“The Voice of Music” star Christopher Plummer dies at the age of 91

Christopher Plummer, the award-winning actor who played Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music, has passed away, and at the age of 82 he became the oldest Academy Award winner in history. He was 91 years old.

Lou Pete, his longtime friend and manager, said Plummer passed away Friday morning at his Connecticut home with his wife Eileen Taylor, next to him.

Over 50 years in the industry, Canadian-born Plummer has enjoyed diverse roles ranging from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, to the voice of villain in 2009, and as a skilled attorney in Inherit the Wind in Broadway.

But he was starring against Julie Andrews as Von Trapp which made him a star. He played the role of an Austrian captain who must flee the country with his folk singing family to escape service in the Nazi Navy, a role that he lamented that he was “lacking in humor and having one dimension”. Plummer spent the rest of his life referring to the movie as The Sound of Mucus, or S&M.

He told The Associated Press in 2007: “We tried very hard to put joke in it. It was almost impossible. It was just the pain of trying to make this guy not a cardboard character.”

The role propelled Plummer into stardom, but he never took over the leadership of the male parts, despite his silver hair, good looks, and a very slight English accent. He preferred the character parts, considering them more meaty.

Plummer experienced a wonderful cinematic renaissance late in his life, which began with his famous performance as Mike Wallace in the 1999 Michael Mann movie The Insider, and continued in films such as 2001’s A Beautiful Mind and 2009’s The Last Station, where he played the deteriorating role of Tolstoy and was nominated for an award. Oscar. In 2012, Plummer won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Junior.

– AP