Award-winning actor was best known as ‘Sound of Music’ star
NEW YORK — Christopher Plummer, 91, the dashing award-winning actor who played Captain von Trapp in the film “The Sound of Music” and later became the oldest Academy Award acting winner in history, has died.
Plummer died Friday at his home in Connecticut with his wife, Elaine Taylor, by his side, said Lou Pitt, his longtime friend and manager.
Over more than 50 years in the industry, Plummer enjoyed varied roles ranging from the film “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” to the voice of the villain in 2009’s “Up” and as a canny lawyer in Broadway’s “Inherit the Wind.” In 2019, he starred as murdered mystery novelist in Rian Johnson’s whodunnit “Knives Out” and in the TV suspense drama series “Departure.”
But it was opposite Julie Andrews as von Trapp in 1965 that made him a star. He played an Austrian captain who must flee the country with his folk-singing family to escape service in the Nazi navy, a role he lamented was “humorless and one-dimensional.”
“The world has lost a consummate actor today, and I have lost a cherished friend. I treasure the memories of our work together and all the humor and fun we shared through the years,” Andrews said in a statement.
The role catapulted Plummer to stardom, but he never took to leading men parts, despite his silver hair, good looks and everso-slight English accent. He preferred character parts, considering them more meaty. His memoir in 2012 was titled “In Spite of Myself.”
Plummer had a remarkable film renaissance late in
life, which began with his acclaimed performance as Mike Wallace in Michael Mann’s 1999 film “The Insider,” continued in films such as 2001’s “A Beautiful Mind” and 2009’s “The Last Station,” in which he played a deteriorating Tolstoy and was nominated for an Oscar.
“He was a mighty force both as Man and Actor,” Helen Mirren, his co-star in “The Last Station,” said in a statement. “He was fearless, energetic, courageous, knowledgeable, professional and a monument to what an actor can be.”
In 2012, Plummer, then 82, won a supporting actor Oscar for his role in “Beginners” as Hal Fields, a museum director who becomes openly gay after his wife of 44 years dies.
Plummer in 2017 replaced Kevin Spacey as J. Paul Getty in “All the Money in the World” just six weeks before the film was set to hit theaters. That choice that was officially validated in the best possible way for the film — a supporting Oscar nomination for Plummer, his third.
The Canadian-born actor performed most of the
major Shakespeare roles, including Hamlet, Iago, Othello, Prospero, Henry V and a staggering “King Lear” at Lincoln Center in 2004. He was frequent star at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada.
He won two Tony Awards. The first was in 1974 for best actor in a musical for playing the title role in “Cyrano” and his second in 1997 for his portrayal of John Barrymore in “Barrymore.” He also won two Emmys.
Plummer married Tonywinning actor Tammy Grimes in 1956, and fathered his only child, actor Amanda Plummer, in 1957. Plummer and Grimes divorced in 1960.
A five-year marriage to Patricia Lewis ended in 1967. Plummer married his third wife, dancer Taylor, in 1970, and credited her with helping him overcome a drinking problem.
He was given Canada’s highest civilian honor when he was invested as Companion of the Order of Canada by Queen Elizabeth II in 1968, and was inducted into the American Theatre’s Hall of Fame in 1986.