It took Plummer years to come to terms with the film’s overwhelming success-it won the Oscar for Best Picture and became one of the highest-grossing and most beloved films of all time. In 1958, he starred in Elia Kazan’s landmark production of Archibald MacLeish’s modern-day Job tale, J.B., which won a Tony for Best Play and earned Plummer the first of his seven Tony nominations. He had his first Broadway hit in 1955 acting alongside Julie Harris in Jean Anouilh’s The Lark. He made his Broadway debut at 23 in The Starcross Story, a play that closed on its opening night. By 18, he was already a repertory veteran who had starred as Oedipus and Cymbeline. Plummer’s talent, chiseled features, stentorian voice, and fluency in both English and French led to steady work in Montreal, in radio soaps, and onstage (where he often worked alongside another rising Canadian star, William Shatner). “I chose a more gregarious profession.” Turning to what he called his “obnoxious gift for mimicry,” which proved even more effective than music at gaining him attention and attracting girls, he became an actor. “I thought, Oh Christ, that’s much too hard work, and a terribly lonely life,” he recalled in 2000. In fact, Plummer gave up early on a career in music. “Is Christopher Plummer available for that, too? I hope he can do a Southern accent, because Kevin Spacey sure couldn't.” “I was happy to hear they're going to do another season of House of Cards,” Seth Meyers joked at the 2018 Golden Globes. He remained prolific until his death at age 91 at his home in Connecticut-even famously replacing Kevin Spacey in Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World after Spacey was accused of sexual misconduct. Indeed, it took him a while to find his footing in film as a character actor, and while he was constantly in demand, it was only in his 80s that he came to be regarded as a cinematic treasure, becoming the oldest person ever to win an Oscar when he was 82. von Trapp in The Sound of Music, the role for which he’s likely to be remembered above all others, and one he tried in vain to distance himself from for the rest of his life. But that was also the year of an early movie success, playing Capt. But don’t get impatient because it’s not going to happen until you’re nice and old.’ ” And she was absolutely right.”Īctually, Plummer was a celebrated stage actor early on, having played most of the major classical roles by the time he was 35. “She said, ‘You know, I think you’re going to be successful in this profession and I think you’re going to be all right. Three weeks before the 2015 ceremony in which his footprints were finally immortalized in concrete at Hollywood’s Chinese Theatre, an honor he didn’t receive until he was 85, Christopher Plummer recalled something his mother told him when she saw him perform as a teenager.
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