Biography
From his 1950 debut onward, Christopher Plummer has been regarded as one of the most brilliant Canadian actors of his generation. His portrayal of Hamlet was a major ratings coup when telecast over the CBC in the early '60s. Following his first Broadway appearance in 1954 (among his New York stage credits are JB, Royal Hunt of the Sun and The Good Doctor), efforts were made to convert Plummer into an American matinee idol, most of these attempts were resisted by Plummer himself. His first two films,
Stage Struck (1957) and
Wind Across the Everglades (1958), set no new box office records, although the latter, directed by
Nicholas Ray, did earn strong critical notices. Plummer was shown to better advantage in such live network-TV presentations as The Prisoner of Zenda and
A Doll's House.
In 1965, the actor was cast as Captain Von Trapp in
The Sound of Music, an assignment he despised, reportedly referring to the musical blockbuster as The Sound of Mucus. Nonetheless, and as Plummer has ruefully noted on many occasions, this one film did more to make the actor bankable in Hollywood than any previous effort. He went on to do steady, if varied, work throughout the rest of the century. Among Plummer's more notable films were
The Return of the Pink Panther (1974), the British Empire extravaganza
The Man Who Would Be King (1975), 1979's
Murder by Decree (in which he starred as Sherlock Holmes),
Somewhere in Time (1980), the legendary 1983 miniseries
The Thorn Birds, 1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and 1995's
Dolores Claiborne and Twelve Monkeys. In 1999, Plummer received some of the strongest notices of his career for his uncannily accurate portrayal of 60 Minutes anchor Mike Wallace in
Michael Mann's
The Insider. Throughout his long career, the actor has won many awards, including Tonys for the musical Cyrano and the biopic Barrymore, and an Emmy for his work in the TV miniseries
The Moneychangers. Genie nominated for performances in the films Ararat and
Blizzard in 2002 and 2003 respectively, Plummer and his daughter Amanda were both nominated for Emmy awards for their television performances in 2005. Though the father would ultimately walk away empty-handed, the award would stay in the family when Amanda was bestowed the honor for her memorable guest appearance in an episode of Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit. With roles in such high profile theatrical releases including
The New World,
Inside Man, and
The Lake House keeping Plummer very much in the spotlight, it was obvious that his talent and passion for acting were still as strong as ever.
Talent seems to run in Plummer's family: he and first wife, actress
Tammy Grimes, are the parents of acclaimed actress
Amanda Plummer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide