Christopher Plummer gets Academy Award nomination for performance as gay man in “Beginners”

Christopher Plummer earned an Academy Award nomination this morning for his performance in Beginners.

Plummer portrays a gay man who comes out late in life in the film which also stars Ewan McGregor as his son.

He is widely-considered to be the front-runner to win the Oscar for the first time in his long career which includes such films as The Sound of Music, The Insider, The Man Who Would Be King and Return of the Pink Panther.

Plummer’s competition for the Oscar is Kenneth Branagh in My Week with Marilyn, Jonah Hill in Moneyball, Nick Nolte in Warrior, Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

It was just last year that Plummer was even nominated for an Oscar when he got a supporting actor nod for The Station Agent losing to Christian Bale.

Among the awards Plummer has already won in the past two months are the Golden Globe, Critics Choice Award, National Board of Review and LA Film Critics, among others.