Published 08:12 IST, February 6th 2021
‘The Sound of Music' star & Oscar winner Christopher Plummer passes away at 91
Christopher Plummel, known for his popular role as Captain von Trapp in 'The Sound of Music', has passed away at 91. He breathed his last at his residence.
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Christopher Plummel, known for his popular role as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music, has passed away at 91. The legendary actor breathed his last at his residence in Connecticut, reportedly after suffering a fall. He ‘died peacefully’ with his wife, Elaine Taylor by his side, his longtime friend and manager Lou Pitt informed.
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Christopher Plummel's career
The Canada-born actor had kicked off his career on stage, making his Broadway debut in 1954. Plummel then made his film debut with Sidney Lumet's Stage Struck in 1958. However, it was his performance as Captain Georg von Trapp in the musical The Sound of Music opposite Julie Andrews in 1965 that proved to be the turning point in his career.
Despite gaining worldwide acclaim with the movie, he preferred character roles over lead roles, considering them more meaty.
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He kept on showcasing his talent in theatre with roles such as Cyrano de Bergerac in Cyrano (1974), Iago in Othello, and titular roles Hamlet at Elsinore, Macbeth, King Lear, and Barrymore. Plummer also performed in stage productions J.B., No Man's Land, and Inherit the Wind.
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Plummel had a renaissance in his film career towards the later years, that started with the 1999 film The Insider and the journey went ahead with 2001's A Beautiful Mind and 2009's The Last Station for which he was even nominated for an Oscar.
He won his first Oscar (for supporting performance) for his act in Beginners, that released in 2011, becoming the oldest to win an acting academy Award. His other Oscar nomination was for All the Money in the World, that released in 2017, after he had replaced Kevin Spacey.
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Some of his well known works towards the end of the last two decades of his career were in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, as the voice of the antagonist in 2009's Up and as a lawyer in Broadway's Inherit the Wind.
He bagged two Primetime Emmy Awards for Arthur Hailey's the Moneychangers and Madeline and two Tony awards for his work in Cyrano and Barrymore.
Some of his other well-known works include Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992), Terrence Malick's The New World (2005) Rian Johnson's Knives Out (2019), and Todd Robinson's The Last Full Measure (2019).
08:12 IST, February 6th 2021