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 Legendary actor Christopher Plummer, perhaps Canada's greatest thespian, delivered outstanding performances as Sherlock Holmes in Murder by Decree (1979), the chilling villain in The Silent Partner (1978), the iconoclastic Mike Wallace in The Insider (1999), the empathetic psychiatrist in A Beautiful Mind (2001), the kindly and clever mystery writer in Knives Out (2019), and as Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station (2009). It was this last role that finally brought him recognition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, when he was nominated as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, one of three Academy Award nominations he received in the 2010s, along with All the Money in the World (2017) (as J. Paul Getty) and Beginners (2010); he won for the latter role. He will also likely always be remembered as Captain Von Trapp in the atomic bomb-strength blockbuster The Sound of Music (1965), a film he publicly despised until softening his stance in his autobiography "In Spite of Me" (2008).Christopher Plummer was born Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer on December 13, 1929 in Toronto, Ontario. He was the only child of Isabella Mary (Abbott), a secretary to the Dean of Sciences at McGill University, and John Orme Plummer, who sold securities and stocks. Christopher was a great-grandson of John Abbott, who was Canada's third Prime Minister (from 1891 to 1892), and a great-great-great-grandson of Presbyterian clergyman John Bethune. He had Scottish, English, Anglo-Irish, and Cornish ancestry. Plummer was raised in Senneville, Quebec, near Montreal, at his maternal grandparents' home.Aside from the youngest member of the Barrymore siblings (which counted Oscar-winners Ethel Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore in their number), Plummer was the premier Shakespearean actor to come out of North America in the 20th century. He was particularly memorable as Hamlet, Iago and Lear, though his Macbeth opposite Glenda Jackson was -- and this was no surprise to him due to the famous curse attached to the "Scottish Play" -- a failure.Like another great stage actor, Richard Burton, early in his career Plummer failed to connect with the screen in a way that would make him a star. Dynamic on stage, he didn't succeed as a younger leading man in films. Perhaps if he had been born earlier, and acted in the studio system of Hollywood's golden age, he could have been carefully groomed for stardom. As it was, he shared the English stage actors' disdain -- and he was equally at home in London as he was on the boards of Broadway or on-stage in his native Canada -- for the movies, which did not help him in that medium, as he has confessed. As he aged, Plummer excelled at character roles. He was always a good villain, this man who garnered kudos playing Lucifer on Broadway in Archibald Macleish's Pulitzer Prize-winning "J.B.".Plummer won two Emmy Awards out of seven nominations stretching 46 years from 1959 and 2011, and one Genie Award in six nominations from 1980 to 2009. For his stage work, Plummer has racked up two Tony Awards on six nominations, the first in 1974 as Best Actor (Musical) for the title role in "Cyrano" and the second in 1997, as Best Actor (Play), in "Barrymore". Surprisingly, he did not win (though he was nominated) for his masterful 2004 performance of "King Lear", which he originated at the Stratford Festival in Ontario and brought down to Broadway for a sold-out run. His other Tony nominations show the wide range of his talent, from a 1959 nod for the Elia Kazan-directed production of Macleish's "J.B." to recognition in 1994 for Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land", with a 1982 Best Actor (Play) nomination for his "Iago" in William Shakespeare's "Othello".Until the 2009 Academy Awards were announced, it could be said about Plummer that he was the finest actor of the post-World War II period to fail to get an Academy Award. In that, he was following in the footsteps of the late great John Barrymore, whom Plummer so memorably portrayed on Broadway in a one-man show that brought him his second Tony Award. In 2010, Plummer finally got an Oscar nod for his portrayal of another legend, Lev Tolstoy in The Last Station (2009). Two years later, the first paragraph of his obituary was written when the 82-year-old Plummer became the oldest person in Academy history to win an Oscar. He won for playing a senior citizen who comes out as gay after the death of his wife in the movie Beginners (2010). As he clutched his statuette, the debonaire thespian addressed it thus: "You're only two years older than me darling, where have you been all of my life?"Plummer then told the audience that at birth, "I was already rehearsing my Academy acceptance speech, but it was so long ago mercifully for you I've forgotten it." The Academy Award was a long time in coming and richly deserved.Plummer gave many other fine portrayals on film, particularly as he grew older and settled down into a comfortable marriage with his third wife Elaine. He continued to be an in-demand character actor in prestigious motion pictures. If he were English rather than Canadian, he would have been knighted. (In 1968, he was appointed Companion of the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honor and one which required the approval of the sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II.) If he lived in the company town of Los Angeles rather than in Connecticut, he likely would have several more Oscar nominations before winning his first for "The Last Station".As it is, as attested to in his witty and well-written autobiography, Plummer was amply rewarded in life. In 1970, Plummer - then a self-confessed 43-year-old "bottle baby" - married his third wife Elaine Taylor, a dancer, who helped wean him off his dependency on alcohol. They lived happily with their dogs on a 30-acre estate in Weston, Connecticut. He thanked her from the stage during the 2012 Oscar telecast, quipping that she "deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for coming to my rescue every day of my life." Although he spent the majority of his time in the United States, he remained a Canadian citizen. He died in his Weston, Connecticut home on February 5, 2021 at age 91.His daughter, with actress Tammy Grimes, is actress Amanda Plummer.Christopher made his film debut in The Wind Across the Everglades and his stage debut with the National Theatre under Laurence Olivier with the RSC and won a Tony Award for a Broadway musical, He appeared with the Stratford Theatre Festival in Canada under Sir Tyrone Guthrie and at the RSC under Peter Hall. He won a Tony Award for the Broadway musical Cyrano and a Best Actor Evening Standard Award + 5 nominations, 2 NY Drama Desk Awards, Theatre World Award, NY Drama Leauge Award, Outer Circle Award and Canada's Genie Award
Bio:
Legendary actor Christopher Plummer, perhaps Canada's greatest thespian, delivered outstanding performances as Sherlock Holmes in Murder by Decree (1979), the chilling villain in The Silent Partner (1978), the iconoclastic Mike Wallace in The Insider (1999), the empathetic psychiatrist in A Beautiful Mind (2001), the kindly and clever mystery writer in Knives Out (2019), and as Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station (2009). It was this last role that finally brought him recognition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, when he was nominated as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, one of three Academy Award nominations he received in the 2010s, along with All the Money in the World (2017) (as J. Paul Getty) and Beginners (2010); he won for the latter role. He will also likely always be remembered as Captain Von Trapp in the atomic bomb-strength blockbuster The Sound of Music (1965), a film he publicly despised until softening his stance in his autobiography "In Spite of Me" (2008).Christopher Plummer was born Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer on December 13, 1929 in Toronto, Ontario. He was the only child of Isabella Mary (Abbott), a secretary to the Dean of Sciences at McGill University, and John Orme Plummer, who sold securities and stocks. Christopher was a great-grandson of John Abbott, who was Canada's third Prime Minister (from 1891 to 1892), and a great-great-great-grandson of Presbyterian clergyman John Bethune. He had Scottish, English, Anglo-Irish, and Cornish ancestry. Plummer was raised in Senneville, Quebec, near Montreal, at his maternal grandparents' home.Aside from the youngest member of the Barrymore siblings (which counted Oscar-winners Ethel Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore in their number), Plummer was the premier Shakespearean actor to come out of North America in the 20th century. He was particularly memorable as Hamlet, Iago and Lear, though his Macbeth opposite Glenda Jackson was -- and this was no surprise to him due to the famous curse attached to the "Scottish Play" -- a failure.Like another great stage actor, Richard Burton, early in his career Plummer failed to connect with the screen in a way that would make him a star. Dynamic on stage, he didn't succeed as a younger leading man in films. Perhaps if he had been born earlier, and acted in the studio system of Hollywood's golden age, he could have been carefully groomed for stardom. As it was, he shared the English stage actors' disdain -- and he was equally at home in London as he was on the boards of Broadway or on-stage in his native Canada -- for the movies, which did not help him in that medium, as he has confessed. As he aged, Plummer excelled at character roles. He was always a good villain, this man who garnered kudos playing Lucifer on Broadway in Archibald Macleish's Pulitzer Prize-winning "J.B.".Plummer won two Emmy Awards out of seven nominations stretching 46 years from 1959 and 2011, and one Genie Award in six nominations from 1980 to 2009. For his stage work, Plummer has racked up two Tony Awards on six nominations, the first in 1974 as Best Actor (Musical) for the title role in "Cyrano" and the second in 1997, as Best Actor (Play), in "Barrymore". Surprisingly, he did not win (though he was nominated) for his masterful 2004 performance of "King Lear", which he originated at the Stratford Festival in Ontario and brought down to Broadway for a sold-out run. His other Tony nominations show the wide range of his talent, from a 1959 nod for the Elia Kazan-directed production of Macleish's "J.B." to recognition in 1994 for Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land", with a 1982 Best Actor (Play) nomination for his "Iago" in William Shakespeare's "Othello".Until the 2009 Academy Awards were announced, it could be said about Plummer that he was the finest actor of the post-World War II period to fail to get an Academy Award. In that, he was following in the footsteps of the late great John Barrymore, whom Plummer so memorably portrayed on Broadway in a one-man show that brought him his second Tony Award. In 2010, Plummer finally got an Oscar nod for his portrayal of another legend, Lev Tolstoy in The Last Station (2009). Two years later, the first paragraph of his obituary was written when the 82-year-old Plummer became the oldest person in Academy history to win an Oscar. He won for playing a senior citizen who comes out as gay after the death of his wife in the movie Beginners (2010). As he clutched his statuette, the debonaire thespian addressed it thus: "You're only two years older than me darling, where have you been all of my life?"Plummer then told the audience that at birth, "I was already rehearsing my Academy acceptance speech, but it was so long ago mercifully for you I've forgotten it." The Academy Award was a long time in coming and richly deserved.Plummer gave many other fine portrayals on film, particularly as he grew older and settled down into a comfortable marriage with his third wife Elaine. He continued to be an in-demand character actor in prestigious motion pictures. If he were English rather than Canadian, he would have been knighted. (In 1968, he was appointed Companion of the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honor and one which required the approval of the sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II.) If he lived in the company town of Los Angeles rather than in Connecticut, he likely would have several more Oscar nominations before winning his first for "The Last Station".As it is, as attested to in his witty and well-written autobiography, Plummer was amply rewarded in life. In 1970, Plummer - then a self-confessed 43-year-old "bottle baby" - married his third wife Elaine Taylor, a dancer, who helped wean him off his dependency on alcohol. They lived happily with their dogs on a 30-acre estate in Weston, Connecticut. He thanked her from the stage during the 2012 Oscar telecast, quipping that she "deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for coming to my rescue every day of my life." Although he spent the majority of his time in the United States, he remained a Canadian citizen. He died in his Weston, Connecticut home on February 5, 2021 at age 91.His daughter, with actress Tammy Grimes, is actress Amanda Plummer.
Christopher made his film debut in The Wind Across the Everglades and his stage debut with the National Theatre under Laurence Olivier with the RSC and won a Tony Award for a Broadway musical, He appeared with the Stratford Theatre Festival in Canada under Sir Tyrone Guthrie and at the RSC under Peter Hall. He won a Tony Award for the Broadway musical Cyrano and a Best Actor Evening Standard Award + 5 nominations, 2 NY Drama Desk Awards, Theatre World Award, NY Drama Leauge Award, Outer Circle Award and Canada's Genie Award
Tivia:
At age 82, he was the oldest person to receive an Academy Award. At age 88, he became the oldest person ever to be nominated for an acting Academy Award for All the Money in the World (2017).Had turned down the role of Gandalf in Sir Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and admits to regretting that decision. The role went to Sir Ian McKellen.Trained to become a concert pianist before turning his attention to acting.Was the great-grandson of former Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Abbott.Was the only actor from The Sound of Music (1965) to meet the real Maria von Trapp in Vermont as a child.He and daughter Amanda Plummer both received Emmy Award nominations (2005). She won, he did not.His first paying role was in "Machina Infernale" (The Infernal Machine) by Jean Cocteau, in which he worked with another young Montreal actor, William Shatner. The two were reunited years later when they both appeared in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).Was one of nine actors to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Oscar, Emmy and Tony); the others in chronological order are Thomas Mitchell, Melvyn Douglas, Paul Scofield, Jack Albertson, Jason Robards, Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino and Geoffrey Rush.His mother Isabella was a secretary to the Dean of Sciences at McGill University after her divorce from John Orme Plummer who sold stocks in Toronto and never lived in Montreal. In his memoir "In Spite of Myself" (2008), he writes where his mother was doubly disgraced for an upper-class woman in the 1930s, being both divorced and having to go out to work. This explains why he was born in Toronto, and grew up in Montreal. He and his father did not meet until Christopher was 17.Was only 13 years older than Charmian Carr, who played his daughter in The Sound of Music (1965).Had appeared with Donald Sutherland in four films: Oedipus the King (1968), The Disappearance (1977), Murder by Decree (1979) and Ordeal by Innocence (1984).Was actually born on 12/13/29, although most publications usually state his birthday as 12/13/27.He and daughter Amanda Plummer have both appeared in adaptation of Stephen King novels. Amanda appeared in Needful Things (1993), while Christopher appeared in Dolores Claiborne (1995).Grew up partly in the village of Senneville, Qu��bec, Canada, where he spent the summers in his great-grandfather's palatial estate.Had played the title role in Hamlet at Elsinore (1964), appearing with Michael Caine, who played Hamlet's closest friend Horatio. Caine later said he had never truly understood Hamlet until he saw Plummer performing the role.Had played the role of King Herod in two adaptations made forty years apart: the epic miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977) and the animated comedy The Star (2017).On 5/22/02, he was awarded the first Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre by the Roundabout Theatre. His The Sound of Music (1965) co-star Dame Julie Andrews was among those in attendance.Became a father for the first time at age 27 when his first wife, Tammy Grimes, gave birth to their daughter, Amanda Plummer (Amanda Michael Plummer), on March 23, 1957.Was a distant cousin of Nigel Bruce. Bruce was best known for playing Dr. John Watson, and Plummer went on to play Sherlock Holmes.Had appeared in two films which have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant": The Sound of Music (1965) and Malcolm X (1992).In 2012, he became the 21st performer to have received the Triple Crown of Acting: the 1974 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical ("Cyrano") and the 1997 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play ("Barrymore"), the 1977 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series (Arthur Hailey's the Moneychangers (1976)) and the 1994 Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance (Madeline (1989)), and the 2012 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Beginners (2010)).Attended and graduated from the High School of Montreal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.His great-uncle (paternal grandmother's brother) was F.B. Fetherstonhaugh (Frederick Barnard Fetherstonhaugh), a patent lawyer and agent who founded the patent agency Fetherstonhaugh and Company.Received an honorary degree (Doctor of Laws) from the University of Western Ontario on 6/8/04.Schoolmates with jazz piano master Oscar Peterson.Had played Christian in a television production of "Cyrano de Bergerac", opposite Jos�� Ferrer, and later played Cyrano himself. In the former role, he performed the translation by Brian Hooker. In the latter, he performed the translation by Anthony Burgess, which he personally selected Burgess to write.Had worked with both Obi-Wan Kenobis on film. Sir Alec Guinness played his father in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), while Plummer later played father to Ewan McGregor in Beginners (2010).Was one of 115 people invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 2007.As of 2018, had appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: The Sound of Music (1965), The Insider (1999), A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Up (2009). The Sound of Music (1965) and A Beautiful Mind (2001) are winners in the category.Was one of 14 actors to have won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance. The others in chronological order are Geoffrey Rush for Shine (1996), Jamie Foxx for Ray (2004), Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote (2005), Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland (2006), Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men (2007), Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood (2007) and Lincoln (2012), Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008), Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009), Colin Firth for The King's Speech (2010), J.K. Simmons for Whiplash (2014), Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant (2015), Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour (2017).He was awarded a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto, Ontario, in 1998 (charter member).Both he and his daughter, Amanda Plummer, have played in Jean Anouilh's "The Lark", he appeared on Broadway (1955) and she appeared in Stratford (2005).He had two roles in common with Peter Cushing: (1) Cushing played Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), Sherlock Holmes (1964) and Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death (1984) while Plummer played him in Silver Blaze (1977) and Murder by Decree (1979) and (2) Cushing played Professor Van Helsing in Horror of Dracula (1958), The Brides of Dracula (1960), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) while Plummer played him in Dracula 2000 (2000).Had appeared with Susannah York in four films: The Battle of Britain (1969), Lock Up Your Daughters! (1969), Conduct Unbecoming (1975) and The Silent Partner (1978).Although he played Sir Alec Guinness' son in the epic drama The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), he was only 15 years his junior in real life.Pictured on a Canadian permanent-rate commemorative postage stamp issued 10/13/21. He was consulted on every phase of production, including approval of the stamp's design. The stamp was issued in booklets of ten and panes of six. The price on the day of issue for a single stamp was CAN 95��.He admitted in an interview that he took the role of the Emperor of the Galaxy in the space opera Starcrash (1978) so he could visit Rome for free.He never retired from acting until his death.He quit smoking cigarettes in 1970.Was one of four consecutive Oscar winners in the Best Supporting Actor category whose name begins with Chris, the other actors being Christian Bale and Christoph Waltz (who won twice).Had worked with two Spider-Mans. First he worked with Nicholas Hammond in The Sound of Music (1965), and later with Andrew Garfield in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009).He cited Jean Renoir's war drama The Grand Illusion (1937) as the film that moved him into tears more often than any other during his lifetime.The longest he has gone without an Academy Award nomination is the six years between Beginners (2010) and All the Money in the World (2017).He joined the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in 1960.He was considered for the lead role of Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File (1965), which he turned down for The Sound of Music (1965). The role went to Sir Michael Caine.He was awarded the CC (Companion of the Order of Canada) in the 1968 Queen's Honours List for his services to the performing arts; Canada's highest civilian honor.Spoke English and French fluently, from his bilingual upbringing in Senneville, Quebec where he passed his summers, and in downtown Montreal where he lived the rest of the year.He counted fellow actor Jason Robards as one of his greatest drinking buddies.Upon his death, Plummer was cremated and his ashes were given to his widow.He was considered for the role of Old Deuteronomy in the musical fantasy Cats (2019) before the character was made a female. The role went to Dame Judi Dench. |
| Name: |
Christopher Plummer |
Type: |
Actor,Producer,Music Department (IMDB) |
| Area: |
All World |
Platform: |
IMDB |
| Category: |
|
Business scope: |
Actor,Producer,Music Department |
| Products for sale: |
Actor,Producer,Music Department |
| Model rank: |
147 |
| Last update: |
2024-07-01 03:12:33 |
Christopher Plummer profile
| Height: |
5' 10' (1.78 m) |
| Biography: |
Legendary actor Christopher Plummer, perhaps Canada\'s greatest thespian, delivered outstanding performances as Sherlock Holmes in Murder by Decree (1979), the chilling villain in The Silent Partner (1978), the iconoclastic Mike Wallace in The Inside |
| Trivia: |
At age 82, he was the oldest person to receive an Academy Award. At age 88, he became the oldest person ever to be nominated for an acting Academy Award for All the Money in the World (2017).Had turned down the role of Gandalf in Sir Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and admits to regretting that decision. The role went to Sir Ian McKellen.Trained to become a concert pianist before turning his attention to acting.Was the great-grandson of former Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Abbott.Was the only actor from The Sound of Music (1965) to meet the real Maria von Trapp in Vermont as a child.He and daughter Amanda Plummer both received Emmy Award nominations (2005). She won, he did not.His first paying role was in "Machina Infernale" (The Infernal Machine) by Jean Cocteau, in which he worked with another young Montreal actor, William Shatner. The two were reunited years later when they both appeared in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).Was one of nine actors to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Oscar, Emmy and Tony); the others in chronological order are Thomas Mitchell, Melvyn Douglas, Paul Scofield, Jack Albertson, Jason Robards, Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino and Geoffrey Rush.His mother Isabella was a secretary to the Dean of Sciences at McGill University after her divorce from John Orme Plummer who sold stocks in Toronto and never lived in Montreal. In his memoir "In Spite of Myself" (2008), he writes where his mother was doubly disgraced for an upper-class woman in the 1930s, being both divorced and having to go out to work. This explains why he was born in Toronto, and grew up in Montreal. He and his father did not meet until Christopher was 17.Was only 13 years older than Charmian Carr, who played his daughter in The Sound of Music (1965).Had appeared with Donald Sutherland in four films: Oedipus the King (1968), The Disappearance (1977), Murder by Decree (1979) and Ordeal by Innocence (1984).Was actually born on 12/13/29, although most publications usually state his birthday as 12/13/27.He and daughter Amanda Plummer have both appeared in adaptation of Stephen King novels. Amanda appeared in Needful Things (1993), while Christopher appeared in Dolores Claiborne (1995).Grew up partly in the village of Senneville, Qu��bec, Canada, where he spent the summers in his great-grandfather's palatial estate.Had played the title role in Hamlet at Elsinore (1964), appearing with Michael Caine, who played Hamlet's closest friend Horatio. Caine later said he had never truly understood Hamlet until he saw Plummer performing the role.Had played the role of King Herod in two adaptations made forty years apart: the epic miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977) and the animated comedy The Star (2017).On 5/22/02, he was awarded the first Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre by the Roundabout Theatre. His The Sound of Music (1965) co-star Dame Julie Andrews was among those in attendance.Became a father for the first time at age 27 when his first wife, Tammy Grimes, gave birth to their daughter, Amanda Plummer (Amanda Michael Plummer), on March 23, 1957.Was a distant cousin of Nigel Bruce. Bruce was best known for playing Dr. John Watson, and Plummer went on to play Sherlock Holmes.Had appeared in two films which have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant": The Sound of Music (1965) and Malcolm X (1992).In 2012, he became the 21st performer to have received the Triple Crown of Acting: the 1974 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical ("Cyrano") and the 1997 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play ("Barrymore"), the 1977 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series (Arthur Hailey's the Moneychangers (1976)) and the 1994 Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance (Madeline (1989)), and the 2012 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Beginners (2010)).Attended and graduated from the High School of Montreal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.His great-uncle (paternal grandmother's brother) was F.B. Fetherstonhaugh (Frederick Barnard Fetherstonhaugh), a patent lawyer and agent who founded the patent agency Fetherstonhaugh and Company.Received an honorary degree (Doctor of Laws) from the University of Western Ontario on 6/8/04.Schoolmates with jazz piano master Oscar Peterson.Had played Christian in a television production of "Cyrano de Bergerac", opposite Jos�� Ferrer, and later played Cyrano himself. In the former role, he performed the translation by Brian Hooker. In the latter, he performed the translation by Anthony Burgess, which he personally selected Burgess to write.Had worked with both Obi-Wan Kenobis on film. Sir Alec Guinness played his father in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), while Plummer later played father to Ewan McGregor in Beginners (2010).Was one of 115 people invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 2007.As of 2018, had appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: The Sound of Music (1965), The Insider (1999), A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Up (2009). The Sound of Music (1965) and A Beautiful Mind (2001) are winners in the category.Was one of 14 actors to have won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance. The others in chronological order are Geoffrey Rush for Shine (1996), Jamie Foxx for Ray (2004), Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote (2005), Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland (2006), Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men (2007), Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood (2007) and Lincoln (2012), Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008), Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009), Colin Firth for The King's Speech (2010), J.K. Simmons for Whiplash (2014), Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant (2015), Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour (2017).He was awarded a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto, Ontario, in 1998 (charter member).Both he and his daughter, Amanda Plummer, have played in Jean Anouilh's "The Lark", he appeared on Broadway (1955) and she appeared in Stratford (2005).He had two roles in common with Peter Cushing: (1) Cushing played Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), Sherlock Holmes (1964) and Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death (1984) while Plummer played him in Silver Blaze (1977) and Murder by Decree (1979) and (2) Cushing played Professor Van Helsing in Horror of Dracula (1958), The Brides of Dracula (1960), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) while Plummer played him in Dracula 2000 (2000).Had appeared with Susannah York in four films: The Battle of Britain (1969), Lock Up Your Daughters! (1969), Conduct Unbecoming (1975) and The Silent Partner (1978).Although he played Sir Alec Guinness' son in the epic drama The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), he was only 15 years his junior in real life.Pictured on a Canadian permanent-rate commemorative postage stamp issued 10/13/21. He was consulted on every phase of production, including approval of the stamp's design. The stamp was issued in booklets of ten and panes of six. The price on the day of issue for a single stamp was CAN 95��.He admitted in an interview that he took the role of the Emperor of the Galaxy in the space opera Starcrash (1978) so he could visit Rome for free.He never retired from acting until his death.He quit smoking cigarettes in 1970.Was one of four consecutive Oscar winners in the Best Supporting Actor category whose name begins with Chris, the other actors being Christian Bale and Christoph Waltz (who won twice).Had worked with two Spider-Mans. First he worked with Nicholas Hammond in The Sound of Music (1965), and later with Andrew Garfield in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009).He cited Jean Renoir's war drama The Grand Illusion (1937) as the film that moved him into tears more often than any other during his lifetime.The longest he has gone without an Academy Award nomination is the six years between Beginners (2010) and All the Money in the World (2017).He joined the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in 1960.He was considered for the lead role of Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File (1965), which he turned down for The Sound of Music (1965). The role went to Sir Michael Caine.He was awarded the CC (Companion of the Order of Canada) in the 1968 Queen's Honours List for his services to the performing arts; Canada's highest civilian honor.Spoke English and French fluently, from his bilingual upbringing in Senneville, Quebec where he passed his summers, and in downtown Montreal where he lived the rest of the year.He counted fellow actor Jason Robards as one of his greatest drinking buddies.Upon his death, Plummer was cremated and his ashes were given to his widow.He was considered for the role of Old Deuteronomy in the musical fantasy Cats (2019) before the character was made a female. The role went to Dame Judi Dench. |
| Trademarks: |
Rich smooth voice
Often played aristocratic characters
Charming yet amoral characters |
| Quotes: |
[why he prefers playing evil characters] The devil is more interesting than God.
<br />
<hr>
Unless you can surround yourself with as many beautiful things as you can afford, I don't think life has very much meaning.
<br />
<hr>
I'm bored with questions about acting.
<br />
<hr>
[on working with Dame Julie Andrews] Working with her is like being hit over the head with a Valentine's card.
<br />
<hr>
[on Franchot Tone, who starred onstage with him in "The Petrified Forest"] His sense of humor, as one might guess, was seemingly self-deprecating, drawn always from this inexplicable inner torment. These vulnerable qualities were to make his Chekovian performances ("Uncle Vanya" and "A Moon for the Misbegotten"), both of whom I later saw, so memorable - a rare combination of lightness and poignancy... I saw in him someone I could perhaps one day aspire to; not the hidden sad, pained man that was part of Franchot but the part he couldn't conceal, no matter how hard he tried, the part that was refined, noble and infinitely kind. |
| Salaries: |
Starcrash (1979) - $30,000 |
| Job title: |
Actor,Producer,Music Department |
| Others works: |
(1982) Stage: Appeared (as "Iago") to James Earl Jones' lead role of Othello in William Shakespeare's "Othello" at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. NOTE: Nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor-Play.
(1988) Stage: Ap |
| Spouse: |
Elaine Taylor (October 2, 1970 - February 5, 2021) (his death)Patricia Lewis (May 4, 1962 - January 10, 1967) (divorced)Tammy Grimes (August 19, 1956 - September 2, 1960) (divorced, 1 child) |
| Children: |
Amanda Plummer |
| Parents: |
John Orme Plummer
Isabella Mary Abbott |
|
