Legendary actor Christopher Plummer has passed away at the age of 91. For seven decades, he worked as an actor on the stage and the screen, bringing dozens of characters to life for fans worldwide. Plummer became a household name for his performance as Captain Georg von Trapp in 1965’s The Sound of Music, but the legacy of his career and his impact on the entertainment world go far beyond any single film.
Born in Toronto in 1929, Plummer worked as a Canadian stage and television actor in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s. He made his Broadway debut in 1953 and worked extensively in productions of Shakespeare. In 1965, he starred alongside Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, shooting him to stardom after its immense success. For the next 55 years, Plummer performed in numerous acclaimed films, including The Man Who Would Be King, The Return of the Pink Panther, The Thorn Birds, The Last Station, Up, and Knives Out. In 2012, Plummer received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Beginners.
His family announced the news of Plummer’s death on Friday, February 5. He passed peacefully at his Connecticut home, with his wife Elaine Taylor by his side. The two were married for 53 years. Per Deadline, Plummer’s close friend and manager Lou Pitt said of the star, “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 endure for all generations to come. He will forever be with us.” Plummer is survived by his wife and his daughter Amanda.
Few performers ever make the impact Plummer did with roles like Captain von Trapp, but even fewer maintain that impact throughout his long career. In 2019, Plummer once again captured audiences' imaginations as Harlan Thrombey in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, a film for which he received the same high praise that followed him through more than seventy years of acting.
Christopher Plummer’s body of work, which spans from Shakespeare to sci-fi and includes everything in between, stands as a testament to his versatility and talent and an emblem of the impact he had on the entertainment industry at large. Our thoughts are with his family and those who knew him best during this time. There are many more whose lives were tangentially touched by the work of Christopher Plummer.
Source: Deadline