105 Facts About Christopher Plummer

Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer was a Canadian actor.

Christopher Plummer's career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage and television.

Christopher Plummer's accolades included an Academy Award, two Tony Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards, making him the only Canadian recipient of the "Triple Crown of Acting".

Christopher Plummer received a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as a nomination for a Grammy Award.

Christopher Plummer received two Tony Awards, one for Best Actor in a Musical playing Cyrano de Bergerac in Cyrano and the other for Best Actor in a Play portraying John Barrymore in Barrymore.

Christopher Plummer made his film debut in Stage Struck, landed his first starring role that same year in Wind Across the Everglades.

Christopher Plummer became a household name as a result of his role as Captain Georg von Trapp in the musical film The Sound of Music alongside Julie Andrews.

Christopher Plummer is known for his roles in The Return of the Pink Panther, Somewhere in Time, The Man Who Planted Trees, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Malcolm X, The Insider, A Beautiful Mind, The New World, Syriana, Inside Man, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Knives Out.

Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer was born on December 13,1929, in Toronto, Ontario.

Christopher Plummer was the only child of John Orme Plummer, who sold stocks and other securities, and Isabella Mary Abbott, who worked as secretary to the Dean of Sciences at McGill University, and was the granddaughter of Canadian prime minister Sir John Abbott.

Christopher Plummer was a cousin of a Canadian classical pianist Janina Fialkowska and a second cousin of British actor Nigel Bruce, known for portraying Doctor Watson to Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes.

Christopher 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.

Christopher Plummer learned the basics of acting as an apprentice with the Montreal Repertory Theatre, where fellow Montrealer William Shatner played.

Christopher Plummer never attended university, something he regretted all his life.

Christopher 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.

Edward Everett Horton hired Christopher Plummer to appear as Gerard in the 1953 road show production of Andre Roussin's Nina, a role originated on Broadway by David Niven in 1951.

Christopher 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.

Christopher Plummer 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 Christopher Plummer serving as Power's understudy.

Christopher Plummer made his Canadian television debut in the February 1953 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation production of Othello, starring Lorne Greene as the Moor.

Christopher Plummer appeared throughout the 1950s on both dramatic showcase programs like The Alcoa Hour, General Electric Theater, Kraft Television Theatre, and Omnibus and episodic series.

Christopher Plummer made his debut at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 1956, playing the title role in Henry V, which subsequently was performed that year at the Edinburgh Festival.

Christopher Plummer played the title role in Hamlet and Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night at Stratford in 1957.

Christopher Plummer appeared in the live television drama Little Moon of Alban with Julie Harris, for which he received his first Emmy Award nomination.

Christopher Plummer appeared with Harris in the 1958 television adaptation of Johnny Belinda and played Torvald Helmer to Harris' Nora in a 1959 television version of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House.

Christopher Plummer starred in the television adaptations of Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story, George Bernard Shaw's Captain Brassbound's Conversion, Jean Anouilh's Time Remembered, and Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac.

Christopher Plummer played Hamlet in Hamlet at Elsinore, produced by Danish and British BBC TV, taped at Elsinore Castle.

Christopher Plummer appeared with the RSC in May 1961 in the lead role of Richard III.

Christopher Plummer made his London debut on June 11,1961, playing King Henry II in Jean Anouilh's Becket with the RSC at the Aldwych Theatre, directed by Peter Hall.

Christopher Plummer appeared less frequently on Broadway in the 1960s as he moved from New York to London.

Christopher Plummer appeared in the title role in a 1963 production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, which did not succeed, but he had a great success in Peter Shaffer's The Royal Hunt of the Sun, playing conquistador Francisco Pizarro to David Carradine's Atahuallpa.

That same year, Christopher Plummer played the lead in Nicholas Ray's film Wind Across the Everglades.

In 1963, he was the subject of a short National Film Board of Canada documentary, 30 Minutes, Mister Christopher Plummer, directed by Anne Claire Poirier.

Christopher Plummer returned to film playing the Roman emperor Commodus in Anthony Mann's epic The Fall of the Roman Empire.

Christopher 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.

Christopher Plummer acted alongside Julie Andrews, and the film earned five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Christopher Plummer declined to attend the 40th Anniversary cast reunion, but he did provide commentary on the 2005 DVD release.

Christopher Plummer relented for the 45th anniversary and appeared with the full cast on The Oprah Winfrey Show on October 28,2010.

In 2009, Christopher Plummer said that he was "a bit bored with the character".

Christopher Plummer was in Inside Daisy Clover, then played World War Two agent Eddie Chapman in Triple Cross, and had a supporting role as Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in The Night of the Generals.

Christopher Plummer was cast to replace Rex Harrison for the film adaptation of Doctor Dolittle.

Christopher Plummer had the title role in Oedipus the King and The High Commissioner, playing an Australian in the latter.

Christopher Plummer was one of many stars in Battle of Britain, and the lead in a musical, Lock Up Your Daughters.

On screen, Christopher Plummer portrayed the Duke of Wellington in Waterloo.

Christopher Plummer played Rudyard Kipling in The Man Who Would Be King.

Christopher Plummer appeared in the comedy The Return of the Pink Panther, alongside Peter Sellers and The Silent Partner opposite Elliott Gould.

Christopher Plummer appeared in Aces High, Starcrash, International Velvet and Murder by Decree.

Christopher Plummer acted in Lovers and Madmen at the Opera House at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, in 1973 and in Love and Master Will at the same venue in 1975.

Christopher Plummer's co-stars were Zoe Caldwell, Bibi Andersson and Leonard Nimoy.

Christopher Plummer appeared as Herod Antipas in the television miniseries Jesus of Nazareth alongside the ensemble cast which included Laurence Olivier, James Earl Jones and James Mason.

Christopher Plummer played Herbert Kappler in the true based television film The Scarlet and the Black.

Christopher Plummer did some voice work, such as his role of Henri the pigeon in An American Tail and the villainous Grand Duke of Owls in Rock-a-Doodle, both directed by Don Bluth.

Christopher Plummer gives us evil so pure - and so bottomless - that it can induce tears.

No, what Mr Christopher Plummer does is make us weep for a civilization that can produce such a man and allow him to flower.

In 1987, Christopher Plummer provided the English narration for Frederic Back's animated film The Man Who Planted Trees.

Christopher Plummer appeared with Jason Robards in the 1994 revival of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land by the Roundabout Theatre Company.

Christopher Plummer plays the humour and the bathos with equal ease and complete conviction.

Christopher 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".

Christopher Plummer's performance brought him his second Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actor in a Play.

Christopher Plummer continued acting in films including the science fiction film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which was a welcome opportunity for him since he was a fan of the Star Trek franchise which allowed him to perform with his former understudy and long-time friend, William Shatner.

Christopher Plummer appeared in Spike Lee's biographical drama Malcolm X, Mike Nichols' horror drama Wolf, Taylor Hackford's psychological drama Dolores Claiborne, and Terry Gilliam's science fiction drama 12 Monkeys.

Christopher Plummer portrayed George Hees in the Canadian miniseries The Arrow.

Christopher Plummer's other turns from this period include his roles as Dr Rosen in Ron Howard's Academy Award-winning biographical film A Beautiful Mind, Uncle Ralph to the title character in the 2002 film adaptation of Charles Dickens novel Nicholas Nickleby, Arthur Case in Spike Lee's film Inside Man, and the philosopher Aristotle in Alexander, alongside Colin Farrell.

In 2004, Christopher Plummer briefly played John Adams Gates in the Disney adventure film National Treasure.

Christopher Plummer appeared in Stephen Gaghan's drama Syriana, the romantic comedy Must Love Dogs, Terrence Malick's historical drama The New World, and the romantic drama The Lake House.

In 2009, Christopher Plummer gave a voice performance for Pixar's animated film Up where he played the antagonistic character Charles Muntz.

In 2000, Christopher Plummer played Sir David Maxwell Fyfe in the Primetime Emmy Award-winning Nuremberg alongside Alec Baldwin, Brian Cox and Max Von Sydow, and the Emmy-winning The Moneychangers.

Christopher Plummer received an Emmy Award nomination for his performance in Our Fathers and reunited with Julie Andrews for a television production of On Golden Pond.

Christopher Plummer was the narrator for The Gospel of John.

Christopher Plummer appeared as a presenter in the CPAC documentary series The Prime Ministers in 2004.

Christopher Plummer appeared in the third episode, "John Abbott".

Christopher Plummer 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.

In 2009 and 2010, Christopher 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.

Christopher Plummer returned to the Stratford Festival in the summer of 2010 in The Tempest as the lead character, Prospero, 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, Christopher Plummer presented A Word or Two again, at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

In January 2010, Christopher Plummer received his first Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of author Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station.

That same year, Christopher Plummer appeared in David Fincher's English-language film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo starring Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara and Stellan Skarsgard.

Christopher Plummer was announced as the winner at the 84th Academy Awards.

Christopher Plummer's win made him, at age 82, the oldest actor to win an Academy Award.

The film references that Shatner, two years Christopher Plummer's junior, was the other's understudy in a production of Henry V at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

When Christopher Plummer had fallen ill, Shatner took the stage, earning his first big break.

Christopher Plummer voiced Arngeir, speaker for the Greybeards, in the video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Christopher Plummer played Ebenezer Scrooge in The Man Who Invented Christmas, which is based on Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol.

Christopher Plummer starred in the Rian Johnson directed mystery thriller ensemble film Knives Out alongside Ana de Armas, Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Don Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Lakeith Stanfield and Michael Shannon.

Christopher Plummer plays Harlan Thrombey, a wealthy mystery novelist whose family is celebrating his 85th birthday party when a death occurs.

Christopher Plummer was set to return to Departure for season 2.

Christopher Plummer completed his filming for the second season shortly before his death.

In 2021, Christopher 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.

Christopher Plummer performed it and other works with the New York Philharmonic and symphony orchestras of London, Washington, DC, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax.

Christopher Plummer was next married to British entertainment journalist Patricia Lewis.

Christopher 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.

Three years after his second divorce, Christopher Plummer married actress Elaine Taylor on October 2,1970.

Christopher Plummer had no children with either his second or his third wife.

Christopher Plummer was a member of The Players social club in New York City.

Christopher Plummer died at his home in Weston, on February 5,2021, at the age of 91.

Christopher Plummer was a national treasure who deeply relished his Canadian roots.

Christopher Plummer is one of the few performers to have received the Triple Crown of Acting, and he is the only Canadian to accomplish this feat.

Christopher Plummer has received an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards.

Christopher Plummer has received a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Independent Spirit Award and Screen Actors Guild Award.

Christopher Plummer has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the following performances:.

In 2016, Christopher Plummer received the Canadian Screen Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Christopher Plummer was made an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts at New York's Juilliard School and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, McGill University, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Ottawa, and most recently the University of Guelph.

Christopher Plummer was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1986 and into Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto in 1998.

Christopher Plummer was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Actor's Branch from 2007.