photo:
http://www.nndb.com/people/316/000023247/plummer-port.jpg
Biography
Early life
Plummer was born in Toronto, Ontario. The great-grandson of former Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Abbott, following his parents' divorce he moved with his mother to live in Senneville, Quebec, near Montreal. He studied to be a concert pianist but developed a love of the theatre at an early age and began acting in high school. He travelled by train study with Canadian Repertory Company in Ottawa.
A veteran of stage, film and television
Plummer has enjoyed 50 years as one of the English speaking theatre's most distinguished actors and as a veteran of international renown in over 100 motion pictures.
Theatre
It was in his hometown of Montreal that Plummer began his professional career on stage and radio in both French and English. After Ms. Eva Le Gallienne gave him his New York debut (1954) he performed in two plays with Katharine Cornell, “The Constant Wife”, and “The Dark Is Light Enough” by Christopher Fry for which he won a Theatre World Award. Cornell’s husband Guthrie McClintic took him to Paris (1955) to play Jason opposite Dame Judith Anderson in “Medea.” Then came “The Lark,” opposite his friend Julie Harris, which enjoyed a huge New York Success. Plummer went on to star in many celebrated, prize-winning productions on Broadway and London's West End including Elia Kazan's production of Archibald MacLeish's Pulitzer winning play "J.B." and the title role in Anthony Burgess' musical "Cyrano" for which Plummer won his first Tony. A recent Broadway success was as "Barrymore" for which he won a Tony Award, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award — The Edwin Booth Award, the Boston Critic's Award, Chicago's Jefferson Award, and Los Angeles' Ovation Award as best actor 1997-1998. He was also a leading member of Britain's National Theatre under Sir Laurence Olivier, the Royal Shakespeare Company under Sir Peter Hall where he won London’s best actor Evening Standard Theatre Award. In its formative years, he played at Canada's Stratford Festival under Sir Tyrone Guthrie and Michael Langham. He has played most of the great roles in the classic repertoire.
Plummer's most recent Broadway appearance was as King Lear in Jonathan Miller's much lauded production, at Lincoln Center, for which he won his seventh Tony nomination.
Film
Christopher Plummer as the Klingon General Chang in the 1991 film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Plummer's eclectic career on screen began in 1957 when Sidney Lumet provided him his movie debut in Stage Struck. Since then he has appeared in a vast number of notable films which include the Academy Award winning The Sound of Music (which he dismisses as The Sound of Mucus [1]), The Man Who Would Be King, The Battle of Britain, Waterloo, The Silent Partner, Dragnet, Daisy Clover, Star Trek VI, Malcolm X, Dolores Claiborne, Wolf, Twelve Monkeys, Murder by Decree, Somewhere in Time, and a host of others. Recent successes include Michael Mann's Oscar-nominated The Insider playing television journalist Mike Wallace, for which he won the Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Las Vegas and the National Critics Awards, and Ron Howard's Academy Award winning A Beautiful Mind as well as Atom Egoyan's Ararat. Other recent films include Douglas McGrath's Nicholas Nickleby, Oliver Stone’s Alexander, Terrence Malick’s The New World, Spike Lee’s Inside Man, Must Love Dogs with Diane Lane, Syriana, The Lake House, and Michael Schroeder’s The Man in The Chair.
Television
Among his television appearances, which number almost a hundred, are the Emmy winning BBC production Hamlet at Elsinore, the five-time Emmy winning The Thornbirds, the Emmy winning Nuremberg, the Emmy winning Little Moon of Alban and the Emmy winning Moneychangers. More recently, On Golden Pond co-starring with Julie Andrews, American Tragedy as F. Lee Bailey (Golden Globe Nomination), Our Fathers (Emmy Nomination), Four Minute Mile, and Rick Burns' documentary film about Eugene O’Neill.
Awards and other achievements
Plummer has also written for the stage, television and the concert-hall. Plummer and Sir Neville Marriner and rearranged Shakespeare’s “Henry V” with Sir William Walton’s music as a concert piece. They recorded the work with Marriner's chamber orchestra the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. He performed it and other works with the New York Philharmonic and symphony orchestras of London, Washington, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax. With Marriner he made his Carnegie Hall debut in his own arrangements of Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Aside from many honors in the United Kingdom, United States, Austria and Canada, Plummer has won two Tony Awards (against seven nominations), two Emmy Awards (six nominations), Great Britain's Evening Standard Award, and Canada's Genie Award. In 1968, sanctioned by Elizabeth II, he was invested as Companion of the Order of Canada, an honorary Knighthood. In 2001 he received the Governor General's lifetime achievement award. He was made an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts at New York's Julliard School and has received honorary doctorate’s from the universities of Toronto, Ryerson and Western Ontario. In 2002 he was the first performer to be presented with the Jason Robards Award for Excellence in memory of his great friend. Plummer was inducted into the American Theatre's Hall of Fame in 1986 and into Canada's Walk of Fame in 1997.
Partial list of Awards
Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre (2002)
Edwin Booth Lifetime Achievement Award (1997)
Emmy Award (1994), for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his work on the Family Channel's Madeline children's series
Emmy Award (1976), as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for Arthur Hailey's The Moneychangers
Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play (1997), for his lead role in Barrymore
Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical (1974), for his lead role in Cyrano
Genie Award (1980), for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in Murder by Decree
London Evening Standard Award as Best Actor (1961), for his portrayal of King Henry II in the stage play, Becket
Filmography
Inside Man (2006)
The Lake House (2006)
The New World (2005)
Syriana (2005)
Must Love Dogs (2005)
Alexander (2004)
National Treasure (2004)
Cold Creek Manor (2003)
Gospel of John (2003) (voice)
Blizzard (2003)
Tma (2002)
Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
Agent of Influence (2002) (TV)
Ararat (2002)
Night Flight (2002) (TV)
Full Disclosure (2001) (V)
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Blackheart (2001)
Lucky Break (2001)
On Golden Pond (2001) (TV)
Leo's Journey (2001) (TV)
Star Trek: Klingon Academy (2000) (VG)
Dracula 2000 (2000)
American Tragedy (2000) (TV)
Possessed (2000) (TV)
The Dinosaur Hunter (2000)
Nuremberg (2000) TV mini series
The Insider (1999)
Madeline: Lost in Paris (1999) (voice)
Celebrate the Century (1999) TV mini series
The Clown at Midnight (1998)
The First Christmas (1998)
Hidden Agenda (1998)
Winchell (1998) (TV)
Babes in Toyland (1997) (voice)
The Arrow (1997) (TV)
The Conspiracy of Fear (1996) (TV)
Skeletons (1996)
We the Jury (1996) (TV)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Harrison Bergeron (1995) (TV)
Dolores Claiborne (1995)
Crackerjack (1994)
Wolf (1994)
The Little Crooked Christmas Tree (1993) (TV) (voice)
Sidney Sheldon's A Stranger in the Mirror (1993) (TV)
Liar's Edge (1992) (TV)
Malcolm X (1992)
Impolite (1992)
Secrets (1992I) (TV)
The First Circle (1991) (TV)
Berlin Lady (1991) TV mini series
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
Rock-A-Doodle (1991) (voice)
A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz (1991) (TV)
Young Catherine (1991) (TV)
Firehead (1991)
Counterstrike (1990) TV series
Madeline (1990) TV series (voice)
Money (1990)
Red Blooded American Girl (1990)
A Ghost in Monte Carlo (1990) (TV)
Where the Heart Is (1990)
Kingsgate (1989)
Mindfield (1989)
Nabokov on Kafka (1989) (TV)
Souvenir (1989)
I Love N.Y. (1988)
Shadow Dancing (1988)
Gandahar (1988) (voice)
The Gnomes' Great Adventure (1987)
The Man Who Planted Trees (1987)
A Hazard of Hearts (1987) (TV)
Dragnet (1987)
Nosferatu a Venezia (1986)
Spearfield's Daughter (1986) TV mini series
An American Tail (1986) (voice)
The Boss' Wife (1986)
Crossings (1986) TV mini series
The Boy in Blue (1986)
David the Gnome (1985) TV Series
Játszani kell (1985)
Ordeal by Innocence (1984)
Terror in the Aisles (1984)
Highpoint (1984)
Dreamscape (1984)
Prototype (1983) (TV)
The Thorn Birds (1983) TV mini series
The Scarlet and the Black (1983) (TV)
Little Gloria... Happy at Last (1982) (TV)
The Amateur (1981)
Eyewitness (1981)
Dial M for Murder (TV) (1981)
When the Circus Came to Town (1981) (TV)
Somewhere in Time (1980)
The Shadow Box (1980) (TV)
Desperate Voyage (1980) (TV)
Hanover Street (1979)
Riel (1979) (TV)
Murder by Decree (1979)
Starcrash (1979)
International Velvet (1978)
The Silent Partner (1978)
Silver Blaze (1977) (TV)
The Disappearance (1977)
Uppdraget (1977)
Jesus of Nazareth (1977) TV mini series
Arthur Hailey's the Moneychangers (1976) TV mini series
Aces High (1976)
Sarajevski atentat (1975)
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
Conduct Unbecoming (1975)
The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
The Spiral Staircase (1975)
The Happy Prince (1974)
After the Fall (1974) (TV)
The Pyx (1973)
Don Juan in Hell (1971) (TV)
Waterloo (1970)
Lock Up Your Daughters! (1969)
The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969)
Battle of Britain (1969)
Nobody Runs Forever (1968)
Oedipus the King (1967)
Triple Cross, original title: La Fantastique histoire vraie d'Eddie Chapman(1967)
The Night of the Generals (1967)
Inside Daisy Clover (1966)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Hamlet (1964/III) (TV)
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
Cyrano de Bergerac (1962) (TV)
Playdate (1961) TV Series
A Doll's House (1959) (TV)
Wind Across the Everglades (1958)
Stage Struck (1958)
