Star of stage and screen from the success of The Sound of Music to the powerful performances and Oscar recognition of his later years
Destined, or doomed, to be remembered as Captain von Trapp in the 1965 film of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music, Christopher Plummer, who has died aged 91, was a tremendous actor, and leading star, on stage, screen and Alpine meadow for more than six decades.
With an imposing physique, a broad brow, sculpted features and a magnificent voice, he played almost all the leading Shakespearean roles – mostly in his native Canada, at the Stratford, Ontario, Shakespeare festival. But he also had brief spells with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre in Britain, while maintaining a film career that never looked back after an auspicious debut in Sidney Lumet’s theatrical comedy Stage Struck (1958), alongside Henry Fonda and Susan Strasberg.
Destined, or doomed, to be remembered as Captain von Trapp in the 1965 film of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music, Christopher Plummer, who has died aged 91, was a tremendous actor, and leading star, on stage, screen and Alpine meadow for more than six decades.
With an imposing physique, a broad brow, sculpted features and a magnificent voice, he played almost all the leading Shakespearean roles – mostly in his native Canada, at the Stratford, Ontario, Shakespeare festival. But he also had brief spells with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre in Britain, while maintaining a film career that never looked back after an auspicious debut in Sidney Lumet’s theatrical comedy Stage Struck (1958), alongside Henry Fonda and Susan Strasberg.
- 2/6/2021
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
Plummer in "Battle of Britain" (1969).
By Lee Pfeiffer
Christopher Plummer, the world-acclaimed star of stage, screen and television, has passed away at age 91. Complications from a fall in his Connecticut home were cited as the cause of death. Plummer never had to make his way up the ranks on the big screen. He received prominent billing in his movie debut in Sidney Lumet's 1958 production of "Stage Struck"- and henceforth he would generally enjoy starring roles. Plummer moved with ease between films, stage and TV, earning critical plaudits along the way, as well as winning two Tony Awards and a late career Oscar for the film "Beginnings" in 2010. He was especially acclaimed for his work in Shakespearean productions in the U.S., England and Canada. Plummer, a native Canadian, became a legend by playing the male lead, Captain von Trapp, in the 1965 Oscar-winning film production of "The Sound of Music...
By Lee Pfeiffer
Christopher Plummer, the world-acclaimed star of stage, screen and television, has passed away at age 91. Complications from a fall in his Connecticut home were cited as the cause of death. Plummer never had to make his way up the ranks on the big screen. He received prominent billing in his movie debut in Sidney Lumet's 1958 production of "Stage Struck"- and henceforth he would generally enjoy starring roles. Plummer moved with ease between films, stage and TV, earning critical plaudits along the way, as well as winning two Tony Awards and a late career Oscar for the film "Beginnings" in 2010. He was especially acclaimed for his work in Shakespearean productions in the U.S., England and Canada. Plummer, a native Canadian, became a legend by playing the male lead, Captain von Trapp, in the 1965 Oscar-winning film production of "The Sound of Music...
- 2/5/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Update: “Beginners” director Mike Mills has spoken to IndieWire about the passing of Christopher Plummer, who won an Academy Award for his role in the film. Plummer played Hal Fields, an aging patriarch who comes out to his son late in life, and chooses to live his final years as an out gay man.
“It was a great honor to work with Christopher, to be in conversation with such a dedicated artist,” Mike Mills said. “In his 80s when we met, I marveled at his intense curiosity, hunger to make something vulnerable, and his need to challenge himself. Christopher was both dignified and mischievous, deeply cultured and always looking for a good laugh. As he said about playing my father who was dying ‘not an ounce of self pity,’ and that’s how he was. I’ll always be indebted to Christopher for honoring the story of an older man...
“It was a great honor to work with Christopher, to be in conversation with such a dedicated artist,” Mike Mills said. “In his 80s when we met, I marveled at his intense curiosity, hunger to make something vulnerable, and his need to challenge himself. Christopher was both dignified and mischievous, deeply cultured and always looking for a good laugh. As he said about playing my father who was dying ‘not an ounce of self pity,’ and that’s how he was. I’ll always be indebted to Christopher for honoring the story of an older man...
- 2/5/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Christopher Plummer, the prolific actor who starred in The Sound of Music, Beginners, The Last Station and countless more, died Friday, February 5th. He was 91.
Plummer’s manager, Lou Pitt, confirmed his death, in a statement to Variety, “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...
Plummer’s manager, Lou Pitt, confirmed his death, in a statement to Variety, “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...
- 2/5/2021
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Christopher Plummer, the Canadian-born Shakespearean actor who starred in films including “The Sound of Music” and “Beginners,” died on Friday morning at his home in Connecticut. He was 91.
“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,” said Lou Pitt, his longtime friend and manager of 46 years. “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.”
An imposing theatrical presence with a well-cultivated, resonant voice, that critic John Simon once observed, “in its chamois mode, can polish mirrors,” Plummer was best known for playing Captain von Trapp in the Oscar-winning musical “The Sound of Music.” He also won an Oscar in 2012 for his supporting turn in the film “Beginners,...
“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,” said Lou Pitt, his longtime friend and manager of 46 years. “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.”
An imposing theatrical presence with a well-cultivated, resonant voice, that critic John Simon once observed, “in its chamois mode, can polish mirrors,” Plummer was best known for playing Captain von Trapp in the Oscar-winning musical “The Sound of Music.” He also won an Oscar in 2012 for his supporting turn in the film “Beginners,...
- 2/5/2021
- by Richard Natale
- Variety Film + TV
The Ape
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1940 / 62 min. / 1:33:1
Starring Boris Karloff, Maris Wrixon
Cinematography by Harry Neumann
Directed by William Nigh
William Nigh directed over 40 silent films before he signed on for The Ape, which might account for this 1940 film looking far older than its release date—the staging is rudimentary and the dialog so simple that intertitles would convey the action with all its meaning intact. Curt Siodmak’s storyline could have been plucked from a different era too—in particular 1931’s City Lights in which a flower girl regains her sight thanks to Chaplin’s perennial outcast, the little tramp. In The Ape the misfit is Boris Karloff as a scientist who helps a lame girl to walk—and though this low budget melodrama can’t compete with Chaplin’s sentimental masterpiece, like many silent era films, it has its own unvarnished appeal.
Karloff plays Dr. Adrian,...
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1940 / 62 min. / 1:33:1
Starring Boris Karloff, Maris Wrixon
Cinematography by Harry Neumann
Directed by William Nigh
William Nigh directed over 40 silent films before he signed on for The Ape, which might account for this 1940 film looking far older than its release date—the staging is rudimentary and the dialog so simple that intertitles would convey the action with all its meaning intact. Curt Siodmak’s storyline could have been plucked from a different era too—in particular 1931’s City Lights in which a flower girl regains her sight thanks to Chaplin’s perennial outcast, the little tramp. In The Ape the misfit is Boris Karloff as a scientist who helps a lame girl to walk—and though this low budget melodrama can’t compete with Chaplin’s sentimental masterpiece, like many silent era films, it has its own unvarnished appeal.
Karloff plays Dr. Adrian,...
- 10/20/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Howard Hughes movies (photo: Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in 'The Aviator') Turner Classic Movies will be showing the Howard Hughes-produced, John Farrow-directed, Baja California-set gangster drama His Kind of Woman, starring Robert Mitchum, Hughes discovery Jane Russell, and Vincent Price, at 3 a.m. Pt / 6 a.m. Et on Saturday, November 8, 2014. Hughes produced a couple of dozen movies. (More on that below.) But what about "Howard Hughes movies"? Or rather, movies -- whether big-screen or made-for-television efforts -- featuring the visionary, eccentric, hypochondriac, compulsive-obsessive, all-American billionaire as a character? Besides Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays a dashing if somewhat unbalanced Hughes in Martin Scorsese's 2004 Best Picture Academy Award-nominated The Aviator, other actors who have played Howard Hughes on film include the following: Tommy Lee Jones in William A. Graham's television movie The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977), with Lee Purcell as silent film star Billie Dove, Tovah Feldshuh as Katharine Hepburn,...
- 11/6/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Today we are concluding our two-part look at the life and career of legendary stage and screen icon Christopher Plummer by focusing on some of the finest films, television and filmed stage performances of his career thus far, as we anticipate the nationwide release of his newest stage and screen venture, the cinematic presentation of his recent turn as Prospero at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Des McAnuffs The Tempest, presented by Fathom-equipped movie theaters on June 13, followed by a QampA with Plummer. From his stage debut in the late-1940s through to his spectacular screen career begun with Sidney Lumets Stage Struck in 1958, in this career-spanning clip collection we will be sampling many of the most memorable and most notable projects from a rich resume ranging from almost every major male role in the canon of Shakespeare - As You Like It to The Winters Tale - to the work of Lilian Hellman,...
- 6/13/2012
- by Pat Cerasaro
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today we are shining a light on one of the most respected and revered stage and screen stars of the last several decades who is known the world over for not only his stirring and commanding dramatic performances and touching and rib-tickling comedies on film, but also for his iconic roles on the stage playing Shakespeare, and, perhaps most of all, for his essaying of Captain Von Trapp in the celebrated Robert Wise film adaptation of Rodgers amp Hammersteins Tony Award-winning The Sound Of Music - the elegant, graceful and eminently gifted Christopher Plummer. Looking back at a career spanning nearly seven decades, today we will focus on Plummers most important and most fondly remembered roles to date - ranging from Sidney Lumets Stage Struck in 1958 to his Shakespeare stage work, The Sound Of Music, The Return Of The Pink Panther, TVs The Thorn Birds, and, of course, his Academy...
- 6/8/2012
- by Pat Cerasaro
- BroadwayWorld.com
It has been a year since Sidney Lumet passed away on April 9, 2011. Here is our retrospective on the legendary filmmaker to honor his memory. Originally published April 15, 2011.
Almost a week after the fact, we, like everyone that loves film, are still mourning the passing of the great American master Sidney Lumet, one of the true titans of cinema.
Lumet was never fancy. He never needed to be, as a master of blocking, economic camera movements and framing that empowered the emotion and or exact punctuation of a particular scene. First and foremost, as you’ve likely heard ad nauseum -- but hell, it’s true -- Lumet was a storyteller, and one that preferred his beloved New York to soundstages (though let's not romanticize it too much, he did his fair share of work on studio film sets too as most TV journeyman and early studio filmmakers did).
His directing career stretched well over 50 years,...
Almost a week after the fact, we, like everyone that loves film, are still mourning the passing of the great American master Sidney Lumet, one of the true titans of cinema.
Lumet was never fancy. He never needed to be, as a master of blocking, economic camera movements and framing that empowered the emotion and or exact punctuation of a particular scene. First and foremost, as you’ve likely heard ad nauseum -- but hell, it’s true -- Lumet was a storyteller, and one that preferred his beloved New York to soundstages (though let's not romanticize it too much, he did his fair share of work on studio film sets too as most TV journeyman and early studio filmmakers did).
His directing career stretched well over 50 years,...
- 4/9/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
Meryl Streep, Christopher Plummer (and The Descendants' Alexander Payne in the background) Best Actress Meryl Streep chats — or at least looks into the eyes of — Best Supporting Actor Christopher Plummer backstage during the 2012 Academy Awards. This year's Oscar ceremony was held at the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26. Streep won the Oscar for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady. Plummer (Stage Struck, The Sound of Music, The Man Who Would Be King) won for his performance as Ewan McGregor's gay father in Mike Mills' semi-autobiographical Beginners. (Photo: Todd Wawrychuk / ©A.M.P.A.S.) Meryl Streep's competition for the Best Actress Oscar was comprised of Viola Davis for Tate Taylor's The Help, Michelle Williams (as Marilyn Monroe) for Simon Curtis' My Week with Marilyn, Rooney Mara for David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,...
- 2/27/2012
- by D. Zhea
- Alt Film Guide
Christopher Plummer Christopher Plummer — SAG Award winner for Male Actor in a Supporting Role — poses in the press room during the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. The SAG Awards ceremony was broadcast on TNT/TBS from the Shrine Auditorium on January 29, 2012, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/WireImage.) After expressing his pride in being a member of the world's "second oldest profession," Christopher Plummer went on to say that actors may be "wacky" and the like, but winning an award from them is like to be "lit by the Holy Grail." Plummer also thanked his Beginners co-star Ewan McGregor, who "makes acting look so easy," and the film's writer-director Mike Mills for creating "such a human story." Inspired by Mills' relationship with his own father, Beginners is the tale of a son (McGregor) who learns that his elderly father (Plummer) is gay. Plummer's competition consisted of Kenneth Branagh...
- 2/2/2012
- by D. Zhea
- Alt Film Guide
By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: The legendary Christopher Plummer, who has been earning raves for his performance in Mike Mills’ “Beginners” as a widower embracing his homosexuality, will receive the “Hollywood Supporting Actor Award” at this year’s 15th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, presented by Starz Entertainment. The event is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 24, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Plummer, an Academy Award nominee for his recent performance in “The Last Station,” has been enjoying even more awards chatter as of late for his turn as Hal, a closeted gay man who didn’t choose to come out until his wife passed away … much to the surprise of his son (Ewan McGregor).
Plummer, who can be seen in “Barrymore” and “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” later this year, will be on hand to accept the award.
His bio is below:
Christopher Plummer...
Hollywoodnews.com: The legendary Christopher Plummer, who has been earning raves for his performance in Mike Mills’ “Beginners” as a widower embracing his homosexuality, will receive the “Hollywood Supporting Actor Award” at this year’s 15th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, presented by Starz Entertainment. The event is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 24, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Plummer, an Academy Award nominee for his recent performance in “The Last Station,” has been enjoying even more awards chatter as of late for his turn as Hal, a closeted gay man who didn’t choose to come out until his wife passed away … much to the surprise of his son (Ewan McGregor).
Plummer, who can be seen in “Barrymore” and “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” later this year, will be on hand to accept the award.
His bio is below:
Christopher Plummer...
- 9/26/2011
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
Christopher Plummer has revealed that he "hated" taking on leading man roles early in his career. The Canadian actor landed a series of high profile parts after making his screen debut in director Sidney Lumet's 1958 drama Stage Struck, but Plummer has now explained to The AP that he always felt more comfortable portraying supporting characters. "I hated playing [the lead]. They were so innocuously and badly written and cardboard figures, most of them," the Beginners star lamented. "In my 40s, I began to suddenly enjoy making movies because the character parts are so much more interesting. "I started having a ball and working with much better directors - John Huston, for example, and Anatole Litvak from the old school. After Michael Mann's The Insider, then the scripts improved. I was upgraded! Since then, they've (more)...
- 6/7/2011
- by By Justin Harp
- Digital Spy
"Sidney Lumet, a director who preferred the streets of New York to the back lots of Hollywood and whose stories of conscience — 12 Angry Men, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, The Verdict, Network — became modern American film classics, died Saturday morning at his home in Manhattan. He was 86." Robert Berkvist in the New York Times: "'While the goal of all movies is to entertain,' Mr Lumet once wrote, 'the kind of film in which I believe goes one step further. It compels the spectator to examine one facet or another of his own conscience. It stimulates thought and sets the mental juices flowing.' Social issues set his own mental juices flowing, and his best films not only probed the consequences of prejudice, corruption and betrayal but also celebrated individual acts of courage."
"Nearly all the characters in Lumet's gallery are driven by obsessions or passions that range from the pursuit of justice,...
"Nearly all the characters in Lumet's gallery are driven by obsessions or passions that range from the pursuit of justice,...
- 4/18/2011
- MUBI
Prolific film director with a reputation for exploring social and moral issues
Sidney Lumet, who has died aged 86, achieved critical and commercial success with his first film, 12 Angry Men (1957), which established his credentials as a liberal director who was sympathetic to actors, loved words and worked quickly. For the bulk of his career, he averaged a film a year, earning four Oscar nominations along the way for best director, for 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976) and The Verdict (1982).
It is arguable that, had he not been so prolific, Lumet's critical reputation would have been greater. Certainly, for every worthwhile film there was a dud, and occasionally a disaster, to match it. But Lumet loved to direct and he was greatly esteemed by the many actors – notably Al Pacino and Sean Connery – with whom he established a lasting rapport.
The majority of his films were shot not in Hollywood, but in and around New York.
Sidney Lumet, who has died aged 86, achieved critical and commercial success with his first film, 12 Angry Men (1957), which established his credentials as a liberal director who was sympathetic to actors, loved words and worked quickly. For the bulk of his career, he averaged a film a year, earning four Oscar nominations along the way for best director, for 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976) and The Verdict (1982).
It is arguable that, had he not been so prolific, Lumet's critical reputation would have been greater. Certainly, for every worthwhile film there was a dud, and occasionally a disaster, to match it. But Lumet loved to direct and he was greatly esteemed by the many actors – notably Al Pacino and Sean Connery – with whom he established a lasting rapport.
The majority of his films were shot not in Hollywood, but in and around New York.
- 4/10/2011
- by Brian Baxter
- The Guardian - Film News
The morning of the Oscar nominations, I got a surprise. None of the nominations themselves were very surprising, but when I was going through and counting the past number of nominations for each nominee, I was surprised to learn that Christopher Plummer, at age 80, and a full fifty years after his motion picture debut in Sidney Lumet's Stage Struck, received his very first one. And frankly, he has thrown a monkey wrench in all my predictions and prognostications. It's his first nomination, he's 80 and he's playing a real-life person -- Leo Tolstoy, no less -- in The Last Station (352 screens). It doesn't even matter that the movie isn't very good and that Helen Mirren steals the movie away from him as Tolstoy's long-suffering wife. Plummer has become a serious contender.
Plummer has enjoyed one of those amazing careers as a supporting actor, having appeared in a broad range of interesting movies,...
Plummer has enjoyed one of those amazing careers as a supporting actor, having appeared in a broad range of interesting movies,...
- 3/7/2010
- by Jeffrey M. Anderson
- Cinematical
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