These Ain't No Underpants Gnomes
by Nathan Fung
Each list names two events in the life of an Oscar winner, in particular, a winner of the Best Actor award.
The actors in order are as follows:
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS JAMES STEWART ROBERT DE NIRO JON VOIGHT DENZEL WASHINGTON RUSSELL CROWE MARLON BRANDO JOHN WAYNE ADRIEN BRODY ALEC GUINNESS JEREMY IRONS BURT LANCASTER NICOLAS CAGE ROBERT DUVALL LAURENCE OLIVIER KEVIN SPACEY SIDNEY POITIER
These names can be placed in order by Best Actor win unambiguously keeping in mind that the events in each three-step list are in chronological order, which means that step 2 on Brando's list occurred in 1954 (he bought the land before his second win). Placing the names in order of win and indexing into the names by the number of question marks in step 2 of each list spells out MAN IN ON GOLDEN POND, which clues the final answer HENRY FONDA.