Musical Project: Best Leading Actor 1964

5. Rex Harrison - My Fair Lady
Harrison is not bad playing professor Henry Higgins. He succeeded well in portraying him as a cold-minded and bullheaded person. Though he doesn't sing throughout songs, he handles them very well. I just missed something more from him. Something that would make it just a bit remarkable. The charm, the jazz that Hugh Jackman mirrored into Jean Valjean, for instance...

4. Richard Burton - Becket
A very similar to Harrison. Richard Burton did everything the role of Becket asked him to do. But he let Peter O'Toole overshadow him. He had some very fine moments, indeed, but he didn't do anything to make his performance a bit remarkable. But the most memorable performance of Becket is O'Toole's, which is a bit ironic, when Becket is the leading character...

3. Anthony Quinn - Zorba the Greek
I had a hard time choosing the one winner this year and then even harder time ranking the two left performances, but this is the way I did it. Quinn is really great as Zorba. His characterization of this simple, but very wise man is almost perfect. I have just one blame. When he was on the screen with Lila Kedrova, she overshadowed him a bit. It's not so much his fault, because Kedrova's performance is outstanding, but yet it's still true...

2. Peter O'Toole - Becket

In O'Toole's hands king Henry II. is one of the most memorable kings ever. He overshadowed everything in the film, I even believe he overshadowed the film itself. He had a very juicy role to play and he used it perfectly. He was overacting sometimes, but he never crossed the line of the tolerableness. You can be sure that this performance you'll remember very very long time...

1. Peter Sellers - Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

From the top three wonderful performances I've finally decided to go with Peter Sellers. I have two reasons for that. The first reason is that he really was the biggest surprise for me. I didn't expect to like him, at all. Somehow I thought this film and this performance will be nothing for me. And yet I enjoyed both of them. The second reason is that among the nominees he really had the most difficult thing to do. Play the three different characters and really play they them differently and even play them greatly. And he succeeded flawlessly...

Louis, your prediction was right, so you can choose the year you'd like me to do right after I finish the musical project. I don't know, if I'll be able to, but if all of the films will be available to me, then I'll do it (you can choose any category)... 

Musical Project: Best Leading Actor 1964: Peter Sellers - Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Dr. Strangelove is a very enjoyable satire with one of the worsts titles ever. It's very funny sometimes, even though the topic of it is very serious. In some moments it's extremely crazy and the proof of it is the fact that Peter Sellers played three characters in it.
First of all I have to say Sellers did a wonderful job by separating these characters, so that they are all different from each other. Each character is very unique and maybe if I didn't know it before watching the film, I wouldn't even notice that these three characters are played by the same actor (which is also thanks to the great makeup).
The first character is Captain Mandrake. At the beginning of the film I didn't like this portrayal of Seller's. He chose a very subtle way of performing, which made it a bit forgettable. But from the scene in Ripper's office he started to go on with a great passion. The best scene of this performance would probably be the scene, in which the shooting starts.
The second character is the President Muffley. This is probably the most subtle, yet still very powerful performance. In the first scene Sellers just rarely uses the mimicry and it works perfectly well. I would really have a hard time choosing the best scene of it, because it is equally good in all of the moments, but his fight with George C. Scott's character is really memorable, so I perhaps have to go with that.
The third performance is finally Dr. Strangelove. This character (though it's in the title) appears after fifty minutes of the film. He can be seen before, actually, but he just sits in the corner and has nothing to do. Though it definitely is the shortest performance (it only appears in about three scenes), I consider it the best. Sellers is perfect using the accent, mimicry, moves, gestures. He is really theatrical, but all of the performances here are. It's even needed for them to be. Dr. Strangelove is funny and extremely enjoyable and I completely understand that it was this character that got into the title.
At the end I must complain about ignoring a magnificent performance of George C. Scott by the Academy. He was really flawless...
The chances of winning an Oscar: I don't think they were big. This is not a type of roles Oscars are given to. They were very probably lower than Quinn's...

The Next Year: Musical Project: Best Leading Actor 1964

The Nominees:
Anthony Quinn - Zorba the Greek
Peter O'Toole - Becket
Peter Sellers - Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Rex Harrison - My Fair Lady
Richard Burton - Becket

So what do you think? Who will I pick? What will be my ranking of these performances? What is your ranking? Write in comments.