Christopher Plummer, Sound of Music star and oldest actor to win an Oscar, dead at 91
Canada's consummate actor dominated stage and screen
He was number 256 on the list.
Christopher Plummer, who was among the greatest Canadian actors ever to grace stage and screen, has died.
Plummer died Friday morning at his home in Connecticut with his wife, Elaine Taylor, by his side, said Lou Pitt, his longtime friend and manager.
In a career that spanned over six decades, Plummer was nominated for best supporting actor at the Academy Awards three times and won once at 82 for Beginners, a film about a widower who begins to live life as a gay man while dying of cancer.
He also captured two Tony Awards among seven nominations, and took home two Emmys. He earned a reputation as one of the great classical actors of modern times — without attending a prestigious theatre school.
He performed on Broadway, London's West End and at Canada's Stratford and Shaw festivals. There were few marquee Shakespearean roles he didn't take on, a list that included Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Iago, Henry V, Antony, Mercutio and Prospero.
"The man is extraordinary, he's got so many sides to him, he's quite remarkable. When you share a stage with him it's magic, it's really is," fellow actor Gordon Pinsent told CBC in 2011 when Plummer received Stratford's lifetime achievement award.
On screen, Plummer appeared in 1965 as Captain von Trapp, alongside British stage and screen star Julie Andrews, in what was, for several years, the highest grossing film of all time, The Sound of Music, a role he was famously ambivalent about.
"What have I done playing with all these children? Children and dogs steal scenes," Plummer recounted to CBC in a documentary two years after the release of the movie he often jokingly called The Sound of Mucus, or S and M.
The movie brought him almost more work than he could handle on the stages of London's West End and Broadway, as well as in TV movies and miniseries during the 1970s and '80s.
But he then went on to enjoy a late-life renaissance in film, with lauded performances in The Insider, A Beautiful Mind, Beginners and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. In 2019 he starred as a murdered mystery novelist in Rian Johnson's whodunnit Knives Out — one of his final film roles.
Born Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer on Dec. 13, 1929 in Toronto, he was a descendant of John Abbott, Canada's third prime minister.
Plummer's parents split up not long after his birth, and he was raised in relative privilege in Montreal by his mother and her extended family. He saw his father on only one other occasion years later.
A love for acting onstage was cemented by playing Mr. Darcy in a Montreal High School production of Pride and Prejudice. He would further develop his stagecraft at the Ottawa Repertory Theatre, and learned how to harness his baritone voice in CBC Radio plays.
Plummer landed in New York in 1953, appearing on Broadway supporting stars like Tyrone Power and Julie Harris, and taking direction from Elia Kazan.
His reputation grew such that he was called back to Canada to portray Henry V in the Stratford Festival's final year under the big tent in 1956, returning the next year to usher in their new indoor theatre as Hamlet.
Plummer garnered his first Tony nomination for his turn in J.B., a 1958 play written in free verse by American poet/playwright Archibald MacLeish.
He then went on to London, where he would appear alongside the likes of Vanessa Redgrave, Ian Holm and a young Judi Dench in Royal Shakespeare Company productions well into the 1960s.
When the curtain fell at show's end, Plummer often kept company with heavyweight revellers like Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole.
"You've given an awful lot of your own personality with just the reward of applause at the end, but it isn't quite enough to fill the rest of the night," he told CBC of this need to "anesthetize."
Plummer's profile would be raised by The Sound of Music and an internationally televised production of Hamlet, the only modern staging of the play at Elsinore castle in Denmark.
But by the late 1960s his personal life was not in great
shape. He'd been through two marriages, and for several years made no effort to
contact his only child, Amanda, from his first marriage to actress Tammy Grimes.
"I was a lousy husband and an even worse father," he admitted in his 2008 autobiography, In Spite of Myself.
Plummer beamed with pride years later when his daughter earned plaudits for her own acting, but was quick to disavow any credit for her talent.
Plummer cut down on his drinking and a 1970 marriage with Elaine Taylor would take; the couple put down roots in Connecticut for several decades.
He never lived in Canada — the taxes were outrageous, he said — but he kept coming back for a variety of roles when the country's film and television industry began to flourish.
There would be movies for big and small screen Canadian productions, including Murder by Decree, Silent Partner, Riel and Ararat, as well as the TV series Counterstrike, and children's fare like his Emmy-winning voice work in Madeline.
Plummer thrived on switching from screen work to the theatre, and he scored his first Tony in a musical version of Cyrano in 1974.
"You have to be absolutely ruthless in your confidence about how to deal with the great roles, otherwise they'll deal with you," he said of his approach, in an interview with the National Theatre Museum decades later.
After an Emmy win for the 1976 TV series The Money Changers, Plummer found himself in demand more for TV movies and miniseries such as The Thorn Birds than for meaty motion picture roles.
He rejected reports of clashes with Oscar winner Glenda Jackson during their 1988 Macbeth stage run as a ploy to sell tickets, but it was true that he possessed a healthy ego, occasionally earning a reputation for being difficult.
After some early hiccups in its early run, his two-person play Barrymore hit its stride on Broadway in early 1997. Plummer won Tony and Drama Desk awards as actor John Barrymore, reflecting at life's end.
Plummer started to become more in demand for film roles at the same time. Appearances in Dolores Claiborne and 12 Monkeys were followed by a portrayal of journalist Mike Wallace in the 1999 film The Insider, which won him a National Society of Film Critics Award.
Plummer was nominated for a best supporting actor Academy Award for playing Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station in 2010, and would win two years later in the role of Hal Fields, who, after the death of his wife, comes out as a gay man in Beginners.
He stared at the golden statue onstage in Los Angeles and quipped, "You're only two years older than me, darling, where you have been all my life?"
Plummer was nominated as best supporting actor by the Academy for the third and final time in 2018, for playing billionaire J. Paul Getty in All the Money in the World, based on the true story of the kidnapping and ransom of Getty's grandson.
He was cast after actor Kevin Spacey was ousted from the role following a series of sexual misconduct allegations. The movie was mostly finished and had already been garnering Oscar buzz when Plummer, then 87, stepped in. He famously shot all his scenes in nine days.
Plummer told the New York Times in 2014 he found it sad when people waited all their lives to retire and then couldn't find a purpose once their working life was over.
"We shouldn't retire. Not in our profession. There's no such thing," he said. "We want to drop dead onstage. That would be a nice theatrical way to go."
Performances
Film
Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1958 Stage Struck Joe Sheridan
Wind Across the Everglades Walt Murdock
1964 The Fall of the Roman Empire Commodus
1965 The Sound of Music Captain Georg von Trapp
Inside Daisy Clover Raymond Swan
1966 Triple Cross Eddie Chapman
1967 The Night of the Generals Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
Oedipus the King Oedipus
1968 Nobody Runs Forever Sir James Quentin
1969 Battle of Britain Squadron Leader Colin Harvey
The Royal Hunt of the Sun Atahualpa
Lock Up Your Daughters! Lord Foppington
1970 Waterloo Arthur Wellesley
1973 The Pyx Det. Sgt. Jim Henderson
1974 The Happy Prince The Happy Prince Short film
1975 The Spiral Staircase Dr. Joe Sherman
The Return of the Pink Panther Sir Charles Litton
Conduct Unbecoming Major Alastair Wimbourne
The Man Who Would Be King Rudyard Kipling
The Day That Shook the World Archduke Ferdinand of Austria
1976 Aces High Captain 'Uncle' Sinclair
1977 The Assignment Captain Behounek
The Disappearance Deverell
1978 The Silent Partner Harry Reikle
International Velvet John Seaton
1979 Starcrash The Emperor
Murder by Decree Sherlock Holmes
Hanover Street Paul Sellinger
1980 Somewhere in Time William Fawcett Robinson
1981 Eyewitness Joseph
The Amateur Professor Lakos
1984 Lily in Love Fitzroy Wynn
Roberto Terranova
Dreamscape Bob Blair
Highpoint James Hatcher
Ordeal by Innocence Leo Argyle
1986 The Boy in Blue Knox
The Boss' Wife Mr. Roalvang
An American Tail Henri Voice; Animated film
The Tin Soldier Narrator Voice; Animated film
Vampire in Venice Prof. Paris Catalano
1987 Dragnet Rev. Jonathan Whirley
I Love N.Y. John Robertson Yeats
The Man Who Planted Trees Narrator Voice; Documentary film
The Gnomes' Great Adventure Narrator Voice; Animated film
1988 Light Years Metamorphis
Shadow Dancing Edmund Beaumont
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind Narrator Voice; Documentary
1989 Souvenir Ernst Kestner
Mindfield Doctor Satorius
1990 Where the Heart Is Jerry
Red Blooded American Girl Dr. John Alcore
Money Martin Yahl
1991 Firehead Colonel Garland Vaughn
Rock-a-Doodle The Grand Duke of Owls Voice; Animated film
Dragon and Slippers Pelican Voice; Animated film
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country General Chang
1992 Impolite Naples O'Rorke
Malcolm X Chaplain Gill
Liar's Edge Harry Weldon
1994 Wolf Raymond Alden
Crackerjack Ivan Getz
1995 Dolores Claiborne Det. John Mackey
12 Monkeys Dr. Goines
1996 The Conspiracy of Fear Joseph Wakeman
1997 Babes in Toyland Barnaby Crookedman Voice; Animated film
1998 Hidden Agenda Ulrich Steiner
The First Christmas Narrator Voice;
Blackheart Holmes
The Clown at Midnight Mr. Caruthers
1999 Madeline: Lost in Paris Narrator Voice; Animated film
The Insider Mike Wallace
2000 Dracula 2000 Abraham Van Helsing
2001 Lucky Break Graham Mortimer
A Beautiful Mind Dr. Rosen
Full Disclosure Robert Lecker
2002 Ararat David
Nicholas Nickleby Ralph Nickleby
2003 The Gospel of John Narrator Voice
Blizzard Santa Claus
Cold Creek Manor Mr. Massie
2004 National Treasure John Adams Gates
Alexander Aristotle
2005 Must Love Dogs Bill Nolan
Syriana Dean Whiting
The New World Captain Christopher Newport
2006 Inside Man Arthur Case
The Lake House Simon Wyler
2007 Man in the Chair Flash Madden
Closing the Ring Jack Etty
Emotional Arithmetic David Winters
Already Dead Dr. Heller
2009 Caesar and Cleopatra Julius Caesar Also executive producer
Up Charles Muntz Voice; Animated film
My Dog Tulip J.R. Ackerley Voice; Animated film
The Last Station Leo Tolstoy
9 1 Voice; Animated film
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Doctor Parnassus
2010 Beginners Hal Fields
2011 Priest Monsignor Orelas
Barrymore John Barrymore
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Henrik Vanger
2013 The Legend of Sarila Croolik Voice; Animated film
2014 Elsa & Fred Fred Barcroft
Hector and the Search for Happiness Professor Coreman
The Forger Joseph Cutter
2015 Danny Collins Frank Grubman
Pixies Pixie King Voice; Animated film
Remember Zev Guttman/Otto Wallisch
2016 The Exception Kaiser Wilhelm
Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom Dr. West Voice; Animated film
2017 Howard Lovecraft & the Undersea Kingdom Dr. West / The Pixie King Voice; Animated film
The Man Who Invented Christmas Ebenezer Scrooge
The Star King Herod Voice; Animated film
All the Money in the World J. Paul Getty
2018 Boundaries Jack Jaconi
Howard Lovecraft and the Kingdom of Madness Dr. Jeffrey West Voice; Animated film
2019 Cliffs of Freedom Thanasi
Knives Out Harlan Thrombey
The Last Full Measure Frank Pitsenbarger Final film role
Television
Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1953 Broadway Television Theatre Michael O'Leary Episode: "Dark Victory"
1955 Kraft Television Theatre Robert Carr Episode: "The King's Bounty"
Producers' Showcase Christian de Neuvillette Episode: "Cyrano de Bergerac"
1956 General Electric Theater Walter Shelley Episode: "A Letter from the Queen"
The Alcoa Hour Bruce Quealy Episode: "Even the Weariest River"
1957–58 Omnibus Thomas Mendip/Oedipus 2 episodes
1957–61 DuPont Show of the Month Various Roles
1958 Little Moon of Alban Kenneth Boyd Television movie
1959 Johnny Belinda Dr. Jack Pelletier
A Doll's House Torvald Helmer
The Philadelphia Story Mike Connor
1960 NBC Sunday Showcase Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. 2 episodes
Captain Brassbound's Conversion Captain Brassbound Television movie
1961 Playdate Himself 13 episodes
Time Remembered Prince Albert Television movie
1962 Cyrano de Bergerac Cyrano de Bergerac
1964 Hamlet at Elsinore Hamlet
1968 The Secret of Michelangelo Narrator (voice) TV documentary
1971 Don Juan in Hell Don Juan Television movie
1974 Witness to Yesterday Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington Episode: "The Duke of Wellington"
After the Fall Quentin Television movie
1976 The Moneychangers Roscoe Heyward TV miniseries, 4 episodes
1977 Silver Blaze Sherlock Holmes Television movie
Jesus of Nazareth Herod Antipas TV miniseries, 2 episodes
1979 Riel Sir John A. Macdonald Television movie
1980 Desperate Voyage Burrifous
The Shadow Box Brian
1981 When the Circus Came to Town Duke Royal
1981 Dial M for Murder Mark Halliday
1982 Little Gloria... Happy at Last Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt TV miniseries, 2 episodes
1983 The Scarlet and the Black Colonel Herbert Kappler Television movie
The Thorn Birds Archbishop Vittorio Contini-Verchese TV miniseries, 3 episodes
Prototype Dr. Carl Forrester Television movie
1985 Rumpelstiltskin Narrator (voice) Voice; Television movie
1986 Crossings Armand DeVilliers TV miniseries, 3 episodes
Spearfield's Daughter Lord Jack Cruze Television movie
1987 A Hazard of Hearts Sir Giles Staverley
The Cosby Show Jonathan Lawrence Episode: "Shakespeare"
The World of David the Gnome Narrator Voice; English version
1988–91 Madeline Narrator Voice; 6 episodes
1989 Nabokov on Kafka Vladimir Nabokov Television short
1990 A Ghost in Monte Carlo The Grand Duke Ivan Television movie
1990–93 Counterstrike Alexander Addington 65 episodes
1991 Young Catherine Sir Charles Williams TV miniseries, 3 episodes
A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz Alfred Stieglitz Television movie
Berlin Lady Wilhem Speer 6 episodes
The First Circle Victor Abakumov Television movie
1992 Secrets Mel Wexler
1993 A Stranger in the Mirror Clifton Lawrence
1993–95 Madeline Narrator (voice) 33 episodes [3]
1995 Harrison Bergeron John Klaxon TV movie
1996 We the Jury Wilfred Fransiscus Television movie
Skeletons Reverend Carlyle
1997 The Arrow George Hees TV miniseries, 2 episodes
1998 Winchell Franklin D. Roosevelt Television movie
2000 Nuremberg Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe TV miniseries, 2 episodes
The Dinosaur Hunter Hump Hinton Television movie
Possessed Archbishop Hume
American Tragedy F. Lee Bailey 2 episodes
2001 Leo's Journey Narrator (voice) Television movie
On Golden Pond Norman Thayer
2002 Night Flight 'Flash' Harry Peters
Agent of Influence John Watkins
2003 Odd Job Jack Magnus the Maker Episode: "Holyland"
2005 Our Fathers Cardinal Bernard Law Television movie
Miracle Planet Narrator (voice) 6 episodes
2006 American Experience Narrator/James Tyrone Episode: "Eugene O'Neill: A Documentary Film"
2008 The Summit P.J. Aimes 2 episodes
2013 Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight John Marshall Harlan II Television movie, HBO
2019 Departure Howard Larson 6 episodes
2020 Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time Himself - Video Clue Presenter 1 episode
Theatre
Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1954 The Starcross Story George Phillips Royale Theatre, Broadway
1954 Home is the Hero Manchester Monagham Booth Theatre, Broadway
1955 The Dark is Light Enough Count Peter Zichy ANTA Theatre, Broadway
1955 The Lark Warwick Longacre Theatre, Broadway
1956 Night of the Auk Lewis Roheman Playhouse Theatre, Broadway
1958 J.B. Nickles ANTA Playhouse, Broadway
1963 The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Arturo Ui Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Broadway
1965 The Royal Hunt of the Sun Francisco Pizarro ANTA Theatre, Broadway
1971 'Amphitryon 38' [(Jean Giraudoux]) National Theatre Directed by Laurence Olivier
1973 The Good Doctor Performer Eugene O'Neill Theatre, Broadway
1974 Cyrano Cyrano de Bergerac Palace Theatre, Broadway
1978 Drinks Before Dinner Edgar The Public Theatre, Off-Broadway
1982 Othello Iago Winter Garden Theatre, Broadway
1988 Macbeth Macbeth Mark Hellinger Theatre, Broadway
1994 No Man's Land Spooner Roundabout Theater Company, Broadway
1997 Barrymore John Barrymore Music Box Theatre, Broadway
2004 King Lear King Lear Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Broadway
2007 Inherit the Wind Henry Drummond Lyceum Theatre, Broadway
Video games
Year Title Voice role Notes
2000 Star Trek: Klingon Academy General Chang
2009 Up Charles Muntz (voice)
2011 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Arngeir (voice)
2012 Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure Charles Muntz (voice)
No comments:
Post a Comment