The great Christopher Plummer has died at 91 years old. He's one of those actors who's been around so long and been so prolific that it's hard to imagine the movies without him (only Michael Caine comes close to matching his late career ubiquity). He remained a reliable home run hitter later in his career that just about any other actor and it's his late career work that I think I'll remember his best for.
There was his patriarch in 2019's whodunit Knives Out, the engine that drove the mystery. His tender scenes opposite Ana de Armas gave that film its heart. There was his oily lawyer in Syriana, who George Clooney threatens so convincingly in a coffee shop. There was his secret Nazi sympathizer banker in Spike Lee's wonderful Inside Man (and his cameo role as a skeptical priest chastised by Denzel Washington in Lee's Malcolm X). And his Oscar winning turn in Beginners, a man who comes out of the closet late in life -- just to name a few.'
Obviously for many generations he will always be linked to the role that made him famous, the head of the Von Trapp household in The Sound of Music. Plummer reportedly chafed at being associated with the infamously hokey musical, but he clearly made a strong, unforgettable impression as a proud man who stands up to fascism (his ripping of the Nazi flag remains an inspirational meme).
For many years afterword he struggled mightily to set himself apart from that movie, and he eventually succeeded. I particularly enjoyed him as the straight man foil to Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau in The Return of the Pink Panther, and my absolute favorite is his terrifying performance in the underrated, and little seen 1970's thriller The Silent Partner, opposite Elliott Gould.
In that movie he plays a deranged psychopath named Harry Riekle whose plan to rob a bank is usurped by a clever teller (Gould). Riekle becomes hellbent on revenge and gets it in grisly fashion. In the most unforgettable scene in the movie, Plummer delivers a terrifying, threatening monologue to Gould where only his eyes are visible through a slit in the door. It puts to use all the great elements of Plummer's instrument: his intense, steely blue eyes, his mellifluous but menacing voice and his unflappable bearing.
He'd play other great villains late in his career, too. Like his campy turn as a Klingon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (one of the best baddies of that entire franchise) and 12 Monkeys where he is the power behind Brad Pitt's batshit crazy throne.
He was robbed of an Oscar nomination (and arguably a win) for his pitch perfect performance as Mike Wallace in The Insider and his presence in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was as comforting as a warm blanket.
He notoriously took over for the disgraced Kevin Spacey in the otherwise forgettable All the Money in the World and soon became the butt on jokes (not at his expense) because of the wild circumstances in which he was cast. And yet, he got the last laugh on us all by being the best part of the film nabbed an Oscar nomination for his efforts.
It's always tough to lose living legends like this and Plummer was such a great character actor that he was still steadily getting work into his 90s, because there were few, if any, better. He will be sorely missed.
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