Christopher Plummer, who starred as widower Captain von Trapp opposite Julie Andrews in the blockbuster 1965 musical “The Sound Of Music” and in 2012 became the oldest actor to win an Oscar, has died at 91, his longtime friend and manager Lou Pitt said on Friday.
“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,” Pitt said. “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.”
Plummer passed away peacefully on Friday at his home in Connecticut with his wife Elaine Taylor at his side.
Plummer, an accomplished Shakespearean actor honored for his varied stage, television and film work in a career that spanned more than six decades, was best known for his role in “The Sound Of Music,” which at the time eclipsed “Gone With the Wind” (1939) as the top-earning movie ever. Among his more colorful roles were as an eye-patch-wearing Klingon in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (1991) and as an urbane jewel thief in “The Return of the Pink Panther” (1975). He said he kicked himself for turning down the role of Gandalf in the popular “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
One of his last major roles was as another patriarch, in the dark-comedy “Knives Out” in 2019.
Copyright 2021 Thomson/Reuters