Christopher Plummer, the Canadian classical actor who starred in everything from Shakespeare to musicals and from comedy to drama but won his greatest fame for portraying Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music, has died at 91.
Plummer died “quite peacefully” at his Connecticut home, not far from New York city, on Friday morning.
His wife, English actress Elaine Regina Taylor Plummer, was at his side.
In his autobiography, In Spite of Myself, Plummer gently rued–with more than just a bit of chagrin–a decision he made to take his salary from his most famous film up front, rejecting a back-end, profit-sharing deal that would have made him millions.
He carried on and admirers would say Plummer’s financial loss was the world’s artistic gain.
Christopher Plummer is pictured on the set of The Sound of Music in 1964. (CBC) of his younger years were spent cutting a rollicking figure–more than a few times in the company of another great–but less famous–Canadian classical actor, Michael Kane.
More than a few of his younger years were spent in the company of another great–but less famous–Canadian classical actor, Michael Kane.
The two were legendary figures–from Stratford to Manhattan–not just for their acting but for their no-holds-barred, no-breaks-applied lifestyle carried forth with verve, gusto and an uncanny sense of the absurd.
Years later, Plummer played a role in helping the only Canadian actor in his class, Donald Sutherland, get his movie career going by fronting Sutherland the money to get from London to Los Angeles, where he made a name for himself in Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H.
Canadian at his core, Plummer was born in Toronto and raised in Montreal.
Christopher Plummer accepts the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Canadian Screen Awards in Toronto on March 12, 2017. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Peter Power)
His great-grandfather on his mother’s side was Prime Minister John Abbott.
One of his classmates was jazz pianist Oscar Peterson.
Plummer kept working for over 70 years and had no shortage of success.
He won an Academy Award three times in the best supporting actor category: in 2010 for The Last Station, in 2012 for Beginners and in 2018 for All the Money in the World.
Nominated seven times for a Tony, he won twice: in 1974 for Cyrano and in 1997 for Barrymore.
Christopher Plummer, one of the stars of the Broadway success, “J.B.,” plays the role of Satan July 30, 1959. (AP Photo, File)
And there were plenty of other awards–a full list is here.
Plummer was a companion of the Order of Canada and a recipient of the Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
“It’s so sad but he had a great life,” his wife told The Canadian Press by phone on Friday.
“He had a fall, unfortunately. He hit his head against my car and he was taken to the hospital. They repaired the leaks and he came home, but it was a really horrible accident.”
“He fought the good fight,” she added. “But eventually I think he thought … ‘Exit stage right.”‘
With files from CBC News, The Canadian Press, RCI
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