NORTON -- Wheaton College will be able to boast an Oscar winner among its list of distin guished alumni if Catherine Keener, nominated for best supporting actress for her role in `` Capote,'' takes home the statue Sunday night.

Keener graduated from Wheaton in 1983, and was given an honorary degree in 2003 in recognition of her accomplishments as an actress.

Keener is nominated for play ing writer Harper Lee, a child hood friend of Truman Capote.

Lee and Capote traveled together while the latter author prepared to write what became his best-known book.

That book, `` In Cold Blood,'' is the subject of the film that stars Oscar-nominated actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. The actress was previously nominated for best supporting actress in 2000 for her role in `` Being John Malkovich,'' but lost that year to Angelina Jolie, who took the award for her work in `` Girl, Interrupted.''

Keener made her first appearance on stage at Wheaton in a production of Wendy Wasserstein's `` Uncommon Women and Others.''

Her other film credits include `` The Interpreter,'' `` The 40 Year Old Virgin,'' `` Full Frontal,'' and `` Out of Sight.''

Other actresses nominated for best supporting actress are Amy Adams in `` Junebug,'' Rachel Weisz in `` The Constant Gardener,'' Frances McDormand in `` North Country,'' and Michelle Williams in `` Brokeback Mountain.''

The Oscars will be presented March 5 from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.