Nominees for leading actor in a play

Brian Bedford
"London Assurance"

Bedford plays the aging widower in the revival comedy "London Assurance," as he courts the same woman his son is in love with. Bedford is a multiple Tony Award nominee, winning in 1971 for his work in "The School for Wives." He was also inducted in January 1997 into the Theatre Hall of Fame.

Michael Gambon
"Skylight"

Gambon plays Tom, the wealthy restaurateur trying to rekindle an old relationship, in the David Hare play "Skylight." Gambon also played Tom in the London production, a role for which he garnered an Olivier Award nomination for best actor. He won an Olivier for his performance in "A Chorus of Disapproval," and several awards in 1987 for his work in Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge."

Christopher Plummer
"Barrymore"

Plummer, who plays the title character in the William Luce play "Barrymore," has previously won several stage awards, including a Tony. His career has led him down many avenues: he is perhaps best known to most for his portrayal of Captain Von Trapp in the film version of the musical "The Sound of Music," and has also portrayed a Shakespeare-spouting Klingon in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock."

Antony Sher
"Stanley"

Sher is "Stanley," as in British artist Stanley Spencer, in this biography exploring Spencer's gifts as a cubist-realist painter, and his fumbling, destructive personal relationships outside that art.

Nominees for supporting actor in a play

Terry Beaver
"The Last Night of Ballyhoo"

Beaver, a member of the original regional cast, continued on to the play's Broadway debut in his role as Adolph Freitag. Aside from "Ballyhoo," he has made regular appearances at many regional theaters, especially at The Alliance Theater in Atlanta, where he was in "Angels in America" and "In the Name of the Father."

William Biff McGuire
"Young Man from Atlanta"

McGuire plays the stepfather of Shirley Knight's character, Lily Dale, in this production about how 1950s ideals and beliefs fail one family. His career on the stage in London and New York spans more than 50 years.

Brian Murray
"The Little Foxes"

Murray, who has played in a number of Off-Broadway productions, plays eldest greedy brother Benjamin Hubbard in "The Little Foxes." He has garnered two Drama Desk nominations, including one for "Travels with My Aunt," which he won, and was nominated for a Tony in the 1968 production of "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead."

Owen Teale
"A Doll's House"

Teale is Torvald Helmer in this revival production of the Ibsen classic "A Doll's House." Although no stranger to classical dramas -- he spent two seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company, during which he appeared in "King Lear" and "Julius Caesar," among others -- he has never before appeared on Broadway. Teale was nominated for an Olivier Award for his performance in "A Doll's House."

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