Fredric March won the Best Actor Oscar for playing Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde in the 1931 film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. His performance in Rouben Mamoulian's pre-Code horror film earned the award at the 5th Academy Awards in 1932.
The movie adapts Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella about a respectable doctor whose experimental potion releases a violent alter ego. March emphasized the contrast between Jekyll's controlled public identity and Hyde's vicious impulses, using theatrical movement and makeup to make the transformation especially dramatic.
March's victory is sometimes described as a solo win, but he officially shared the award with Wallace Beery, who won for The Champ. The result was an unusual tie in the Best Actor category. John Barrymore, who had starred in a 1920 silent version, was considered for the 1931 production, while Spencer Tracy later played the dual role in MGM's 1941 remake. March went on to win a second Best Actor Oscar for The Best Years of Our Lives in 1946.