Stage Door Sally said: "I agree with everyone who says this one hurts. I had the pleasure to interview Christopher Plummer numerous times over the years, and dine with him in his home with Elaine. He lived for the theater. I once asked him when he planned on retiring, and he firmly stated, "Never!"
If Covid hadn't closed things down, I bethe'd be engaged in a number of projects.
As for Sound of Music, he admitted he behaved terribly on the set — stayingin a village away from the rest of the cast, hammeringas many chambermaids ashe could, eating and drinking so much that he put on weight and nearly got fired, etc...(and there is a lot of etc).He later atonedand apologized to Julie for having tocarrythe film by herself. They laterbecame friends.
Plummer was generous to thelocal community, participating numerous times (for free) in a film series at the Ridgefield Playhouse. A couple appearances I attended were screenings of his films Remember and Man in the Chair where he and thedirectors of the films participated in lively post-film discussions.
A few things I observed about Christopher Plummer:
His favorite role was John Barrymore in Barrymore.
Although he lived in the U.S. for many years, he was Canadian, don't even suggest otherwise.
He loved Natalie Wood and has a photo of her next to his Oscar for Beginners.
He couldbe quite charming and whimsical. He has a watercolor jungle scene on the walls of his living room, featuring a sly monkey holding a key, which I suspect represented him.
He creditedhis wife Elaine for curbing him off hard liquor and saving his life.
He didn't suffer fools. If you hadn't done your homework before interviewing him, don't bother. He oncehung up on the air on two radio personalities who hadn't watched a video he sent them that he wanted to discuss.
I wish:
The Tempest transferred from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival to Broadway. Not only was Plummer magnificent as Prospero, the supporting cast was outstanding and really clicked. It's our loss (though it can be seen on video). I guess Des McAnuff had other things on hismind at the time."
Thanks so much for this. My understanding from books and articles on the film (and they could be wrong) is that Plummer was at first eager to do the film because he was then going to do Cyrano on Broadway, and it would be a warm up. But apart from the role itself (which is clearly a supporting role--it's Maria's show, obviously) it was really learning that he was going to be dubbed that made him antagonistic. He apparently said it was emasculating, in a way. And even though there was a contractual agreement that he could keep working on his voice over course of filming, and iff he improved, they'd put his own vocals in, he just got angry and drank and behaved badly. None of it shows up in his superb performance.
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