Age, Biography, and Wiki
Christopher Plummer was born on December 13, 1929, in Toronto, Canada. He passed away on February 5, 2021, at the age of 91. With a career that began in the early 1950s, Plummer became the only Canadian to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting," winning an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards.
| Occupation | Voice Actors |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 13 December 1929 |
| Age | 95 Years |
| Birth Place | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Horoscope | Sagittarius |
| Country | Canada |
| Date of death | 5 February, 2021 |
| Died Place | Weston, Connecticut, U.S. |
Height, Weight & Measurements
There is limited specific information available about Christopher Plummer's height and weight. However, he was known for his tall and imposing figure, which suited many of his iconic roles.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Plummer was married three times. His first marriage was to actress Tammy Grimes, with whom he had a daughter, Amanda Plummer. He was married to actress Patricia Lewis from 1962 to 1967. His final marriage was to Elaine Taylor, whom he married in 1970 and remained with until his death.
He was the only child of John Orme Plummer (1894–1977), who sold stocks and other securities, and Isabella Mary Abbott, who worked as secretary to the Dean of Sciences at McGill University, and was the granddaughter of Canadian prime minister Sir John Abbott. On his father's side, Plummer's great-uncle was patent lawyer and agent F. B. Fetherstonhaugh. Plummer was also a cousin of a Canadian classical pianist Janina Fialkowska and a second cousin of British actor Nigel Bruce, known for portraying Doctor Watson to Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes.
Plummer's parents separated shortly after his birth, and he was brought up mainly by his mother in the Abbott family home in Senneville, Quebec, on the western tip of the Island of Montreal. Aside from English, he spoke French fluently. As a schoolboy, he began studying to be a concert pianist, but developed a love for theatre at an early age, and began acting while he was attending the High School of Montreal. He took up acting after watching Laurence Olivier's film Henry V (1944). He learned the basics of acting as an apprentice with the Montreal Repertory Theatre, where fellow Montrealer William Shatner also played.
Plummer never attended university, something he regretted all his life. Although his mother and his father's family had ties with McGill University, he was never a McGill student.
Plummer was married three times. His first wife was actress Tammy Grimes, whom he married in 1956. Their marriage lasted four years, and they had a daughter together, the actress Amanda Plummer.
Three years after his second divorce, Plummer married actress Elaine Taylor on October 2, 1970. They lived in Weston, Connecticut. Plummer had no children with either his second or his third wife.
| Parents | |
| Husband | Tammy Grimes (m. 1956-1960) Patricia Lewis (m. May 4, 1962-1967) Elaine Taylor (m. October 2, 1970) |
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Net Worth and Salary
At the time of his death, Christopher Plummer's net worth was estimated to be around $20 million. This wealth was accumulated through his successful career in film, television, and theater, which spanned over six decades.
Career, Business, and Investments
Plummer's career was incredibly diverse and successful. He started acting in the early 1950s and continued working until his death in 2021. Some of his most notable roles include Captain Georg Ludwig von Trapp in "The Sound of Music," J. Paul Getty in "All the Money in the World," and Harlan Thrombey in "Knives Out." He was also known for his extensive work on stage, winning multiple awards for his performances in plays like "Cyrano" and "Barrymore".
There is no detailed information available about specific business ventures or investments undertaken by Plummer, but his enduring legacy in the entertainment industry is testament to his professional success.
Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer (December 13, 1929 – February 5, 2021) was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage and television. His accolades included an Academy Award, two Tony Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards, making him the only Canadian recipient of the "Triple Crown of Acting". He also received a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as a nomination for a Grammy Award.
In April 1961, he appeared as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing with the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He also appeared with the RSC in May 1961 in the lead role of Richard III. He made his London debut on June 11, 1961, playing King Henry II in Jean Anouilh's Becket with the RSC at the Aldwych Theatre, directed by Peter Hall. The production later transferred to the Globe for a December 1961 to April 1962 run. For his performance, Plummer won the Evening Standard Award for Best Actor. At the Stratford Festival, he played Philip the Bastard in King John and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. In 1962, he played the title roles in both Cyrano de Bergerac and Macbeth, returning in 1967 to play Mark Antony in Antony and Cleopatra. Plummer appeared less frequently on Broadway in the 1960s as he moved from New York to London.
He appeared in the title role in a 1963 production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, which did not succeed, but he had a great success in Peter Shaffer's The Royal Hunt of the Sun, playing conquistador Francisco Pizarro to David Carradine's Atahuallpa. Both performances were "stunning", as Plummer did wonders "of extraordinary beauty and deep pain" in playing his complex character. Plummer's film career began in 1958 when Sidney Lumet cast him as a young writer in Stage Struck. That same year, Plummer played the lead in Nicholas Ray's film Wind Across the Everglades. In 1963, he was the subject of a short National Film Board of Canada documentary, 30 Minutes, Mister Plummer, directed by Anne Claire Poirier. Plummer returned to film playing the Roman emperor Commodus in Anthony Mann's epic The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964).
In 1987, Plummer provided the English narration for Frédéric Back's animated film The Man Who Planted Trees. The film won Best Animated Short at the 60th Academy Awards. In 1988, he starred in another Shakespeare adaptation on Broadway in the title role in Macbeth with Glenda Jackson playing his lady. Frank Rich wrote of his performance "Mr. Plummer's thoughtful, beautifully spoken performance best illuminates the strengths and built-in limitations of the entire enterprise. This actor grapples arrestingly with his early bouts of conscience, as horrible imaginings send Macbeth's heart knocking at his ribs." From 1990 to 1993, he starred in the Canadian-French drama series Counterstrike. From 1993 to 1995, he narrated the animated television series Madeline, for which he received an Emmy Award, as well as the animated television series The World of David the Gnome. He appeared with Jason Robards in the 1994 revival of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land by the Roundabout Theatre Company. Variety film critic Jeremy Gerard praised Plummer's performance while critiquing Robards by writing, "They're a remarkable pair to watch wrangling with Pinter's elliptical, often uncrackable script. As it happens, Plummer emerges triumphant, while Robards seems utterly at sea...Plummer plays the humour and the bathos with equal ease and complete conviction. By turns funny and heartbreaking, it's an exquisite, haunting performance." For his performance Plummer received his fourth Tony Award nomination.
In January 2010, Plummer received his first Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of author Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station (2009). Speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in an interview that aired on March 7, 2010, Plummer added, tongue-in-cheek, "Well, I said it's about time! I mean, I'm 80 years old, for God's sake. Have mercy." On Oscar night, March 7, 2010, however, he lost to Christoph Waltz. That same year, Plummer appeared in David Fincher's English-language film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo starring Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara and Stellan Skarsgård. The film was a critical and commercial success. Earlier that year, Plummer received his second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Mike Mills' independent comedy drama film Beginners (2011) starring Ewan McGregor and Mélanie Laurent. Plummer was announced as the winner at the 84th Academy Awards. Plummer's win made him, at age 82, the oldest actor to win an Academy Award. When he accepted the award, he quipped: "You're only two years older than me, darling. Where have you been all my life?" In 2011, he appeared in the feature-length documentary The Captains. The film, written and directed by William Shatner, sees Shatner interview Plummer at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Theatre where they talk about their young careers, long lasting friendship, and Plummer's role as Chang in Star Trek VI. The film references that Shatner, two years Plummer's junior, was the other's understudy in a production of Henry V at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. When Plummer had fallen ill, Shatner took the stage, earning his first big break. Plummer voiced Arngeir, speaker for the Greybeards, in the video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. In 2015, he starred in the Atom Egoyan-directed thriller Remember, alongside Martin Landau and Bruno Ganz. Plummer played Ebenezer Scrooge in The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017), which is based on Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol.
In 2016, Plummer received the Canadian Screen Award for Lifetime Achievement. Over his distinguished career he received numerous honours from Canada. In 1968, he was invested as Companion of the Order of Canada, at the time among Canada's highest civilian honours. In 2001, he received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts. 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 (now Toronto Metropolitan 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 Hall of Fame in 1986 and into Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto in 1998. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Actor's Branch from 2007.
Social Network
Christopher Plummer was not particularly active on social media platforms, as his focus was primarily on his acting career. However, he was widely celebrated by his peers and fans for his contributions to the entertainment industry.
Plummer made his Broadway debut in the 1954 play The Starcross Story. He received two Tony Awards, one for Best Actor in a Musical playing Cyrano de Bergerac in Cyrano (1974) and the other for Best Actor in a Play portraying John Barrymore in Barrymore (1997). His other Tony-nominated roles include in J.B. (1959), Othello (1982), No Man's Land (1994), King Lear (2004) and Inherit the Wind (2007).
Plummer made his professional acting debut in 1948 with Ottawa's Stage Society after which he performed roles as an apprentice artist with the Montreal Repertory Theatre alongside fellow apprenticing actor William Shatner. In 1952, he starred in a number of productions at the Bermudiana Theatre in the City of Hamilton, in the British colony of Bermuda where he was seen and recruited by an American producer, although he was reluctant to leave Bermuda. Edward Everett Horton hired Plummer to appear as Gerard in the 1953 road show production of André Roussin's Nina, a role originated on Broadway by David Niven in 1951. Plummer made his Broadway debut in January 1953 in the Diana Morgan play The Starcross Story, a show that closed on opening night after a plagiarism lawsuit shut down the production. Plummer acted opposite Mary Astor and Margaret Bannerman.
Plummer made his Canadian television debut in the February 1953 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation production of Othello, starring Lorne Greene as the Moor. His American television debut was also in 1953 on a Studio One episode entitled "The Gathering Night", as an artist who finds success just as his eyesight begins to fail him. He also appeared throughout the 1950s on both dramatic showcase programs like The Alcoa Hour, General Electric Theater, Kraft Television Theatre, and Omnibus and episodic series. In 1956, he appeared with Jason Robards and Constance Ford in an episode entitled "A Thief There Was" of CBS's anthology series Appointment with Adventure. Plummer made his debut at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 1956, playing the title role in Henry V, which subsequently was performed that year at the Edinburgh Festival. He played the title role in Hamlet and Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night at Stratford in 1957. The following year, he played Leontes in The Winter's Tale, Bardolph in Henry IV, Part 1, and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. In 1959, Plummer appeared in Elia Kazan's successful Broadway production of Archibald MacLeish's Pulitzer Prize-winning play J.B.; Plummer was nominated for his first Tony for Best Actor in Play. (J.B. also won Tonys for Best Play and for Kazan's direction.)
He appeared in the live television drama Little Moon of Alban with Julie Harris, for which he received his first Emmy Award nomination. He also appeared with Harris in the 1958 television adaptation of Johnny Belinda and played Torvald Helmer to Harris' Nora in a 1959 television version of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. Plummer starred in the television adaptations of Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story (1959), George Bernard Shaw's Captain Brassbound's Conversion (1960), Jean Anouilh's Time Remembered (playing the role of Prince Albert originated by Richard Burton on Broadway), and Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (1962). In 1964, his performance of the Gloomy Dane in the BBC production Hamlet at Elsinore garnered him his second Emmy nomination. He played Hamlet in Hamlet at Elsinore, produced by Danish and British BBC TV (1964), taped at Elsinore Castle.
He relented for the 45th anniversary and appeared with the full cast on The Oprah Winfrey Show on October 28, 2010. In 2009, Plummer said that he was "a bit bored with the character". He said: "Although we worked hard enough to make him interesting, it was a bit like flogging a dead horse. And the subject matter is not mine. I mean, it can't appeal to every person in the world." However, he admitted that the film itself was well made and was proud to be associated with a film with such mass appeal. "But it was a very well-made movie, and it's a family movie and we haven't seen a family movie, I don't think, on that scale for ages." In one interview he said that he had "terrific memories" of making the movie.
Education
Plummer was educated at the Montreal High School and McGill University, though he did not graduate from McGill. He was trained in acting at the Canadian Repertory Theatre in Ottawa.
In summary, Christopher Plummer left a lasting impact on the entertainment industry through his remarkable performances and enduring legacy. Though he passed away in 2021, his life and career continue to inspire aspiring actors and fans alike.
In 1946, he caught the attention of Montreal Gazette's theatre critic Herbert Whittaker with his performance as Mr. Darcy in a Montreal High School production of Pride and Prejudice. Whittaker was also amateur stage director of the Montreal Repertory theatre, and he cast Plummer at age 18 as Oedipus in Jean Cocteau's La Machine infernale.
Plummer acted in Lovers and Madmen at the Opera House at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in 1973 and in Love and Master Will at the same venue in 1975. Love and Master Will consisted of selections from the works of William Shakespeare on the subject of love, arranged by Plummer. His co-stars were Zoe Caldwell, Bibi Andersson and Leonard Nimoy. Plummer played "Edgar" in E. L. Doctorow's Drinks before Dinner with the New York Shakespeare Festival at the Public/Newman Theatre in New York City in 1978. He appeared as Herod Antipas in the television miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977) alongside the ensemble cast which included Laurence Olivier, James Earl Jones and James Mason. Plummer played Herbert Kappler in the true based television film The Scarlet and the Black. That same year, he starred in the five-time Emmy Award-winning television series The Thorn Birds, alongside Barbara Stanwyck and Jean Simmons.
During this time Plummer appeared in the romantic drama Somewhere in Time (1980), the drama Eyewitness (1981), the comedy Dragnet (1987) and Shadow Dancing (1988). Plummer also did some voice work, such as his role of Henri the pigeon in An American Tail (1986) and the villainous Grand Duke of Owls in Rock-a-Doodle (1991), both directed by Don Bluth. In 1982, he starred on Broadway production of the Shakespearean tragedy Othello, playing Iago opposite James Earl Jones' Moor. The production also featured performances from Kelsey Grammer as Cassio and Dianne Wiest as Desdemona. New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich wrote in his original review, "Mr. Plummer, a sensational actor in peak form, has made something crushing out of Shakespeare's archvillain. He gives us evil so pure - and so bottomless - that it can induce tears. Our tears are not for the dastardly Iago, of course - that would be wrong. No, what Mr. Plummer does is make us weep for a civilization that can produce such a man and allow him to flower." For his performance he received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination losing to Roger Rees in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.
In November 2017, Plummer, who was director Ridley Scott's original choice to play J. Paul Getty in All the Money in the World, was cast to replace Kevin Spacey in the then-already completed film. The move came amid numerous sexual misconduct allegations made against Spacey. All scenes that had included Spacey were re-shot with Plummer. Co-stars Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams were part of the necessary filming. The decision was made not long before the scheduled release date of December 22. TriStar Pictures intended to meet that release date in spite of the tight re-shooting and editing schedule; it was eventually pushed back to December 25. For his performance, Plummer was nominated for the Golden Globe, British Academy Film Award and Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor. Eric Kohn of IndieWire wrote of his performance, "Plummer is a world-class performer who endows Getty with a smarmy obstinance that aligns with the movie’s blunt storytelling".
