Christopher Plummer, who is best known for playing Captain Von Trapp in the Oscar-winning musical “The Sound of Music” has died, his family has confirmed. He was 91.
The Canadian actor passed away peacefully at his home in Connecticut, with Elaine Taylor, his wife and true best friend for 53 years by his side.
“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. 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. He will forever be with us,” Lou Pitt, his longtime friend and manager of 46 years said.
Plummer won an Oscar in 2012 for his supporting turn in the film “Beginners,” becoming the oldest actor ever to win the Academy Award for supporting actor.
Plummer began his professional career on stage and radio in both French and English. He made his film debut in Sidney Lumet’s Stage Struck (1958) and won great acclaim with audiences for his performance as Captain Georg von Trapp in the musical film The Sound of Music (1965) alongside Julie Andrews. Since then he has portrayed numerous major historical figures, including Roman emperor Commodus in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington in Waterloo (1970), Rudyard Kipling in The Man Who Would Be King (1975), Mike Wallace in The Insider (1999), Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station (2009), Kaiser Wilhelm II in The Exception (2016), and J. Paul Getty in All the Money in the World (2017).
Plummer has also appeared in such films as Spike Lee’s Malcolm X (1992), Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind (2001), Terrence Malick’s The New World (2005), David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Mike Mills’ Beginners (2011), and Rian Johnson’s Knives Out (2019).
