Hollywood has lost another one of its greats. Christopher Plummer, the Oscar-winning star of The Sound of Music, The Man Who Would Be King, Beginners, Knives Out, and dozens of others, died today at the age of 91.
The Toronto-born Plummer’s career stretches back more than half a decade with his work on stage, which led to a move to the big screen in 1958. Plummer proved to be an incredibly diverse actor who could portray menace and gentleness with ease, qualities he brought to playing larger-than-life historical figures. He famously portrayed Capt. Georg Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Mike Wallace in The Insider, and Rudyard Kipling in The Man Who Would Be King, Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station for which he earned an Oscar nomination, Aristotle in Alexander, and most-recently J. Paul Getty in All the Money in the World.
While a refined dramatic actor, Plummer also knew how to have fun with his acting, such as in his role as the eyepatched General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and voicing the antagonist Charles Muntz in Pixar’s Up, a role he would reprise in a Disney video game.
Plummer remained active right up until his death, and seemed to have found a new vigor of late. In 2011 He became the oldest person to win an Oscars acting award, his only Academy Award, for Mike Mills’ Beginners. He touched an entirely new generation of fans with his role as the patriarch in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out.
Other accolades include two Emmy awards for The Moneychangers and Madeline, a pair of Tony Awards, and a Golden Globe. In 2016, Plummer was honored with the Canadian Screen Award for Lifetime Achievement. Plummer received the Canadian Screen Award for Lifetime Achievement.
We send our condolences to Plummer’s family and friends.