CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER 1929 – 2021 FAREWELL CHRISTOPHER The Sound of Mourning

HE HATED THE ROLE THAT LAUNCHED HIS CAREER

- Judy Kean

It was the film that launched his career as a movie star and the role people thought of first whenever his name came up. But for most of his life, Christopher Plummer hated being mentioned in the same breath as The Sound of Music, which he insisted on calling The Sound of Mucus.

The legendary actor, who died last week aged 91, despised the character of Captain von Trapp, calling him “a cardboard figure, humourless and one-dimensional”. Trying to make him interesting, “was like flogging a dead horse”, he said.

Christopher admitted that he was disdainful of the opportunity the musical gave him to break into Hollywood after many years in TV dramas and theatrical productions.

“I was a pampered, arrogant young man, spoiled by too many great theatre roles,” he would later say. “Ludicrous though it may seem, I still harboured the old-fashioned stage actor’s snobbishness towards movie-making.”

He did later concede that his behaviour during filming – which included storming onto set and yelling that he was being disrespected because he hadn’t been sent a call sheet for that day, when in fact it was his day off – had been unconscionable. But it was no wonder that he gained a reputation for being rude and difficult to work with.

Still, he mellowed in later years and cut right back on his drinking, which had contributed to his stroppiness. When he died, the tributes that poured in spoke of a man who was “calm, steady, generous and so, so funny” (Anne Hathaway), “a lovely man and a legendary talent” (Chris Evans), and “a good man and a fine actor” (Russell Crowe).