy | Driving Miss Daisy |
| 1989 | Jodie Foster | Accused, The |
| 1988 | Cher | Moonstruck |
| 1987 | Marlee Matlin | Children of a Lesser God |
| 1986 | Geraldine Page | Trip to Bountiful, The |
| 1985 | Sally Field | Places in the Heart |
| 1984 | Shirley MacLaine | Terms of Endearment |
| 1983 | Meryl Streep | Sophie's Choice |
| 1982 | Katharine Hepburn | On Golden Pond |
| 1981 | Sissy Spacek | Coal Miner's Daughter |
| 1980 | Sally Field | Norma Rae |
| 1979 | Jane Fonda | Coming Home |
| 1978 | Diane Keaton | Annie Hall |
| 1977 | Faye Dunaway | Network |
| 1976 | Louise Fletcher | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest |
| 1975 | Ellen Burstyn | Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore |
| 1974 | Glenda Jackson | Touch of Class, A |
| 1973 | Liza Minnelli | Cabaret |
| 1972 | Jane Fonda | Klute |
| 1971 | Glenda Jackson | Women in Love |
| 1970 | Maggie Smith | Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The |
| 1969 | Barbra Streisand | Funny Girl |
| Katharine Hepburn | Lion in Winter, The | |
| 1968 | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner | |
| 1967 | Elizabeth Taylor | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
| 1966 | Julie Christie | Darling |
| 1965 | Julie Andrews | Mary Poppins |
| 1964 | Patricia Neal | Hud |
| 1963 | Anne Bancroft | Miracle Worker, The |
| 1962 | Sophia Loren | Ciociara, La |
| 1961 | Elizabeth Taylor | Butterfield 8 |
| 1960 | Simone Signoret | Room at the Top |
| 1959 | Susan Hayward | I Want to Live! |
| 1958 | Joanne Woodward | Three Faces of Eve, The |
| 1957 | Ingrid Bergman | Anastasia |
| 1956 | Anna Magnani | Rose Tattoo, The (1955) |
| 1955 | Grace Kelly | Country Girl, The |
| 1954 | Audrey Hepburn | Roman Holiday |
| 1953 | Shirley Booth | Come Back, Little Sheba |
| 1952 | Vivien Leigh | Streetcar Named Desire, A |
| 1951 | Judy Holliday | Born Yesterday |
| 1950 | Olivia De Havilland | Heiress, The |
| 1949 | Jane Wyman | Johnny Belinda |
| 1948 | Loretta Young | Farmer's Daughter, The |
| 1947 | Olivia De Havilland | To Each His Own |
| 1946 | Joan Crawford | Mildred Pierce |
| 1945 | Ingrid Bergman | Gaslight |
| 1944 | Jennifer Jones | Song of Bernadette, The |
| 1943 | Greer Garson | Mrs. Miniver |
| 1942 | Joan Fontaine | Suspicion |
| 1941 | Ginger Rogers | Kitty Foyle |
| 1940 | Vivien Leigh | Gone with the Wind |
| 1939 | Bette Davis | Jezebel |
| 1938 | Luise Rainer | Good Earth, The |
| 1937 | Great Ziegfeld, The | |
| 1936 | Bette Davis | Dangerous |
| 1935 | Claudette Colbert | It Happened One Night |
| 1934 | Katharine Hepburn | Morning Glory |
| 1933 | Helen Hayes | Sin of Madelon Claudet, The |
| 1932 | Marie Dressler | Min and Bill |
| 1931 | Norma Shearer | Divorcee, The |
| 1930 | Mary Pickford | Coquette |
| 1929 | Janet Gaynor | Seventh Heaven |