Canadian actor Christopher Plummer, circa 1965. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
I will fully admit that my love of Christopher Plummer stems 100% from his Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music. The guy is dapper as all get out, and I love the cranky hardline character who is softened by luuuuuuv (and musical numbers) but still noble and patriotic. Of course, Plummer has been in many other films and TV shows, many of them historical! So let’s give him a little love.
Little Moon of Alban (1958)
An Irish nurse falls in love with an English soldier (Plummer) during World War I.
Wind Across the Everglades (1958)
About bird conservation in early 20th century Florida. Plummer plays “Walt Murdock” in his first leading film role.
A Doll’s House (1959)
A TV movie adaptation of the 1879 Ibsen play.
The Prisoner of Zenda (1961)
A late 19th century-set story about an Englishman who impersonates his cousin, the king of a fictional European country.
Cyrano de Bergerac (1962)
A TV movie adaptation of the famous 17th century-set play.
Hamlet at Elsinore (1964)
A TV movie adaptation of the Shakespeare play, filmed at the Danish castle (Elsinore) in which the story is set.
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
As Roman Emperor Commodus in this story about the decline of the Roman empire.
The Sound of Music (1965)
If this needs introduction, we can’t be friends. Ok, ok, as the singing Captain von Trapp in this musical set during the very beginning of World War II in Austria.
Triple Cross (1966)
Based on a real-life British double agent, Eddie Chapman (Plummer), during World War II.
The Night of the Generals (1967)
A murder mystery that jumps between World War II (in which Plummer plays Field Marshal Erwin Rommel) and the 1960s.
Oedipus the King (1968)
As Oedipus in the ancient Greek tragedy.
Battle of Britain (1969)
A film about, shockingly, the Battle of Britain during World War II. Plummer plays a squadron leader in the Royal Canadian Air Force (side note, Plummer is Canadian!).
Lock Up Your Daughters! (1969)
Based on a 1959 stage musical that is itself based on a 1730 Henry Fielding comedy (“Rape Upon Rape” – yeah, we can’t use that title). I SO WANT TO SEE THIS, if only because Plummer plays “Lord Foppington,” which is just about the best name EVER.
The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969)
Based on a play, Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro goes to the Inca Empire (modern day Peru), where he gets to know Inca leader Atahualpa (Plummer in brownface – NOT OKAY). Plummer had played Pizarro in the stage version, which is much more appropriate casting. Because I am weird, I actually tried to watch this last week, but the Amazon copy is SUPER low quality, I quickly discovered there were no women’s costumes to evaluate, and while I think it may have been an early attempt at a slightly more nuanced view of indigenous Americans, it’s very obviously Of It’s Time.
Waterloo (1970)
As the Duke of Wellington in this story of the famous Napoleonic War battle.
Conduct Unbecoming (1975)
1880s, British India, a woman accuses a soldier of trying to rape her. Plummer plays “Major Wimbourne.”
The Assassination at Sarajevo (1975)
As Archduke Franz Ferdinand in this film about the beginning of World War I.
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
As author Rudyard Kipling in this story of two British soldiers on the lam in India, and who are mistaken by the locals for a god and a king (because non-Western people are credulous, right? < sarcasm).
Aces High (1976)
A week amongst an air force squadron in World War I. Plummer plays a British captain.
Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
As King Herod Antipas in this TV miniseries about Jesus.
Silver Blaze (1977)
As Sherlock Holmes in this TV movie.
Hanover Street (1979)
As the husband of a woman who falls in love with an American pilot during World War II.
Murder by Decree (1979)
As Sherlock Holmes in this feature film.
Riel (1979)
As Sir John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada, in a TV movie about Métis (indigenous Canadian) leader Louis Riel.
Somewhere in Time (1980)
As the manager of Jane Seymour‘s actress character in this Edwardian-set time traveling romance.
Little Gloria … Happy at Last (1982)
As Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt, heir to the Vanderbilt fortune and father of Gloria Vanderbilt.
The Thorn Birds (1982)
I don’t quite understand exactly how this works, but the books on which this is based tells the story of an Australian family from 1915-69. Apparently at some point a woman falls in love with a priest. Plummer plays an archbishop, who I can only guess Doesn’t Approve.
The Scarlet and the Black (1983)
As German Colonel Herbert Kappler in this TV biopic about Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, a real-life Irish Catholic priest who saved thousands of Jews and escaped Allied POWs in Rome.
Crossings (1986)
An adaptation of a Danielle Steele novel about a woman traveling between France and America at the outbreak of World War II. Plummer plays “Armand DeVilliers.”
The Boy in Blue (1986)
As the businessman backing late 19th-century competitive rower Ned Hanlan (played by Nicolas Cage, and let me tell you, Google image this. It’s worth your while).
A Hazard of Hearts (1987)
As the father of Helena Bonham Carter‘s Regency-era heroine, who gambles away his daughter’s hand in marriage and fortune.
A Ghost in Monte Carlo (1990)
An adaptation of a Barbara Cartland novel set in late 19th century Monaco. Plummer plays (Russian?) “Grand Duke Ivan.”
Young Catherine (1991)
As Sir Charles Williams, British ambassador to Russia who advises a young Catherine the Great.
Malcolm X (1992)
As the racist chaplain of the prison in which Malcolm X is imprisoned.
Nuremberg (2000)
WAIT THERE IS A NAZI-RELATED MOVIE I HAVEN’T SEEN? It’s only available in crappy quality on YouTube! Shakes tiny fist! I shall be undeterred!
Ahem.
Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
As the creepy and rich Uncle Ralph Nickleby in this feature film Dickens adaptation.
Alexander (2004)
As Aristotle, tutor to the young Alexander the Great, in this dumpster fire of a movie.
The New World (2005)
As real-life Captain Christopher Newport in this story of the Jamestown colony in Virginia.
Caesar and Cleopatra (2009)
A filmed version of the Shakespeare play as performed at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
The Last Station (2009)
As Leo Tolstoy in this film about the last few months of the Russian author’s life.
The Tempest (2010)
Another filmed version of a Stratford Shakespeare Theatre production.
Barrymore (2011)
As actor John Barrymore, who is trying to raise funds to revive his 1920 Broadway hit Richard III. Plummer won a Tony for the stage version of this.
The Exception (2016)
As the deposed German Kaiser Wilhelm II, living in exile in the Netherlands as World War II begins.
The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)
As Charles Dickens’ fictional Ebenezer Scrooge, manifested in front of the author himself.
Cliffs of Freedom (2019)
Per Wikipedia, “The film is a story of an ill-fated romance between a young Greek village girl and a conflicted Turkish officer during the dawn of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in 1821.” Plummer plays “Thanasis.”
What’s your favorite of Christopher Plummer’s historical roles?
A shaggable nose is a vital part of ANYONE’S fizzog.
Hear Hear!
Caesar and Cleopatra is Shaw, not Shakespeare.
It’s a lot of fun, “C&C.” I’d also love to see Plummer as John Barrymore.
I also really big puffy heart ❤ for Captain von Trapp and my other favourite is The Exception with Lily James.
The Kaiser was a doofus-looking fellow…not Christopher Plummer…eek
I remember stumbling onto Fall of the Roman Empire on TCM one day and thinking this movie feels familiar but I know I haven’t seen it before. Turns out it’s almost the same exact plot as Gladiator with Stephen Boyd playing the Russell Crowe role.
I noticed that in reverse, having seen The Fall of the Roman Empire first, then Gladiator.
I mostly remember Sophia Loren was beautiful as always and James Mason’s incredible voice. The rest of Fall is kind of vague. Wasn’t Alec Guiness Marcus Aurelius?
Of course it doesn’t fit the category of historical films, but Christopher Plummer is my absolute favorite Klingon: the Shakespeare-quoting Captain Chang in The Undiscovered Country.
Yes! “You haven’t experienced Shakespeare until you’ve heard him in the original Klingon.”
I also love him as Captain von Trapp! He really plays quite the age range, and has for a while, doesn’t he? And only one Canadian role on this whole list–he always seems to be playing Brits or other foreign (for a Canadian) characters. I also read that he apparently had a great influence on making the Captain into a real, rounded character, since he knew the real von Trapps (although not the captain) and felt the stage play made him someone the real Maria wouldn’t have loved.
The Scarlet and the Black is a good film but with an overbearing score. Not tons of costume content but he’s playing a Nazi so he’s almost always in uniform. Good story though.
I remember watching some of Nuremberg when it aired. I’d have been about 14, and was very much in my all-things-history phase. But I’d already seen Judgment at Nuremberg, which is excellent, and they tossed in an adultery subplot which I was just disgusted by, so I stopped watching. shrug
Plummer is one of the best things in The Thorn Birds. He plays Cardinal Vittorio and he is all compassion, elegance and wisdom. All his scenes are wonderful.
He was my mom’s first crush and my first crush. In The Sound of Music. Decades apart. ;)
I really liked The Man Who Invented Christmas. I felt understood for the first time in terms of how I write a novel; like Dickens, the characters just take over and drive their own narrative and haul me along for the ride. Now if anyone asks me how my brain works, I just tell them to go watch that movie. ;)
Fun fact! When Plummer played Henry V in the 1956 Stratford Shakespeare Festival, his understudy was a pretty young actor from Montreal named William Shatner.
I’ve seen less than half of his work, but I’d go for “Murder BY Decree,’ if only for the occasional comic moments, which he pulls off with a straight face. “Sound of Music” makes me want to vomit.
One of my favorite Sherlock Holmes movies.
What a fabulous profile! I didn’t reme!bet Plummer was in the Scarlet and the Black. I was too busy looking at Gregory Peck. BTW the real monsignor looked more like Karl Maudlin.
No, they weren’t kidding about the colour of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s uniform. See here the uniform he was wearing when he was shot: https://europebetweeneastandwest.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/the-uniform-worn-by-archduke-franz-ferdinand-when-he-was-assassinated-in-sarajevo.jpg.
The shade of blue used by the Austrian army was officially named ‘Kornblau’ (‘cornflower blue’). The movie tunic is a bit paler blue than the real thing, though to be fair to the costumers the photo / still may have been lightened: the whole background looks rather too pale and pastel for late Habsburg decor.
“Royal Hunt of the Sun,” as I recall is pretty terrible, so bad that I suspect Plummer decided to just have some fun as the Inca king and play him like a shrieking drag queen, with poor Robert Shaw doing his best to keep a straight face.
I’m getting a distinct S&M vibe between the scanty costumes and the chains.
He has the most dreamy blue eyes.
Also, he was damned sexy as the refined, aristocratic Klingon(!) General Chang in Star Trek VI. He can rock pretty much any uniform.
I remember reading that his eyes are really hard to light…but they are beautiful.
THANK YOU. This was the Man Candy Monday I didn’t know that I needed until you made it happen. Kendra, I say amen and hi-five, because the origin of my love for Christopher Plummer is also due to his role as Captain Von Trapp. For years I’ve theorized that every girl on plant earth has a crush on the Captain! Down to nostalgia, Captain Von Trapp is my favorite of his historical roles. He’s excellent in everything, so for my 2nd and 3rd choices I’ll go with the Kaiser in The Exception and Scrooge in The Man Who Invented Christmas because those performances are freshest in my memory compared to some of his other roles. Kendra …Christmas isn’t a bad movie; it’s in that paradoxical class of movies that is both corny and well done…plus, Christopher Plummer. Why did I JUST find out that Christopher Plummer played Sherlock Holmes!?&#@*!
He really seems to be channelling Laurence Olivier in some of those early roles. Which is funny because they don’t look alike.
Captain Von Trapp ❤️❤️❤️
I wonder, that he comes so late. One of my favourite actors of his period.
OMG you’ve never watched Thorn Birds?? You should really, really watch Thorn Birds it’s a goddamn rite of passage and passionate as hell.
I have a pitter patter of the heart with his profile too. Recently watched “Barrymore” on one of the streaming services. It was really well done.
I saw him in The Tempest at Stratford (Ontario). He was amazing.The cast was excellent but he just shone amongst them and he was really behaving as an ensemble actor, too. I ALSO saw him on Bloor Street in Toronto – TWICE. Be still my beating heart. Not tall, but what there is, is “cherce”! (quote – as you will know – from “Pat and Mike” 1952)
So not one person is going to comment on the Google Image search suggestion? Noone?
Would like to see MCM for Charles Dance day…
the latest is Knives Out on Amazon, great murder suspense movie. His voice Regarding comment on Thorn Birds, thats not the case at all. He was brilliant in it, and the scenes with Richard Chamberlain are they not only double dose of eye candy but most unexpected bromance on screen
In a discussion about Christopher Plummer just after he died, I mentioned “Royal Hunt of the Sun,” which no one had ever heard of. I searched for photos and found one of him wearing body oil and feathers and posted it. You could hear the thuds as women fainted. Only Plummer had the gravitas to carry that off.
I love him in too many roles to mention.