Plummer, [Arthur] Christopher [ORME] (B. 1929), ACTOR. THE CANADIAN‐BORN PERFORMER HAS APPEARED IN NUMEROUS SHAKESPEAREAN ROLES WITH FESTIVALS IN CANADA AND ABROAD AND WON PRAISE FOR HIS IAGO IN A 1981 BROADWAY REVIVAL OF Othello. Among his other memorable assignments have been the Earl of Warwick in The Lark (1955), the satanic Nickles in J. B. (1958), Pizarro in The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1965), Cyrano de Bergerac in the musical Cyrano (1973), various Russians in The Good Doctor (1973), Macbeth (1988), Spooner in No Man's Land (1994), Barrymore (1997), and King Lear (2002 and 2004). Dashing, romantic, and yet cynical, Plummer exudes an old‐school charisma on stage but never stoops to histrionic tricks.
Christopher Plummer
| American Theater Guide: [Arthur] Christopher Plummer |
| Actor: Christopher Plummer |
- Born: Dec 13, 1927 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Occupation: Actor
- Active: '70s-2000s
- Major Genres: Drama, Children's/Family
- Career Highlights: The Sound of Music, The Insider, The Thorn Birds
- First Major Screen Credit: Stage Struck (1957)
Biography
From his 1950 debut onward, Christopher Plummer has been regarded as one of the most brilliant Canadian actors of his generation. His portrayal of Hamlet was a major ratings coup when telecast over the CBC in the early '60s. Following his first Broadway appearance in 1954 (among his New York stage credits are JB, Royal Hunt of the Sun and The Good Doctor), efforts were made to convert Plummer into an American matinee idol, most of these attempts were resisted by Plummer himself. His first two films, Stage Struck (1957) and Wind Across the Everglades (1958), set no new box office records, although the latter, directed by Nicholas Ray, did earn strong critical notices. Plummer was shown to better advantage in such live network-TV presentations as The Prisoner of Zenda and A Doll's House.In 1965, the actor was cast as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, an assignment he despised, reportedly referring to the musical blockbuster as The Sound of Mucus. Nonetheless, and as Plummer has ruefully noted on many occasions, this one film did more to make the actor bankable in Hollywood than any previous effort. He went on to do steady, if varied, work throughout the rest of the century. Among Plummer's more notable films were The Return of the Pink Panther (1974), the British Empire extravaganza The Man Who Would Be King (1975), 1979's Murder by Decree (in which he starred as Sherlock Holmes), Somewhere in Time (1980), the legendary 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds, 1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and 1995's Dolores Claiborne and Twelve Monkeys. In 1999, Plummer received some of the strongest notices of his career for his uncannily accurate portrayal of 60 Minutes anchor Mike Wallace in Michael Mann's The Insider. Throughout his long career, the actor has won many awards, including Tonys for the musical Cyrano and the biopic Barrymore, and an Emmy for his work in the TV miniseries The Moneychangers. Genie nominated for performances in the films Ararat and Blizzard in 2002 and 2003 respectively, Plummer and his daughter Amanda were both nominated for Emmy awards for their television performances in 2005. Though the father would ultimately walk away empty-handed, the award would stay in the family when Amanda was bestowed the honor for her memorable guest appearance in an episode of Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit. With roles in such high profile theatrical releases including The New World, Inside Man, and The Lake House keeping Plummer very much in the spotlight, it was obvious that his talent and passion for acting were still as strong as ever.
Talent seems to run in Plummer's family: he and first wife, actress Tammy Grimes, are the parents of acclaimed actress Amanda Plummer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
| Filmography: Christopher Plummer |
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| Wikipedia: Christopher Plummer |
This article is about the Canadian actor. For the English football player, see Chris Plummer.
| Christopher Plummer | |
|---|---|
 Plummer at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival |
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| Born | Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer December 13, 1929 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1953 – present |
| Spouse(s) | Tammy Grimes (1956-1960) Patricia Lewis (1962-1967) Elaine Taylor (1970-present) |
Christopher Plummer, CC (born December 13, 1929) is a Canadian theater, film and television actor. In a career that spans over five decades and includes substantial roles in film, television, and theater, Plummer is perhaps best known for the role of Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music. His most recent film roles include the Disney-Pixar 2009 film Up as Charles Muntz, the Shane Acker production 9 as 1 and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus as Doctor Parnassus.
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Early life
Plummer was born Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the son of Isabella Mary (née Abbott, granddaughter of Prime Minister John Abbott) and John Plummer, who was secretary to the Dean of Sciences at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.[1]
Theatre
Plummer has played most of the great roles in classic repertoire. He appeared in a lauded production of King Lear, directed by Jonathan Miller and performed at Lincoln Center. Plummer's performance as Lear garnered him his sixth Tony nomination.[2] He returned to Broadway in 2007 as Henry Drummond in a revival of Inherit the Wind, winning a Drama Desk Award nomination as well as his seventh Tony nomination.
Plummer returned to the stage at The Stratford Festival of Canada in August 2008 in a critically acclaimed performance as Julius Caesar in George Bernard Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra" directed by Tony winner Des McAnuff; 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.
Film
Plummer's eclectic career on screen began in 1958 when Sidney Lumet cast him as a young writer in Stage Struck. Since then he has appeared in a vast number of notable films which include The Man Who Would Be King, The Fall of the Roman Empire, Jesus of Nazareth, The Return of the Pink Panther, Battle of Britain, Waterloo, The Silent Partner, Dragnet, Shadow Dancing, Inside Daisy Clover, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Malcolm X, Dolores Claiborne, Wolf, Twelve Monkeys, Murder by Decree, Somewhere in Time and Syriana.
One of Plummer's most critically acclaimed roles was that of television journalist Mike Wallace in Michael Mann's Oscar-nominated The Insider, for which he won Boston, Los Angeles, and National Society of Film Critics Awards for 'Best Supporting Actor'; he was also nominated for Chicago and Las Vegas Film Critics Awards, as well as a Satellite Award. Predicions of an Oscar nomination circulated, but such recogniton never came.
Other recent successes include his roles as Dr. Rosen in Ron Howard's Academy Award winning A Beautiful Mind, Arthur Case in Spike Lee's 2006 film Inside Man, and the philosopher Aristotle in Alexander, alongside Colin Farrell. In 2004, Plummer played John Adams Gates in National Treasure.
Owing to the box office success and continued popularity of The Sound of Music (1965), Plummer is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Captain Von Trapp, a role he reportedly disliked.[3]
Plummer has also done some voice work, such as his role of the villainous Grand Duke of Owls in Rock-a-Doodle, the antagonistic Charles Muntz in Up and the elder leader 1 in the Tim Burton-produced action/sci-fi film 9.
Television
Among his television appearances, which number almost a hundred, are the Emmy winning BBC production Hamlet at Elsinore, the five-time Emmy winning The Thorn Birds, the Emmy-winning Nuremberg, the Emmy-winning Little Moon of Alban and the Emmy-winning Moneychangers.
He co-starred in American Tragedy as F. Lee Bailey (for which he received a Golden Globe Nomination), and appeared in Four Minute Mile, Miracle Planet, and a documentary by Ric Burns' about Eugene O’Neill. He received an Emmy nomination for his performance in Our Fathers and reunited with Julie Andrews for a television production of On Golden Pond. He also played Herod Antipas in the miniseries, Jesus of Nazareth and was the narrator for The Gospel of John.
He narrated the animated television series Madeline as well as the animated television series David the Gnome
Plummer has also written for the stage, television and the concert-hall. Plummer and Sir Neville Marriner rearranged Shakespeare’s Henry V with Sir William Walton’s music as a concert piece. They recorded the work with Marriner's chamber orchestra the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
He performed it and other works with the New York Philharmonic and symphony orchestras of London, Washington, D.C., Cleveland, Ohio, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax. With Marriner he made his Carnegie Hall debut in his own arrangements of Mendelssohn’s incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Honours and Awards
Plummer has won many honours in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Austria. He was the first winner of Canada's Genie Award, for Best Actor in Murder by Decree (1980) and has received three other Genie nominations. Plummer has won two Tony Awards (from seven nominations), and two Emmy Awards (six nominations) in the United States, and Great Britain's Evening Standard Award.
In 1968 he was invested as Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour. In 2001 he received the Canadian Governor General's Lifetime Achievement Award. He 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. Plummer was inducted into the American Theatre's Hall of Fame in 1986 and into Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto in 1997.
His awards include the following:
- London Evening Standard Award as Best Actor (1961), for his portrayal of King Henry II in the stage play, Becket
- Genie Award (1980), for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in Murder by Decree
- Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical (1974), for his lead role in Cyrano
- Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play (1997), for his lead role in Barrymore
- Emmy Award (1976), as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for Arthur Hailey's The Moneychangers
- Emmy Award (1994), for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his work on the Family Channel's Madeline children's series
- Edwin Booth Lifetime Achievement Award (1997)
- Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre (2002)
- Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award (1999) for The Insider
- Boston Society of Film Critics Award (1999) for The Insider
Personal life
Plummer has been married three times. His first marriage, to Tony Award-winning actress Tammy Grimes, was in 1956 and lasted for four years. The couple's daughter, Amanda Plummer (born 1957), is an acclaimed actress in her own right. Plummer was married to journalist Patricia Lewis from May 4, 1962 until their divorce in 1967. He and his third wife, British dancer and actress Elaine Reginia Taylor, have been married since 1970 and live in a 100-year-old converted farm house in Connecticut.[4]
In a 2005 interview with Entertainment Weekly Plummer unpretentiously maintained that in their early days he and his fellow actors didn't drink "because we had problems. We drank 'cause we adored it! We adored getting drunk, you a--holes! Don't tell me that it isn't fun! I can't bear that. Oh, you must have had some awful childhood, that you drank like that. Nonsense! Actually, I was taught as a child to drink. I came from a family that loved wine. I was twelve, I think, when I was drinking wine with dinner. I'm glad I had fun and lived in a fun time."
Plummer's memoir, In Spite of Myself,[5] was published by Knopf Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., in November 2008.
Filmography
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Upcoming
- The Last Station (2009)
- Priest (2010)
References
- ^ "Christopher Plummer Biography". http://www.filmreference.com/film/14/Christopher-Plummer.html.
- ^ Ben Brantley (5 March 2004). "A Fiery Fall Into the Abyss, Unknowing And Unknown". The New York Times. http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9B02E1D7133FF936A35750C0A9629C8B63. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
- ^ New York Times, 12/19/08
- ^ Steve Daly (18 November 2005). "Captain, Our Captain". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1128481,00.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
- ^ http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780679421627
External links
- Christopher Plummer at the Internet Broadway Database
- Christopher Plummer at the Internet off-Broadway Database
- Christopher Plummer at the Internet Movie Database
- Christopher Plummer at the Canadian Film Encyclopedia
- Confessions of Captain Von Trapp: An Interview With Christopher Plummer
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Mentioned in
- Madeline (1989 Children's/Family Film)
- Mindfield (1989 Drama Film)
- The Silver Blaze: Sherlock Holmes (TV Episode) (1977 Mystery TV Episode)
- Madeline's Christmas (1989 Children's/Family Film)
- Woman Wanted (1999 Drama Film)
- Madeline (1993 Children's/Family TV Series)
- The Sound of Music [London Palladium Cast Recording] (2007 Album by Original Soundtrack)
- Tribute [Video/DVD] (1997 Album by Yanni)
- Uppdraget (1978 Thriller Film)
- Being Different (1981 Culture & Society Film)
- The Boss' Wife (1986 Comedy Film)
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- The Disappearance (1977 Mystery Film)
- Hanover Street (1979 Drama Film)
