02/05/2021 15:24
Clarín.com
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Updated 02/05/2021 15:53
Christopher Plummer, the star of "The Rebellious Novice" among countless films and the oldest actor to win an Oscar, has died at 91, his manager confirmed.
"Chris was an extraordinary man who deeply loved and respected his profession with excellent old-fashioned manners, critical humor and musicality in his words. He was a national treasure deeply proud of his Canadian roots," his friend and representative Lou Pitt wrote to the newspaper. specialized Deadline.
Plummer continued working until he was 90 years old, at the age of 82 he became the longest-lived recipient of an Oscar for his work on "Beginner" (2012) and recently worked with Ridley Scott on "All the Money in the World" (2018 ).
His formidable film production in recent times - when he was more than 80 years old and still, unstoppable - made new generations know him at another stage in their artistic hierarchy.
And in his ductility that, for example, allowed him to surprisingly assume the role of the tycoon Getty in "All the money in the world" to cover the displacement of Kevin Spacey, when the sexual harassment scandal broke out.
“The actors never retire, that's out of the question.
If
I were to drop dead, I would like it to happen on stage ...
I love my job.
But I have the strength to continue, I still do not feel satisfied with what I have achieved.
I'd like to replay
all the roles again
, if I could.
And make them better ”, he affirmed, on the verge of 90 years.
But that stage - that of a veteran who continued to shine - also allowed him to further leave behind his "explosion" of the mid-1960s, when his role as
Captain Von Trapp in La Novicia Rebelde made
him a global figure.
Christopher Plummer there won the admiration of the public and the friendship of the co-star, Julie Andrews, which would last forever.
But what he never liked was being pigeonholed in that role.
Christopher Plummer playing J. Paul Getty in the movie "All the Money in the World."
“As soon as they gave me that image of Von Trapp, immediately I only got boring scripts of the same type.
I came to hate paper.
Actually, at that time I was young and arrogant.
I don't know how Bob Wise, the director, put up with me.
He told me that I gave the impression of not being too sentimental ... ".
From that unforgettable Von Trapp who closes the film singing "Edelweiss" or ascending the Austrian mountains with his family, fleeing Nazism, to Getty, or from the cold and implacable criminal who stalks Elliot Gould in "The Partner of Silence" to The
old man who is confident gay and moves in "Beginners"
(a role that elevated him to the Oscar), Christopher Plummer exhibited his talents as a great actor, his virtuosity and personality in more than a hundred films, and in innumerable theater productions, his initial and consecrational vocation.
He received
seven Tony nominations, which he won twice.
Born on December 13, 1929 in Toronto, he was the
great-grandson of a former Canadian Prime Minister
.
Christopher Plummer's father was an official at the prestigious McGill University.
From a young age Plummer received a severe education, which included music and languages, but he also developed his passion for the theater and recognizes the film Henry V, with Laurence Olivier, as a fundamental influence of his youth.
He admired films by Danny Kaye and Frank Capra, among others.
He made long train trips from Quebec to Ottawa to take acting classes at the Canadian Repertory Theater.
At the
age of 25 he was already triumphing in the Broadway seasons
and in the theaters of London's West End, including in the Royal Shakespeare Company, and he made his film debut with Sidney Lumet's “Strage Struck” in 1958. He just resumed his film career in 1964 when he played Emperor Comfortable in "The Fall of the Roman Empire."
And immediately came the
consecration with "The novice ...".
John Huston directed it in "The Man Who Would Be King" (1975), where Plummer played the role of writer Rudyard Kipling.
And he also voiced historical figures like Roosevelt or the first Duke of Wellington.
He participated in large productions as well as works of worship, more than a hundred films among which was "The return of the Pink Panther", "Malcolm X" with Denzel Washington, "Syriana" or "Twelve monkeys".
Shortly before his 70th birthday, he returned to the limelight as journalist Mike Wallace in Michal Mann's "El Informate," and also with prominent roles in Ron Howard's "A Brilliant Mind" and "The Perfect Plan." Spike Lee.
He was also General Chang in "Star Trek IV".
His first Oscar nomination for "best supporting actor."
It came to him in 2010 for "The Last Station", a film where he plays Leon Tolstoi and has the great Helen Mirren as a co-star.
He won it two years later for
"Beginners"
by Mike Mills (there Ewan McGregor was the protagonist) and was nominated again in 2018 for
"All the money in the world"
by Ridley Scott.
Here he had to replace Kevin Spacey in the role of John Paul Getty, the billionaire who faces the kidnapping of his grandson in Rome in the 70s.
The perfect plan.
Denzel Washington and Christopher Plummer.
“The whole scandal didn't affect me at all.
On the other hand, it was a
wonderful way to be able to work with Ridley Scott,
”he commented.
Despite the little time he had to prepare his interpretation, he maintained that “I wanted to be original, to create my character.
I did not want to be influenced by the tone that another actor gave him and I did not speak to Kevin since everything happened.
Plummer had been born the same year the Oscars began to be presented ... and only received him at 82. At that time he was living in his mansion in Connecticut.
"I had incredible roles, both in the theater and in the cinema, excellent scripts, stories with heart, passionate, emotional," he recalled.
Actress Tammy Grimes was his first wife (1956) and Amanda, his first daughter.
They divorced at four years and the following marriage, with the journalist Patricia Lewis (1962), lasted a little longer.
He married Elaine Taylor, a British dancer and actress, in 1968.