| Christopher Plummer  AKA Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer
Born: 13-Dec-1929
Birthplace: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died: 5-Feb-2021
Location of death: Weston, CT
Cause of death: Accident - Fall
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor Nationality: Canada
Executive summary: A Beautiful Mind Christopher Plummer is a longtime film actor, best known for appearing to sing "Edelweiss" as Baron von Trapp in The Sound of Music, with Julie Andrews and a fleet of singing children, but ironically Plummer abhors that film, and derisively refers to it as The Sound of Mucus.
Plummer was born into a family of well-off actors. His great-uncle, Nigel Bruce, played Dr Watson opposite Basil Rathbone in numerous Sherlock Holmes films, and Plummer's great-grandfather, Sir John Abbott, was the mayor of Montreal and later Prime Minister of Canada. Plummer's parents were divorced mere weeks after he was born, and the boy was raised by his mother and several aunts.
He knew from an early age he wanted to be an actor, and began working with the Canadian Repertory Company in his mid-teens, often appearing on stage and eventually radio roles alongside his fellow Canadian and friend William Shatner. Plummer made his professional debut at 17, and long before either man was famous, he starred in a Montreal production of Henry V, with Shatner as his understudy. By his mid-20s, Plummer was well-known in theater circles as a heavy drinker and suave ladies' man, a reputation he still relishes. "To be known as a rake at twenty-two or twenty-three was so much more satisfying than any career move."
He worked his way to Broadway by 1954, debuting in a bomb, The Starcross Story with Mary Astor, which closed on its opening night. His luck improved, and he was eventually nominated for six Tonys, winning the award in 1974 for the title role in a musical of Cyrano, and again in 1997 playing John Barrymore in Barrymore.
After numerous appearances on live television plays, his first film was Stage Fright, a generally forgotten backstage drama with Henry Fonda. Plummer, though, was a dashingly handsome actor, and his memorable big-screen roles include the psychotically laughing Commodus in the sprawling Fall of the Roman Empire with Alec Guinness and Sophia Loren, the intense manager of teen starlet Natalie Wood in Inside Daisy Clover, a jaunty Sherlock Holmes in Murder by Decree with James Mason as Dr Watson, and Rudyard Kipling telling the tale of The Man Who Would Be King with Sean Connery and Michael Caine.
As Plummer aged, his face evolved into a craggy, wrinkled moonscape, and in his late career he played several memorable elderlies -- the scientist father of radical Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys, a spineless Mike Wallace in The Insider with Russell Crowe, Crowe's shrink in A Beautiful Mind, and the priest and pedophile-enabler Bernard Cardinal Law in Our Fathers. After playing Cardinal Law, Plummer publicly criticized the Vatican for its decades of protecting child abusers "behind crimson robes".
Plummer and Shatner were reunited in the final voyage of the original Star Ship Enterprise, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). Plummer played the Shakespeare-quoting Klingon, General Chang, making a half-attempt at diplomacy with the despised Federation of Planets.
Father: John Plummer (lawyer at McGill University)
Mother: Isabella Mary Plummer
Wife: Tammy Grimes (actress, m. 19-Aug-1956, div. 1960, one daughter)
Daughter: Amanda Plummer (actress, b. 23-Mar-1957)
Wife: Patricia Lewis (British journalist, m. 4-May-1962, div. 1967)
Wife: Elaine Taylor (actress, dated 1968-70, m. 1970, until his death)
High School: Jennings Private School, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Golden Globe 2012, Best Supporting Actor, for Beginners
Oscar for Best Supporting Actor 2012 for Beginners
Order of Canada 1968
Canada's Walk of Fame 1998
Risk Factors: Alcoholism
TELEVISION
Counterstrike Alexander Addington (1990-93)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
All the Money in the World (18-Dec-2017)
The Man Who Invented Christmas (10-Nov-2017)
The Exception (12-Sep-2016)
Remember (10-Sep-2015)
Danny Collins (19-Mar-2015)
The Forger (12-Sep-2014)
Hector and the Search for Happiness (14-Aug-2014)
Elsa & Fred (7-Mar-2014)
The Legend of Sarila (1-Mar-2013) [VOICE]
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (12-Dec-2011)
Priest (26-Apr-2011) · Monsignor Orelas
Beginners (11-Sep-2010) · Hal
The Last Station (4-Sep-2009) · Tolstoy
9 (19-Aug-2009) · #1 [VOICE]
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (22-May-2009) · Doctor Parnassus
Up (13-May-2009) · Charles Muntz [VOICE]
My Dog Tulip (May-2009) [VOICE]
Already Dead (11-Dec-2007)
Emotional Arithmetic (15-Sep-2007) · David Winters
Closing the Ring (14-Sep-2007)
Man in the Chair (27-Jan-2007) · Flash Madden
The Lake House (16-Jun-2006)
Inside Man (16-May-2006)
The New World (25-Dec-2005) · Capt. Newport
Syriana (23-Nov-2005) · Dean Whiting
Four Minutes (6-Oct-2005)
Must Love Dogs (21-Jul-2005)
Our Fathers (11-May-2005)
National Treasure (8-Nov-2004)
Alexander (5-Nov-2004)
Cold Creek Manor (17-Sep-2003) · Mr. Massie
The Gospel of John (11-Sep-2003) · Narrator [VOICE]
Blizzard (15-May-2003)
Nicholas Nickleby (27-Dec-2002) · Ralph Nickleby
Ararat (20-May-2002) · David
A Beautiful Mind (13-Dec-2001)
Lucky Break (24-Aug-2001)
On Golden Pond (29-Apr-2001) · Norman Thayer
Full Disclosure (2001)
Dracula 2000 (22-Dec-2000) · Abraham Van Helsing
Possessed (22-Oct-2000)
Nuremberg (16-Jul-2000)
The Insider (5-Nov-1999)
Madeline: Lost in Paris (20-Aug-1999) · Narrator [VOICE]
Winchell (11-Nov-1998)
The Clown at Midnight (1998)
Hidden Agenda (1998)
Conspiracy of Fear (Feb-1997)
The Arrow (12-Jan-1997)
We the Jury (16-Oct-1996)
Skeletons (1996)
Twelve Monkeys (27-Dec-1995) · Dr. Goines
Harrison Bergeron (13-Aug-1995)
Dolores Claiborne (24-Mar-1995) · Det. John Mackey
Wolf (17-Jun-1994) · Raymond Alden
Crackerjack (1994)
A Stranger in the Mirror (24-Oct-1993)
Malcolm X (18-Nov-1992) · Chaplain Gill
Secrets (6-Apr-1992)
Liar's Edge (14-Feb-1992) · Harry Weldon
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (6-Dec-1991) · Chang
Rock-A-Doodle (22-Nov-1991) [VOICE]
Young Catherine (17-Feb-1991)
Firehead (25-Jan-1991)
A Ghost in Monte Carlo (2-Apr-1990)
Where the Heart Is (23-Feb-1990)
Red Blooded American Girl (1990)
Mindfield (Nov-1989)
Souvenir (6-Jan-1989)
Vampire in Venice (1-Sep-1988)
I Love N.Y. (1988)
A Hazard of Hearts (27-Dec-1987)
Dragnet (26-Jun-1987) · Whirley
An American Tail (21-Nov-1986) · Henri [VOICE]
The Boss' Wife (7-Nov-1986)
The Boy in Blue (17-Jan-1986)
Lily in Love (17-Oct-1984)
Dreamscape (15-Aug-1984) · Bob Blair
Ordeal by Innocence (1984)
Prototype (7-Dec-1983) · Dr. Carl Forrester
The Thorn Birds (27-Mar-1983)
The Scarlet and the Black (2-Feb-1983)
Little Gloria: Happy at Last (24-Oct-1982)
Highpoint (30-Sep-1982)
The Amateur (11-Dec-1981)
Eyewitness (26-Aug-1981) · Joseph
The Shadow Box (Sep-1980)
Somewhere in Time (1980) · W. F. Robinson
Hanover Street (18-May-1979)
Murder by Decree (1-Feb-1979) · Sherlock Holmes
Starcrash (21-Dec-1978) · The Emperor
International Velvet (13-Oct-1978) · John Seaton
The Silent Partner (7-Sep-1978)
The Disappearance (17-Sep-1977)
The Assignment (11-Jul-1977)
Jesus of Nazareth (3-Apr-1977)
Aces High (30-Sep-1976) · Sinclair
The Man Who Would Be King (17-Dec-1975) · Rudyard Kipling
Conduct Unbecoming (5-Oct-1975)
The Return of the Pink Panther (21-May-1975) · Sir Charles Litton
The Spiral Staircase (31-Jan-1975) · Dr. Joe Sherman
The Pyx (13-Sep-1973)
Waterloo (26-Oct-1970)
The Royal Hunt of the Sun (6-Oct-1969)
Battle of Britain (15-Sep-1969) · Squadron Leader Colin Harvey
Lock Up Your Daughters! (30-Mar-1969)
The High Commissioner (22-Aug-1968)
Oedipus the King (Jun-1968)
The Night of the Generals (2-Feb-1967)
Triple Cross (9-Dec-1966) · Eddie Chapman
Inside Daisy Clover (17-Feb-1966) · Raymond Swan
The Sound of Music (2-Mar-1965) · Captain von Trapp
The Fall of the Roman Empire (26-Mar-1964)
Wind Across the Everglades (11-Sep-1958)
Stage Struck (22-Apr-1958) · Joe Sheridan
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