(He and Mr. Ledger are considered locks on best-actor nominations.)

Since then, he's earned two other best-actor nominations: for "Michael Clayton" (2007) and "Up in the Air" (2009).

A best-actor nomination for Firth was among the eight that The King's Speech picked up ahead of the British Independent Film Awards (to be handed out on Dec 5).

Merchant and Ivory tapped Mr. Hopkins for "Howards End" and "Remains of the Day," for which he received his second best-actor nomination.

This year he received a best-actor nomination for "Mississippi Burning," and he can take his pick of dozens of offers.

Mr. DiCaprio scored a best-actor nomination.

Four years later Bernardo Bertolucci was the last director to be nominated for an X-rated film, "Last Tango in Paris," which also got Marlon Brando a best-actor nomination.

HBO also took in two best-actor nominations for Mos Def and Alan Rickman for its highly praised movie "Something the Lord Made."

In this film Mr. Pacino won a best-actor nomination for his role as a blind and bitter former army officer.

(A question here is whether Mr. Travolta and Mr. Jackson, who were part of an ensemble cast, might be eligible for best-actor nominations.)