Christopher Plummer, the elegantly voiced, Oscar-winning actor perhaps most fondly remembered for “The Sound of Music,” died Friday at his home in Connecticut, his manager said in a statement. He was 91.
“Chris was an extraordinary man who deeply loved and respected his profession with great old fashion manners, self deprecating humor and the music of words,” his longtime friend and manager Lou Pitt said in his statement to CNN. “He was a National Treasure who deeply relished his Canadian roots. Through his art and humanity, he touched all of our hearts and his legendary life will endure for all generations to come.”
In addition to co-starring as Captain Von Trapp in the 1965 musical opposite Julie Andrews, Plummer won a supporting actor Academy Award for his role in the 2010 film “Beginners,” and was nominated again as recently as 2018 for “All the Money in the World,” in which he replaced Kevin Spacey as billionaire J. Paul Getty, after the younger actor was engulfed by scandal.
Plummer stayed remarkably busy well into his 80s, co-starring in the 2019 hit murder-mystery “Knives Out.” Other memorable roles included portraying newsman Mike Wallace in “The Insider,” a Klingon general in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” and the voice of the villain in the Pixar animated movie “Up.”
Plummer also played Rudyard Kipling in the Michael Caine-Sean Connery classic “The Man Who Would Be King” and Sherlock Holmes – on the trail of Jack the Ripper – in the 1979 movie “Murder by Decree.”
Born in Toronto, Plummer also had an accomplished stage career, winning Tony Awards for his work in “Cyrano” and “Barrymore” almost a quarter-century apart.
Plummer’s accolades included an Emmy for the 1976 miniseries “The Moneychangers.” He also co-starred for several seasons in the series “Counterstrike.”
A trained Shakespearean actor, Plummer began his Broadway career in the 1950s, appearing in a number of theatrical and screen productions before “The Sound of Music,” in a later memoir admitting to mixed feelings about the film’s success. Plummer and Andrews reunited in a 2001 CBS movie version of the film “On Golden Pond.”
After two relatively short marriages, Plummer wed actor-dancer Elaine Taylor in 1970. He is also survived by his daughter from his first marriage, actor Amanda Plummer.
This story is developing and will be updated.
