R.I.P. prolific actor Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer, the actor best known for his work in The Sound Of Music and Ridley Scott’s All The Money In The World, has died. Per Deadline, Plummer’s death was confirmed by his manager of 46 years, Lou Pitt: “Chris was an extraordinary man who deeply loved and respected his profession with great old fashion manners, self deprecating humor and the music of words. He was a National Treasure who deeply relished his Canadian roots. Through his art and humanity, he touched all of our hearts and his legendary life will endure for all generations to come. He will forever be with us.” Plummer died peacefully in his Connecticut home. He was 91.
Between the beginning of his career in 1951 and his most recently listed project, the animated Heroes Of The Golden Masks, Canadian-born performer Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer amassed a total of 217 acting credits, per the IMDB database. Unlike many of his fellow legendary craftspeople, Plummer was not exactly classically trained. In fact, he had never even attended college: Plummer was first discovered in a high school production of Pride And Prejudice, where he played Mr. Darcy. 1953 proved to be quite the year for the then-burgeoning thespian: He made both his television and Broadway debuts that year in a Canadian broadcast of Othello and The Starcross Story, respectively.
As a stage performer, Plummer maintained somewhat of a residency on Broadway between a number of shows with brief runs (none quite as brief as The Starcross Story, which closed the same day that it opened). In his early 20s, he got to act alongside industry greats like Katharine Cornell and Julie Harris. His appearance in Archibald MacLeish’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play J.B. earned him his first Tony award nomination for Best Actor In A Play. He grew to be a must-cast actor, helming the kind of leading roles that many in his field could only dream of: Macbeth, Cyrano de Bergerac, Mark Anthony in Antony and Cleopatra. When he wasn’t lighting up Broadway, he was participating in touring productions.
His career expanded to screen with one of his most well-known roles, Captain Von Trapp in The Sound Of Music. The musical’s popularity reached astronomic heights, eventually beating out Gone With The Wind in the box office and winning Oscars. Plummer has often mentioned his lack of enthusiasm for the experience, though he was always very complimentary of his time with Julie Andrews. He eventually reunited with the cast in 2010 for The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Plummer maintained an illustrious career for seven decades and continued to work late into his life. His starring part in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out became a more recent fan favorite, where he played Thrombey family patriarch and mystery novel author Harlen. His time on stage and screen netted many awards, including two Tonys, an Academy Award for his supporting turn in Beginners, and two Primetime Emmys for 1977's Arthur Hailey’s The Moneychangers and his voice work in 1994's Madeline. Many of his colleagues refer to Plummer as a living legend and a gentleman, a distinguished ambassador for his craft. Off camera, he lived a quiet life in Connecticut with his wife of 50 years, former actress Elaine Taylor, who was by his side in his final moments.