Plummer, Christopher (1929-2021), was a Canadian stage and motion-picture actor. He gained an international reputation in a variety of roles. Plummer is probably best known as Captain Georg von Trapp in the movie musical The Sound of Music (1965). In 2012, at age 82, Plummer became the oldest person to win an Academy Award for acting. He won the Oscar as best supporting actor for his performance in Beginners (2010). Plummer played a father dying of cancer who reveals to his son that he is gay.
Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer was born on Dec. 13, 1929, in Toronto . He made his stage debut in Canada in 1950. During the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, he starred in several productions of plays by William Shakespeare at the Stratford festivals in Ontario and England. His roles included Hamlet, Henry V, and Richard III. Plummer first appeared on Broadway in 1954 and made his motion-picture debut in Stage Struck (1958). His major Broadway plays included J. B. (1958), The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1965), and The Good Doctor (1973). He also appeared in classical plays in London. Plummer gained great praise in 1997 for his performance in Barrymore, a one-man play about the American actor John Barrymore.
Plummer made more than 50 motion pictures. His films include The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964); Waterloo (1970); The Man Who Would Be King (1975); The Silent Partner (1979); Somewhere in Time (1980); Dragnet (1987); Star Trek VI (1991); Dolores Claiborne and 12 Monkeys (both 1995); Inside Man (2006); Man in the Chair (2007); The Last Station (2009), in which he portrayed the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy ; Priest and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (both 2011); Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight (2013); Elsa & Fred and Hector and the Search for Happiness (both 2014); and Danny Collins (2015). In 2011, Plummer starred in a motion-picture version of Barrymore.
Plummer was married to actress Tammy Grimes from 1956 to 1960. Their daughter, Amanda Plummer, also became a stage and screen actress. Christopher Plummer died on Feb. 5, 2021. Later that year, Canada Post issued a commemorative postage stamp featuring Plummer.
