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Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail
Even as he lay in bed fighting the illness that would take his life, Christopher Plummer was reciting Shakespeare to himself. He was going over his lines for a planned upcoming Canadian-produced film of
King Lear, his friend and collaborator Des McAnuff said on Friday.
The stage and the words of stage poets were at the heart of Plummer’s life and art from beginning to end – and, as news of his death at 91 spread, theatre artists remembered a one-of-a-kind superstar who grew up alongside Canadian theatre and set the bar high for this country’s talent.
Oscar winner, Sound of Music star Christopher Plummer dies - kusi.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kusi.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Last year, America was reminded of the anti-Nazi onscreen activism of Canadian actor Christopher Plummer, who died on Feb. 5 at age 91, after the previous occupant of the White House’s State of the Union address.
After that event, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up a copy of the speech in a filmed image which was quickly turned into a GIF juxtaposing Plummer as Baron von Trapp in “The Sound of Music,” tearing a Nazi flag into pieces.
Even if Plummer is best remembered for his appearance in “The Sound of Music,” his full achievements were vaster and varied. A fervent, if sloppily edited, memoir published in 2008, reminds us that his artistry was often inspired by Yiddishkeit.
Othello (1982), and J. B. (1959), while his other Broadway credits included Home Is the Hero, The Dark Is Light Enough, The Lark, Night of the Auk, Arturo Ui, The Royal Hunt of the Sun, The Good Doctor, and Macbeth.
On the London stage, he was a member of both the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Actor in
Becket; he also led Canadaâs Stratford Festival under Tyrone Guthrie and Michael Langham.
Although Mr. Plummer won the Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his work in
Beginners, he is perhaps best remembered for his performance opposite Julie Andrews in the 1965 film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic