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Christopher Plummer

Christopher Plummer has enjoyed almost 60 years as one of the theater's most respected actors and as a veteran of over 100 motion pictures. Raised in Montreal, he began his professional career on stage and radio in both French and English. After Eva Le Gallienne gave him his New York debut (1954), he went on to star in many celebrated productions on Broadway and London's West End, winning accolades on both sides of the Atlantic. He has won two Tony Awards for the musical Cyrano and for Barrymore, plus seven Tony nominations, his latest for King Lear (2004) and for his Clarence Darrow in Inherit the Wind (2007); also three Drama Desk Awards and the National Arts Club Medal. A former leading member of the Royal National Theatre under Sir Laurence Olivier and the Royal Shakespeare Company under Sir Peter Hall, where he won London's Evening Standard Award for Best Actor in Becket; he has also led Canada's Stratford Festival in its formative years under Sir Tyrone Gutherie and Michael Langham. He is widely recognized as one of the finest classical actors of his time.

Since Sidney Lumet introduced him to the screen in Stage Struck (1958), his range of notable films include The Man Who Would Be King, Battle of Britain, Waterloo, Fall of the Roman Empire, Star Trek VI, Twelve Monkeys and the 1965 Oscar-winning The Sound of Music. More recently, he appeared in the Oscar-nominated The Insider (as Mike Wallace, he won the National Film Critics Award), the Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind, Man in the Chair, Must Love Dogs, National Treasure, Syriana, and Inside Man. His TV appearances, which number close to 100, include the BBC's Emmy-winning Hamlet at Elsinore playing the title role; the Emmy-winning productions The Thornbirds, Nuremberg, and Little Moon of Alban; and many others. He has himself won two Emmys plus six Emmy nominations. Plummer has also written for the stage, television and concert hall.

Apart from honors in the UK, USA, Austria and Canada, he was the first performer to receive the Jason Robards Award in memory of his great friend, the Edwin Booth Award and the Sir John Gielgud Quill Award. In 1968, sanctioned by Elizabeth II, he was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada (an honorary knighthood). An Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts at Juilliard, he also received the Governor General's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. In 1986 he was inducted into the Theatre's Hall of Fame, and in 2000, Canada's Walk of Fame. His recent self-written memoir, In Spite of Myself (Afred A. Knopf Publishers) is being much lauded by critics and public alike.

Upcoming projects include 9, and My Dog Tulip, both animated film projects; the title role of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, directed by Terry Gilliam; and The Last Station, in which he plays the great novelist Tolstoy opposite Helen Mirren, written and directed by Michael Hoffman.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2009.
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Christopher Plummer Facts

Birth NameArthur Christopher Orme Plummer
OccupationActress
BirthdayDecember 13, 1927 (96)
SignSagittarius
BirthplaceToronto, Ontario, Canada

Selected Filmography

Remember
Up
National Treasure
9
Danny Collins
The Sound of Music
Sound of Music 50th Anniversary
A Beautiful Mind
Jesus of Nazareth
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