Plummer's parents separated shortly after his birth, and he was brought up mainly by his mother in the Abbott family home in Senneville, Quebec, on the western tip of the Island of Montreal. He spoke English and French fluently.[13][14] As a schoolboy, he began studying to be a concert pianist, but developed a love for theatre at an early age, and began acting while he was attending the High School of Montreal.[15][16] He took up acting after watching Laurence Olivier's film Henry V (1944).[17][18] He learned the basics of acting as an apprentice with the Montreal Repertory Theatre, where fellow Montrealer William Shatner also played.[18]
Plummer never attended university, something he regretted all his life.[19] Although his mother and his father's family had ties with McGill University, he was never a McGill student.[20]
In 1946, he caught the attention of Montreal Gazette's theatre critic Herbert Whittaker with his performance as Mr. Darcy in a Montreal High School production of Pride and Prejudice. Whittaker was also amateur stage director of the Montreal Repertory theatre, and he cast Plummer at age 18 as Oedipus in Jean Cocteau's La Machine infernale.[21][22][23]
Plummer made his professional acting debut in 1948 with Ottawa's Stage Society after which he performed roles as an apprentice artist with the Montreal Repertory Theatre alongside fellow apprenticing actor William Shatner.[23] In 1952, he starred in a number of productions at the Bermudiana Theatre in the City of Hamilton, in the British colony of Bermuda where he was seen and recruited by a American producer, although he was reluctant to leave Bermuda.[24]Edward Everett Horton hired Plummer to appear as Gerard in the 1953 road show production of André Roussin's Nina,[25] a role originated on Broadway by David Niven in 1951.[26] Plummer made his Broadway debut in January 1953 in the Diana Morgan play The Starcross Story, a show that closed on opening night after a plagiarism lawsuit shut down the production.[27] Plummer acted opposite Mary Astor and Margaret Bannerman.
His next Broadway appearance, Home is the Hero, lasted 30 performances from September to October 1954. He appeared in support of Broadway legend Katharine Cornell and film legend Tyrone Power in The Dark Is Light Enough, which lasted 69 performances from February to April 1955. The play toured several cities, with Plummer serving as Power's understudy.[28] Later that same year, he appeared in his first Broadway hit, opposite Julie Harris (who won a Tony Award) in Jean Anouilh's The Lark. After this success, he appeared in Night of the Auk, which was not a success, He appeared as Jason opposite Dame Judith Anderson in Robinson Jeffers' adaptation of Medea at the Theatre Sara Bernhardt in Paris in 1955. The American National Theatre and Academy production, directed by Guthrie McClintic, was part of Le Festival International. Also in 1955, he played Mark Antony in Julius Caesar and Ferdinand in The Tempest at the American Shakespeare Festival (Stratford, Connecticut). He returned to the American Shakespeare Festival in 1981 to play the title role in Henry V.[29]
Plummer remains widely known for his portrayal of Captain Von Trapp due to the box-office success and continued popularity of the Robert Wise-directed musical epic The Sound of Music (1965). Plummer acted alongside Julie Andrews, and the film earned five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Although he was embarrassed, at first, about the role, which Plummer described as "so awful and sentimental and gooey",[45] the film made cinematic history, becoming the all-time top-grossing film, eclipsing Gone with the Wind.[46] He found all aspects of making the film unpleasant, except working with Andrews, and he avoided using its name, instead calling it "that movie", "S&M" and "The Sound of Mucus".[47][48] He declined to attend the 40th Anniversary cast reunion,[49] but he did provide commentary on the 2005 DVD release.[50]
He relented for the 45th anniversary and appeared with the full cast on The Oprah Winfrey Show on October 28, 2010.[51] In 2009, Plummer said that he was "a bit bored with the character". He said: "Although we worked hard enough to make him interesting, it was a bit like flogging a dead horse. And the subject matter is not mine. I mean, it can't appeal to every person in the world."[5] However, he admitted that the film itself was well made and was proud to be associated with a film with such mass appeal. "But it was a very well-made movie, and it's a family movie and we haven't seen a family movie, I don't think, on that scale for ages."[52] In one interview he said that he had "terrific memories" of making the movie.[53]
During this time Plummer appeared in the romantic drama Somewhere in Time (1980), the drama Eyewitness (1981), the comedy Dragnet (1987) and Shadow Dancing (1988). Plummer also did some voice work, such as his role of Henri the pigeon in An American Tail (1986) and the villainous Grand Duke of Owls in Rock-a-Doodle (1991), both directed by Don Bluth. In 1982, he starred on Broadway production of the Shakespearean tragedy Othello, playing Iago opposite James Earl Jones' Moor.[63] The production also featured performances from Kelsey Grammer as Cassio and Dianne Wiest as Desdemona. New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich wrote in his original review, "Mr. Plummer, a sensational actor in peak form, has made something crushing out of Shakespeare's archvillain. He gives us evil so pure - and so bottomless - that it can induce tears. Our tears are not for the dastardly Iago, of course - that would be wrong. No, what Mr. Plummer does is make us weep for a civilization that can produce such a man and allow him to flower."[64] For his performance he received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination losing to Roger Rees in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.
In 1988, he starred in another Shakespeare adaptation on Broadway in the title role in Macbeth with Glenda Jackson playing his lady.[67] Frank Rich wrote of his performance "Mr. Plummer's thoughtful, beautifully spoken performance best illuminates the strengths and built-in limitations of the entire enterprise. This actor grapples arrestingly with his early bouts of conscience, as horrible imaginings send Macbeth's heart knocking at his ribs."[68] From 1990 to 1993, he starred in the Canadian-French drama series Counterstrike.
From 1993 to 1995, he narrated the animated television series Madeline, for which he received an Emmy Award, as well as the animated television series The World of David the Gnome.[69] He appeared with Jason Robards in the 1994 revival of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land by the Roundabout Theatre Company. Variety film critic Jeremy Gerard praised Plummer's performance while critiquing Robards by writing, "They're a remarkable pair to watch wrangling with Pinter's elliptical, often uncrackable script. As it happens, Plummer emerges triumphant, while Robards seems utterly at sea...Plummer plays the humour and the bathos with equal ease and complete conviction. By turns funny and heartbreaking, it's an exquisite, haunting performance."[70] For his performance Plummer received fourth Tony Award nomination.
Plummer achieved great success in the 1997 Broadway production of the William Luce play Barrymore portraying John Barrymore a few months before his death. Vincent Canby in his New York Times review he praised Plummer for his performance "With the confidence of the superb actor he has become, and in the trim of an athlete, Christopher Plummer is here in a new play, giving an achingly funny, memorably strong and debonair performance".[71] After a successful run on Broadway he went on tour with production. His performance brought him his second Tony Award (this time as Best Actor in a Play) and a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actor in a Play. Plummer continued acting in films including the science fiction film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), which was a welcome opportunity for him since he was a fan of the Star Trek franchise which also allowed him to perform with his former understudy and long-time friend, William Shatner.[72] He also appeared in Spike Lee's biographical drama Malcolm X (1992), Mike Nichols' horror drama Wolf (1994), Taylor Hackford's psychological drama Dolores Claiborne (1995), and Terry Gilliam's science fiction drama 12 Monkeys (1995). Plummer portrayed George Hees in the Canadian miniseries The Arrow (1997).
In 2002, he appeared in a lauded production of King Lear, directed by Jonathan Miller.[77] The production successfully transferred to New York City's Lincoln Center in 2004.[78] He was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his 2004 King Lear and for a Tony Award playing Henry Drummond in the 2007 revival of Inherit the Wind.[79] He returned to the stage at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in August 2008 in a critically acclaimed performance as Julius Caesar in George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra directed by Tony Award winner Des McAnuff;[80] this production was videotaped and shown in high definition in Canadian cinemas on January 31, 2009 (with an encore presentation on February 23, 2009) and broadcast on April 4, 2009, on Bravo! in Canada.[81]
In 2009 and 2010, Plummer starred in two stage to screen adaptations of the Stratford Festival productions of George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra and William Shakespeare's The Tempest. Both plays were directed for the stage by Des McAnuff and produced by Barry Avrich. The Tempest won Plummer a Canadian Screen award for Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program.[82] Plummer returned to the Stratford Festival in the summer of 2010 in The Tempest as the lead character, Prospero (also videotaped and shown in high definition in cinemas), and again in the summer of 2012 in the one-man show, A Word or Two, an autobiographical exploration of his love of literature. In 2014, Plummer presented A Word or Two again, at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.[83]
He starred in the Rian Johnson directed mystery thriller ensemble film Knives Out (2019) alongside Ana de Armas, Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Don Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Lakeith Stanfield and Michael Shannon. Plummer plays Harlan Thrombey, a wealthy mystery novelist whose family is celebrating his 85th birthday party when a death occurs. The film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews. It was an immense box office success. It was selected by the American Film Institute and the National Board of Review as one of the top ten films of 2019.[96] At the age of 89, he appeared in a leading role in Departure, a 2019 Canadian-British TV series by Global for NBCUniversal about the disappearance of a trans-Atlantic flight.[97] Plummer was set to return to Departure for season 2. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Canadian travel lockdown, he would film his parts from his home in Connecticut, instead of venturing to Toronto, in 2020 and 2021.[98] He completed his filming for the second season shortly before his death.[99] In 2021, Plummer was set to play the lead for a film adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear, to be filmed in the summer, in Newfoundland, under director Des McAnuff. He died before filming commenced.[100]
Plummer was married three times. His first wife was actress Tammy Grimes, whom he married in 1956.[102] Their marriage lasted four years, and they had a daughter together, the actress Amanda Plummer.[103]
He was next married to British entertainment journalist Patricia Lewis. Prior to their marriage they were involved in a major car crash outside Buckingham Palace after leaving The Establishment club in Soho (owned by comedian-actor Peter Cook). Plummer was uninjured, but Lewis was in a coma for several weeks; they married May 4, 1962 after her recovery and were divorced in 1967.[104]
Three years after his second divorce, Plummer married actress Elaine Taylor on October 2, 1970. They lived in Weston, Connecticut.[105][106] Plummer had no children with either his second or his third wife.[103]
Plummer died at his home in Weston, on February 5, 2021, at the age of 91. According to Taylor, he died two and a half weeks after a fall that resulted in a blow to the head.[110][111][112] A statement released by the family announced that Plummer had died peacefully with Taylor by his side.[113]
The world has lost a consummate actor today and I have lost a cherished friend. I treasure the memories of our work together and all the humour and fun we shared through the years.
Lou Pitt, Plummer's manager of 46 years, said in a statement:
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.[117]
A postage stamp paying tribute to Christopher Plummer was released by Canada Post on October 13, 2021.[118]
In 2012, he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the age of 82 for Beginners (2011), becoming the oldest person to win an acting award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (a distinction he held until being supplanted by 83-year-old Anthony Hopkins in 2021), and he also received an Oscar nomination at the age of 88 for All the Money in the World, making him the oldest person to be nominated in any acting category at the Academy Awards.[119]
^ abFletcher, Bernie (May 19, 2015). "A famous son, a forgotten father". Beach Metro Community News. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
^Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (2003). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–present. Ballantine Books. p. 1444. ISBN0-345-45542-8.
^"Christopher Plummer biography". Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation. Archived from the original on February 5, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
^"Christopher Plummer". Canada's Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on August 16, 2018. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
Canadian Film Awards 1968–1978, Genie Awards 1980-2011, Canadian Screen Awards 2012–present. Separate awards were presented by gender prior to 2022; a single unified category for best performance regardless of gender has been presented since.