In 1965, the musical film The Sound of Music, adapted from the Broadway play of the same name, appeared to huge international success. The film’s popularity led it to surpass Gone With the Wind as the biggest box office hit of all time, and reaffirmed the superstardom of singer-actress Julie Andrews. It also vaulted a hitherto unknown lead actor, Christopher Plummer, into the front rank of film actors.

Unknown, that is, to mainstream film audiences. By 1965, Christopher Plummer was a well known and highly regarded stage actor, having earned considerable plaudits for performances on New York’s Broadway, London’s West End, and in Shakespeare festivals and repertories in the United States, Britain, and Canada. His career, which eventually spanned over seven decades, led him to winning Best Actor Awards for theater (Tony Award), film (Academy Award), and television (Primetime Emmy Award), the so-called Triple Crown of Acting. To date, he remains the only Canadian to be thus decorated.

His performances displayed a diversity seldom matched, ranging from traditional Hamlet and King Lear to the Klingon General Chang in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country. As Chang, he observed that Shakespeare should be read in its original Klingon. On stage, film, and television he portrayed historical figures, such as the Duke of Wellington and Kaiser Wilhelm II; actors, such as John Barrymore; the billionaire J. Paul Getty, and television correspondent Mike Wallace. He also portrayed Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, the Roman Emperor Commodus, the Conquistador Juan Pizarro, and many more too numerous to list.

Yet he became largely known and connected with his role as Von Trapp, a role he frequently spoke of disparagingly, calling it “…a bit like flogging a dead horse”. Eventually he came to regard the film and his role in it more fondly, though he did ask The Guardian in 2018, “Don’t these people ever see another movie? Is this the only one they’ve ever seen?” Compared to his body of work the question begs an answer.

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Further Reading:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls041289415/
https://variety.com/2021/film/news/wi...
https://torontolife.com/city/christop...
https://www.archives.gov/publications...
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017...
https://apnews.com/article/christophe...
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment...