An Oscar at last for Plummer

"Oh Darling! Where have you been?" Iconic lines indeed...

"The hills are alive with the sound of music..." are iconic lines that will forever remain synonymous with the movie industry. But what connects The Sound of Music with Canada, you ask? Well, Christopher Plummer, who played the role of Captain Georg Ludwig von Trapp in the film, is Canadian. He was born eight decades ago in Toronto and is a well-respected person in Hollywood and the world.

Plummer made his movie debut way back in 1958, playing Joe Sheridan, a young writer, in Sidney Lumet's movie Stage Struck. From then on, it wasn't completly smooth sailing, if a number of biographies are to be believed. However, that all changed with The Sound of Music, a movie that I have watched a number of times. After being cast in The Sound of Music, Plummer began appearing in a number of notable films including Battle of Britain (1970), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) and A Beautiful Mind (2001). I've watched all these movies and even though some of them went on to win multiple awards at the Oscars; Christopher Plummer never bagged himself a nomination.

This past month, during the 84th Academy Awards, Plummer finally got his hands on an Oscar for playing Hal, an old man who comes out as gay after the death of his wife in the movie Beginners (2010), in only his second-ever nomination. Both of Plummer's nominations came in the Best Actor in a Supporting Role category, the other one was for playing Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station (2009). This win in 2012 makes Plummer the oldest recipient of an Academy Award at 82, a feat that is marvellous in its own way. "You're only two years older than me, darling. Where have you been all my life?" were the words with which Plummer received his award. It's been baffling as to why a renowned actor has had limited success at the Oscars; perhaps this is just one of the weird mysteries of life as we know it.

Plummer has been regarded by his peers as one of the best actors of his generation and he was trained classically as a stage actor. I happened to chance across a number of articles that also surprised me as I was doing my research before writing this piece. Plummer's most famous role, as Captain von Trapp, was a role he reportedly disliked. In fact, according to the Internet Movie Database, The Sound of Music was a film Plummer publicly despised until he softened his stance in his 2008 autobiography In Spite of Me. I've had this feeling for a while now, that if Plummer were British, he'd have been knighted by now, but that isn't the case just yet. I'm not one to predict whether such an honour is in store for Plummer in the future. Even though Plummer spends most of his time with his third wife, Elaine Taylor (whom he married in 1970), on their 30-acre estate in Weston, Connecticut, he remains Canadian to this day.

Originally Written for the Interrobang: http://www.fsu.ca/interrobang_article.asp?storyID=8231&sectionID=2&issueID=199
Image Credit: http://static.moviefanatic.com/images/gallery/christopher-plummer-wins-oscar_500x405.jpg
Video Credit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqfcViBhzaQ&context=C474731dADvjVQa1PpcFNE-n2ZUTRAMdlwXIUlOWTDtMQbQKGZdUw=