Farewell, Christopher Plummer
February 5, 2021 11:53 AM   Subscribe

One of the most prolific and respected actors in the world, with a filmography spanning over 60 years: Christopher Plummer, has passed away at the age of 91.
posted by darkstar (74 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
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posted by Lynsey at 11:54 AM on February 5, 2021


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posted by Thorzdad at 11:58 AM on February 5, 2021


My absolutely favorite actor. His charm, skill, and sophisticated gentility elevated every role and film he was in, even when the roles were terrible.

Although his turn as the golden-throated Von Trapp patriarch in The Sound of Music was his most iconic role, check him out in the 2015 film Remember if you haven't already done so.

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posted by darkstar at 11:58 AM on February 5, 2021 [2 favorites]


Two memories of Chris Plummer.

A while ago, I got to see him as Prospero at Stratford. I was sitting first row, extreme stage left. As luck would have it, Chris came onstage at that exact spot, and delivered his opening soliloquy right above me. Such acting, so close up, so powerful, this film star made flesh before me. He was showering me with his astounding performance — and his spittle. I loved it. It was perhaps the greatest thing I’ve witnessed in all of Art. And from then on, the show only got better. He gave the words such life and intimacy, and held us all rapt. It was like a return to the womb, all darkness and nourishment and life.

A few years later, I picked up his memoirs. Chris narrated his own audiobook, and I was blown away once more. As incredible a performer he is, he was at his height as a raconteur, knowing precisely the best way to craft a story, both in detail and in its overall architecture. And what a life! There was too much to tell! And every one of those stories imprinted themselves on what I was doing at the time — the building of Stratford overlaid itself on a simple drive to the beach, painting my front room now calls forth his memories of a country estate above Montreal. His Montreal is now blended with mine. His pastiche impressions of everyone from Tyrone Guthrie to Lauren Bacall will always hint their presence whenever I see them. As great an artist he was, his memoirs revealed an even greater spirit, of kindness and humility, of self-criticism, of a lust for life.

I feel a real connection to Chris, a genuine intimacy. I feel I know him. He’s been with me to the beach, helped me while I was painting. He’s taught me life lessons on everything from kindness to how to drink with Jason Robards. I will miss him terribly, but I feel very lucky indeed that we shared some time together, in the car, in the cinema, at extreme stage left, face to face.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:59 AM on February 5, 2021 [39 favorites]


He gave the commencement address at my university, and it was singularly hilarious.

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posted by mrjohnmuller at 12:04 PM on February 5, 2021 [6 favorites]


Imperial battleship, halt the flow of time!

Plummer was a working actor, he was in a lot. Not all of it good, but he always was.

A particular memory for me, I always loved The Man Who Planted Trees.
posted by rodlymight at 12:06 PM on February 5, 2021 [8 favorites]


I CAN SEE YOU KIRK... CAN YOU SEE ME?

His General Chang was so good -- and that's not even in the top 10 of his film performances.

This is a great loss, but what a gift to have had him for so long.

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posted by Cash4Lead at 12:08 PM on February 5, 2021 [15 favorites]


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posted by mstokes650 at 12:09 PM on February 5, 2021


Not all of it good, but he always was.

Prime example, playing the Emperor of the Universe in the gloriously-awful Star Crash.

"Plummer said of the filming, "Give me Rome any day. I'll do porno in Rome, as long as I can get to Rome. Getting to Rome was the greatest thing that happened in that for me. I think it was only about three days in Rome on that one. It was all shot at once". Discussing his role as the Emperor, he said, "How can you play the Emperor of The Universe? What a wonderful part to play. It puts God in a very dicey moment, doesn't it? He's very insecure, God, when the Emperor’s around."

In addition, in his memoirs, he gets a little breathy talking about co-star Caroline Munro. Clearly, he had zero regrets about taking on a terrible movie.
posted by Capt. Renault at 12:12 PM on February 5, 2021 [13 favorites]


Last big film was Knives Out, which is a hell of a high to go out on. RIP.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 12:14 PM on February 5, 2021 [23 favorites]


Such a career.

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posted by rmd1023 at 12:18 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]


His charm, skill, and sophisticated gentility elevated every role and film he was in, even when the roles were terrible.

So, you also watched Counterstrike, then?
posted by jacquilynne at 12:19 PM on February 5, 2021 [3 favorites]


I wonder if they filmed The Scarlet and the Black on location in Rome? Might explain his stellar work in that movie too.
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posted by Fukiyama at 12:20 PM on February 5, 2021 [2 favorites]


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posted by eclectist at 12:20 PM on February 5, 2021


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posted by Joey Michaels at 12:22 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]


Oh no! Man, this year is already taking so many legends from us.

This is a dumb story, but way back in the '80s, I think, they opened this plaza downtown with a new hi-rise building with a shopping mall in the first few levels, and the through street in front of it was closed to traffic so you could just wander around the plaza and the street, and that was also where they put the giant Christmas tree. My friend and I were downtown the day they would be lighting the tree and the plaza had just been finished and opened, so the whole area was bustling with people and music everywhere and such, and it was just...there was this weird, thrumming energy I've never felt since. After a while, I said to my friend, "This feels so weird. It feels like I'm in a movie or something, I can't explain it. Like I'm in Three Days of the Condor and something dangerous is about to happen." I felt kind of silly, but I just had no way of explaining how strange and not real and kind of exciting in an unknown way everything felt. And my friend nodded and said, "Like Christopher Plummer is about to slide up next to you in a black car with tinted windows and tell you politely to get in and you have no choice but to do it." (I know it was Max von Sydow in Three Days, that wasn't the point.)

And so ever after, he and I would check in when out and about to see if we were ever having a Christopher Plummer day--sadly, neither of us ever has, but that's sort of my touchstone for weird experiences: how does it rate on the Christopher Plummer scale? He was so good at that kind of patrician but sinister character that I could name a whole nebulous feeling after him.

(Which is not to say he wasn't great at everything, and I think of his later performances, I'm always going to love Beginners, but he was adorable in Knives Out and I absolutely loved him in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country because he was so clearly having a ball.)
posted by kitten kaboodle at 12:25 PM on February 5, 2021 [8 favorites]


As a child, the romantic part of Sound of Music was the most boring thing in the world, and I just didn't give a damn about what the baroness wanted.

As an adult, that gif of him ripping the Nazi flag in half, it inspires... feelings. And that led me back down the rest of his filmography. My heart is sad today.
posted by librarianamy at 12:25 PM on February 5, 2021 [15 favorites]


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posted by jim in austin at 12:26 PM on February 5, 2021


Damn, I was just thinking of watching Knives Out again. Looks like there will be some dust in the room when I do. RIP.
posted by Ber at 12:29 PM on February 5, 2021 [2 favorites]


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Man, what a career he had. Legendary.
posted by suelac at 12:34 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]


Back in the olden days, I had a prof who had put himself through school by playing in the Stratford orchestra. Prof told a story of being at a Stratford do, at which Plummer appeared in less-than-formal wear because it was after a performance and he was too tired to go from a Shakespearian costume into a tuxedo. He was criticized for this by theatre management. Another dressy occasion came up later, and someone from management said to Plummer, "The event is black tie. I trust you'll dress appropriately this time."

My prof said that Plummer made a grand entrance: tuxedo jacket, spotless pleated shirt, black silk bow tie, silk cummerbund, and no trousers.

I have no idea if this is a true story, but I'd like to think it is.
posted by angiep at 12:34 PM on February 5, 2021 [13 favorites]


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posted by gauche at 12:35 PM on February 5, 2021


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posted by doctornemo at 12:39 PM on February 5, 2021


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posted by TwoStride at 12:43 PM on February 5, 2021


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posted by dannyboybell at 12:53 PM on February 5, 2021


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posted by ecourbanist at 1:15 PM on February 5, 2021


Oh, no!
posted by wenestvedt at 1:17 PM on February 5, 2021


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posted by Uncle at 1:19 PM on February 5, 2021


"The Insider" was one of my favorite films of the nineties. I hadn't seen it in a while, and I revisited it a couple of years ago.

Plummer's performance was critical to that film's impact. Crowe is also excellent, scarily so at times, but it's Plummer who brings the ballast to the film's final act.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 1:20 PM on February 5, 2021 [3 favorites]




He was also good under weird circumstances in All the Money in the World.

I have a GIF of him pulling down the Nazi flag and tearing it up. Enjoyed looking at it repeatedly on January 20.
posted by praemunire at 1:28 PM on February 5, 2021 [5 favorites]


He was so fantastic in Beginners; just beautiful.
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posted by BigHeartedGuy at 1:43 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]


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posted by mersen at 1:45 PM on February 5, 2021


One of my all-time favorite performances of his was as Nabokov teaching the work of Kafka. Glad he got to go out on a super-fun high note like Knives out.
posted by slappy_pinchbottom at 2:03 PM on February 5, 2021 [2 favorites]


Years ago I read this anecdote about Plummer:

Christopher Plummer was onstage in a Shakespearean role in Stratford, when he noticed that one attendee in the front row had a little paperback copy of the play in his hands and was reading along as the play unfolded onstage. Plummer thought the man ought to be paying attention to the play performance (and this incident took place during a period in his life when he was drinking heavily), and he reached down with his stage sword and flipped the copy of the play out of the man's hands. The play soared up in the air and did a perfect little spiral in a spotlight path with all its pages fluttering, the audience laughed, and the poor man fled the theatre in humiliation.

Afterwards Plummer learned that the man was an ex-con and his readalong theatre attendance was part of his effort to go straight and become a better educated and more cultured person, and he felt terrible about it.
posted by orange swan at 2:04 PM on February 5, 2021 [8 favorites]


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posted by riruro at 2:26 PM on February 5, 2021


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posted by Foosnark at 2:27 PM on February 5, 2021


He was utterly charming in Knives Out. To a long life, well-lived.

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posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 2:28 PM on February 5, 2021 [3 favorites]


Sound of Music is a lovely film, but Network and Plummer were genius.
FYI: That's Peter Finch -- who died in 1977 -- in Network.
posted by neroli at 2:42 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]


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posted by JoeXIII007 at 2:49 PM on February 5, 2021


Goodnight, sweet prince.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:03 PM on February 5, 2021


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For the last 4 years I've felt like this. Sound of Music is a lovely film, but Network and Plummer were genius.

What ?
posted by Pendragon at 3:03 PM on February 5, 2021


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Tonight, CBC's As It Happens will be re-airing a 2010 interview with Plummer where they almost got through it without mentioning the Sound of Music. Carol Off, on that interview:

Truth is #ChristopherPlummer hated that film.
He called it The Sound of Mucus and loathed talking about Captain Von Trapp.
We (almost) avoided the question....

posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:09 PM on February 5, 2021 [2 favorites]


Anecdote that I'd heard is that he took the cash option instead of points for The Sound of Music, and lost out on a massive payoff on that bet, so he was pretty grumpy about it for years, and didn't want to be reminded. Eventually he relented and did a reminiscence with Andrews, so must have been recompensed a bit for that.

The Sound of Music is not for all tastes, but wow that one scene where he sings Edelweiss everyone in the audience just holds their breath...
posted by ovvl at 3:55 PM on February 5, 2021 [4 favorites]




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posted by Ignorantsavage at 4:14 PM on February 5, 2021


Oh how sad. But such a long and prolific life. Such a talent.

Captain Von Trapp could have been stodgy and stiff, but Plummer's eyes were always telling you another story. (I know he wasn't overly fond of The Sound of Music, but I still wish I had a small white flower emoji.)
posted by tzikeh at 4:18 PM on February 5, 2021 [3 favorites]


And Beginners is an absolute treat.
posted by tzikeh at 4:20 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]


And I am so glad I don’t have to learn that he was secretly horrible. That I can just enjoy his work.
posted by kerf at 4:25 PM on February 5, 2021 [4 favorites]


(Sorry so many comments, don't want to abuse the edit window)

Reading above about his love of Rome--I bet that explains why he took on the Archbishop role in The Thorn Birds. 13-year-old me had no idea how bad that miniseries was, but you can never take your eyes off him when he's on screen.
posted by tzikeh at 4:27 PM on February 5, 2021 [2 favorites]


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posted by Justinian at 4:28 PM on February 5, 2021


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posted by lalochezia at 4:45 PM on February 5, 2021


For accuracy’s sake, I have to revise my earlier note that said Plummer was my favorite actor. Because really, once you get into the celestial firmament that he and a few other highly-acclaimed and long-lived actors inhabit, notions of “favorite” become kind of meaningless.

But still: Christopher Plummer, you know?
posted by darkstar at 4:50 PM on February 5, 2021 [2 favorites]


he'll always be Kipling to me
posted by kokaku at 5:09 PM on February 5, 2021 [2 favorites]


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posted by adekllny at 6:12 PM on February 5, 2021


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posted by evilDoug at 6:19 PM on February 5, 2021


Farewell to a Class Act.
posted by Liquidwolf at 6:21 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]


I had no idea he had turned down Gandalf!
posted by freethefeet at 6:35 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]


Neither had I, and although McKellen was excellent, Plummer would also have kicked that role’s ass.
posted by darkstar at 7:43 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]


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posted by cabin fever at 10:20 PM on February 5, 2021


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posted by brujita at 11:33 PM on February 5, 2021


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posted by filtergik at 4:20 AM on February 6, 2021


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posted by Splunge at 5:16 AM on February 6, 2021


A short clip from the truly-awful Star Crash, wherein Chris halts the flow of Time.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:53 AM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]


I'll miss being able to see him in new things.
posted by kaymac at 8:27 AM on February 6, 2021 [2 favorites]


"Sound of Music" was such a big perennial presence in my childhood, like how some people feel about "It's a Wonderful Life."

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posted by of strange foe at 1:41 PM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]



"Sound of Music" was such a big perennial presence in my childhood, like how some people feel about "It's a Wonderful Life."


We’d watch every year and keep track of how much more material was cut for commercials than the year before! But that would also be the night we strung popcorn for the Christmas tree.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:35 PM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]


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Obviously a prolific and incredibly talented actor, but I was sitting here remembering enjoying him in some awful, awful late 80s movie with an ensemble cast that was on endless loop on Ontario moviechannels when I was in highschool. all I could remember is that the character's name was "Shitty" or "the Shit" and that Joanna Cassidy was also in the movie.

His wikipedia filmography entry names the character as "Jerry" which threw me off the scent but here it is. Probably not worth a rewatch even if I could find it again. Never did like Dabney Coleman much.
posted by hearthpig at 2:52 PM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]


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posted by intrepid_simpleton at 9:12 AM on February 7, 2021


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posted by Gelatin at 6:14 AM on February 8, 2021


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posted by dlugoczaj at 10:13 AM on February 8, 2021


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posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 9:51 AM on February 9, 2021


"Sound of Music" was such a big perennial presence in my childhood, like how some people feel about "It's a Wonderful Life."

We’d watch every year and keep track of how much more material was cut for commercials than the year before! But that would also be the night we strung popcorn for the Christmas tree.


My family watched just about every year too. We didn't have any tradition to go with it like watching as more commercials were added over the years, but the commercial breaks became ingrained as part of the experience itself to the point that when NBC shifted to NBCi for a season in 1999 and in so doing moved the commercial breaks, I was jolted out of my viewing experience.

"No, the break is there, not here!"

In seeing this thread, I went hunting and found that someone had uploaded to Youtube ten different movies containing the ten commercial breaks from the showing on NBC in 1986. Each movie has enough of the SofM at the start and end to tell where the break took place.
posted by Fukiyama at 5:37 PM on February 9, 2021 [2 favorites]


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