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Albert Brooks

Apparently this is the year of the once-nominated veteran in the supporting race, and although Brooks' reputation doesn't have the prestige of Plummer and von Sydow, he is a comedy legend who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Broadcast News. Brooks played completely against type this year as a hardened gangster in Drive, easily the most showy performance in that film. While it always helps an actor's chances to have their film be a Best Picture contender, very often character actors who give great performances can be nominated in otherwise overlooked films (Jeremy Renner last year for The Town, or Stanley Tucci the year before for The Lovely Bones). The love is there for Brooks, so if the precursors get the ball rolling for him, it is likely that the Academy will recognize his performance with a nomination.

Keneth Branagh

Unlike his peers in this race, Branagh has four nominations to his name... except one is for writing, one is for directing, and one is for best short film, so, if you're just counting acting nominations, then yeah, Branagh only has one, for his performance as Henry V. Like Plummer, von Sydow, and Brooks, Branagh has a reputation for greatness, so an Oscar for any of them would also serve as a life-time achievement award. The distinct advantage Branagh has over those three is that he is playing a real person; Branagh plays Laurence Olivier, perhaps the only Shakespearean film actor more revered than Branagh, in My Week with Marilyn. Often passionate love for a lead actor will help one of their supporting cast members in the race, so the accolades for Michelle Williams are only helping Branagh, and unless he is ignored by both the Globes and the SAG, he will likely be nominated.

John Hawkes

Now this is just getting ridiculous. While Hawkes has had a long career, mostly playing thankless bit parts (he was the liquor store clerk at the beginning of From Dusk til Dawn), it wasn't until his breakthrough role in last year's Winter's Bone that Hawkes received, say it with me now, his one nomination. Hawkes is back again with a very juicy role as a charming but dangerous cult leader in the indie hit Martha Marcy May Marlene. Like Branagh, Hawkes will only be helped by the support for his film's lead, Elizabeth Olsen. If she is nominated, he will very likely follow her, but even if she isn't, Hawkes is respected enough, and memorable enough, to be his film's lone representative.

Nick Nolte

Finally, someone has broken the streak. Nolte was nominated for two Oscars during the '90s, when he was a pretty big star, and his struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction only serve to make him a more sympathetic figure. In a case of art imitating life, Nolte played an alcoholic past-his-prime boxer training one of his sons for a UFC tournament in the critically acclaimed film Warrior. Unfortunately, since Warrior was forgotten by everyone almost as soon as it was released, it will be difficult for Nolte to - I absolutely do not apologize for this pun - fight his way to a nomination. Still, grizzled veterans always get attention from the Academy, and they don't get much more grizzled than Nolte. It's very easy to picture Nolte as the lone representative of Warrior at the Oscars, but just as easy to see the film ignored altogether.

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