Biography for
Christopher Plummer (I)

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Date of Birth

13 December 1929, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Birth Name

Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer

Height

5' 10½" (1.79 m)

Mini Biography

Christopher Plummer is arguably the finest actor of the post-World War II period never to be nominated for an Academy Award, following in the footsteps of John Barrymore, for whose portrayal on Broadway he won a Tony Award. Aside from Barrymore, Plummer is the premier Shakespearean actor to come out of North America in the 20th century. He has also given many fine portrayals on film, particularly as he got older and settled down into a comfortable marriage with his third wife. Though he likely always be remembered as Baron Von Trapp in the atomic bomb-strength blockbuster The Sound of Music (1965) (a film he continues to despise), his later film work includes such outstanding performances as the best cinema Sherlock Holmes--other than Basil Rathbone -- in Murder by Decree (1979), the chilling villain in The Silent Partner (1978), his iconoclastic Mike Wallace in The Insider (1999) and the empathetic psychiatrist in A Beautiful Mind (2001). Though many times tipped for a Best Supporting Actor nomination in the last ten years, he has never made it to the post. Aside from the traditional anti-New York bias of the Academy, whether this is because of his Canadian heritage is unknown. Many Canadians have won Ocars, including Mary Pickford, Marie Dressler, Norma Shearer and Walter Huston, but there is something different about Plummer; the fact that his demeanor and talent mark him off as more English than American may put off Academy voters (perhaps it is fitting that there is something "foreign" about Plummer: he is the great-grandson of former Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Abbott).

Aside from his failure to ring the gong at the Academy Awards, Plummer remains one of the most respected and honored actors performing in the English language. He's won two Emmy Awards out of six nominations stretching 46 years from 1959 and 2005, and one Genie Award in five nominations from 1980 to 2004. For his stage work, Plummer has racked up two Tony Awards on six nominations, the first in 1974 as Best Actor (Musical) for the title role in "Cyrano," and the second in 1997, as Best Actor (Play), in "Barrymore." Surprisingly, he did not win (though he was nominated) for his masterful 2004 "King Lear," which he originated at the Stratford Festival in Ontario and brought down to Broadway for a sold-out run. His other Tony nominations show the wide range of his talent, from a 1959 nod for the Elia Kazan-directed production of Archibald Macleish's Pulitzer Prize-winning "J.B." to recognition in 1994 for Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land," with a 1982 Best Actor (Play) nomination for his Iago in William Shakespeare's "Othello." This man can act, and seeing him perform onstage is one of an acting aficionado's great pleasures.

He continues to be a very in-demand character actor in prestigious motion pictures. If he were truly English rather than Canadian-American, he'd have been knighted long ago (in 1968 he was a made a Companion of the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honor and one which requires the approval of the sovereign). In 1970, Plummer - a self-confessed 43-year-old "bottle baby" - married his third wife, dancer Elaine Regina Taylor, who helped wean him off his dependency on alcohol. They currently live on a 30-acre estate in Weston, Connecticut, and although he spends the majority of his time in the United States, he remains a Canadian citizen.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C. Hopwood

Spouse

Elaine Taylor	(2 October 1970 - present)
Patricia Lewis	(4 May 1962 - 1967) (divorced)
Tammy Grimes	(19 August 1956 - 1960) (divorced) 1 child

Trivia

Father, with Tammy Grimes, of actress Amanda Plummer.

Awarded The Edwin Booth Lifetime Achievement Award by The Players, 1997.

Appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1968.

Grew up in the village of Senneville, Québec, Canada.

Is the great grandson of former Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Abbott.

On April 22 he was awarded the first Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre by the Roundabout Theatre. His The Sound of Music (1965) co-star Julie Andrews was among those in attendance. [April 2002]

His first paying part was in "Machina Infernale" (The Infernal Machine) by Jean Cocteau, in which he worked with another young Montreal actor, William Shatner. The two were reunited years later when they both appeared in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).

He received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Western Ontario on June 8, 2004.

Schoolmate of jazz piano master Oscar Peterson.

Has won two Tony Awards: in 1974, as Best Actor (Musical), playing the title role in "Cyrano," and in 1997, as Best Actor (Play), playing the title role of John Barrymore in "Barrymore." He has also been nominated for the Tony four other times: as Best Actor (Dramatic), in 1959 for "J.B.," and as Best Actor (Play), in 1982 for Shakespeare's "Othello," in 1994 for "No Man's Land," and in 2004 for Shakespeare's "King Lear."

He and his daughter Amanda Plummer both received Emmy nominations in 2005. She won, he didn't.

Trained to become a concert pianist before turning his attention to acting.

Was actually born on December 13, 1929, although most publications usually state his birthday as December 13, 1927.

Is only 13 years older than Charmian Carr who played his daughter in The Sound of Music (1965).

Invited to join to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences [2007].

One of 115 people invited to join AMPAS in 2007.

Personal Quotes

(why he prefers playing evil characters) "The devil is more interesting than God."

Unless you can surround yourself with as many beautiful things as you can afford, I don't think life has very much meaning.

I'm bored with questions about acting.

Where Are They Now

(December 2002) Headlining "Royal Christmas" Tour in Mid-west/East-coast US and Ontario with Sound of Music Co-Star Julie Andrews, Charlotte Church; The Royal Philharmonic; Kiev, London and Bolshoi Ballets; and the Westminster Bell Choir and Westminster Concert Choir from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey.

(March 2004) Playing title character in Shakespeare's "King Lear" in the Lincoln Center Production. Through April 2004

(May 2007) Long time resident of Fairfield County's Weston, Connecticut.

(June 2008) Acting at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada. Playing the role of Caesar in "Caesar and Cleopatra" a George Bernard Shaw play. From August 7 to Novemeber 9.

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