Christopher Plummer turns 88

CAIRO – 13 December 2017: December 13 is the birthday of acclaimed Canadian actor Christopher Plummer, who turns 88 this year. With a career spanning more than five decades, Plummer is regarded as one of Canada's most talented actors.



Plummer was born in Toronto, 1929, an only child. He first had aspirations of becoming a professional pianist, but realized it was too lonely a job for him. Thus Plummer shifted his aspirations towards the realm of acting. While training as a stage actor, Plummer was discovered by English producer Eva Le Gallienne. After stints in various plays and TV roles, Plummer would breakthrough with his performance in the beloved 1965 musical “The Sound of Music” by director Robert Wise.

Egypt Today looks over some of his roles across his long, rich career.

The Sound of Music (1965)

Plummer’s portrayal of Navy Captain Georg Von Trapp, a lonely widower who hires young nun Maria (Julie Andrews) to look after his children, turned him into an international star, with the striking musical romance between Trapp and Maria in 1930’s Austria has gone down as one of Hollywood’s most beloved relationships.

The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

Director John Huston casts Plummer in the shoes of famed British author Rudyard Kipling, who features in this film adaptation of one of the writer’s books as himself. The plot follows two ex-soldiers in India who decide to become the kings of a Himalayan warzone known as Kafiristan. The film also starred Sean Connery and Michael Caine.

The Insider (1999)

Directed by Michael Mann, this biographical thriller follows a chemical researcher, Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe) who decides to risk everything and appear on the CBS-TV news show ’60 Minutes’ to expose the corruption behind the tobacco industry. Plummer portrays journalist Mike Wallace, who interviews Wigand, and Al Pacino co-stars as 60 minutes producer Lowell Bergman.

The Last Station (2009)

This historical drama from Michael Hoffman portrays the later life of Russian author Leo Tolstoy (Plummer) and the struggle he faces after his wife Sofya (Helen Mirren), as she asks for him to leave his writings and money to her in his will, while those in Tolstoy’s movement believe he should leave everything to the Russian people.

Remember (2015)

Atom Egoyan casts Plummer as elderly Auschwitz survivor Zev Gutman, who lost his family in the Holocaust. He recently learns that the Nazi who murdered them is still hiding out somewhere in America, and so he enlists the help of fellow survivor Max Rosenbaum (Martin Landau) to help track him down to enact justice. His journey leads him across the country, cumulating in a shocking truth.