{"id":93225,"date":"2017-03-09T01:54:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T06:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=93225"},"modified":"2017-03-09T01:54:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T06:54:00","slug":"christopher-plummer-reflects-on-roots-ahead-of-canadian-screen-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/03\/09\/christopher-plummer-reflects-on-roots-ahead-of-canadian-screen-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Plummer reflects on roots ahead of Canadian Screen Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Of<\/a>
Of all the revered roles Christopher Plummer has portrayed over the years \u2014 Capt. Georg von Trapp, King Lear, Macbeth, to name but a few \u2014 the most exciting one for him was that of Henry V. (Photo by gdcgraphics, CC BY 2.0,<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 Of all the revered roles Christopher Plummer has portrayed over the years \u2014 Capt. Georg von Trapp, King Lear, Macbeth, to name but a few \u2014 the most exciting one for him was that of Henry V.<\/p>\n

He played the part during his 1956 debut at Ontario’s Stratford Festival \u2014 in a tent, no less \u2014 alongside a group of \u201csuperb\u201d French-Canadian actors he still misses \u201cdreadfully,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe French court was played by the French-Canadian Theatre du Nouveau Monde performers and it was such a unique and wonderful idea to have the French court played by Frenchmen and speaking their lines in French,\u201d the stage and screen star said in a recent phone interview from his home in Palm Beach, Fla.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that was the most exciting theatrical experience I’ve almost ever had because it meant so much as a Canadian, bringing together our two cultures on the same stage at the same time, talking both languages.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has happened, sadly, hardly ever since and I remember that as the most inspiring kind of feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Toronto-born, Quebec-raised Plummer is reminiscing about his roots ahead of Sunday’s Canadian Screen Awards, where he’ll receive a lifetime achievement award.<\/p>\n

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is recognizing Plummer for a nearly 65-year career that has seen him win an Oscar and Golden Globe Award, two Tony Awards and two Emmys.<\/p>\n

But the 87-year-old Plummer also likes to focus on the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to push forward, is my motto,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it’s very nice indeed and I’m very gratified.\u201d<\/p>\n

The great-grandson of former prime minister John Abbott, Plummer began his professional acting career at age 16 and made his Broadway debut in \u201cThe Starcross Story\u201d in 1954, in his early 20s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI left Canada around that time as a home and I became a, what do you call it, an alien? Donald Trump would certainly agree with that, a real alien,\u201d said Plummer, chuckling.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York in the ’50s was unbelievably exciting. It was their golden age. It was the last golden age that Broadway has had and I was so excited to be a part of it all. But I changed my address and lived down there because I thought I’d done almost everything so far in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plummer also stormed the theatre scene in London and went on to a storied career in Hollywood, with films including \u201cThe Sound of Music,\u201d \u201cThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,\u201d \u201cThe Last Station\u201d (for which he got an Oscar nomination) and \u201cBeginners\u201d (for which he earned his best supporting actor golden statuette).<\/p>\n

Still, Plummer has continued to return to Canada to do various projects and perform at the Stratford Festival, which he hopes to do again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I’d like to do something, if we can find a play,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also hopes to visit Montreal this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve promised myself that this fall I will go up to the Laurentians, as was my usual wont, and see the beautiful colour in autumn and just eat my way down,\u201d he said. \u201cThe restaurants are so fantastic in the Laurentians that you can eat your way all the way down and across the border.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plummer was in Toronto last September to present a Stratford Festival Legacy Award to fellow Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent, who suggested to him that they should do a series together.<\/p>\n

Asked if he’d be into the idea, Plummer said: \u201cIf it’s wonderful, sure. But it would have to be terrific and funny. Then I’d love to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know who’s going to be older. That would be a terrible fight for that honour,\u201d Plummer added with a laugh.<\/p>\n

When informed that Pinsent is 86, Plummer jested: \u201cWell, he’s actually a child. I’m 87, so to hell with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plummer has a slew of upcoming projects, including the film \u201cThe Man Who Invented Christmas,\u201d in which he’ll play Ebenezer Scrooge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many parts I’ve not played yet and so many that I have that it’s almost hard to envision what one does next,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wait for something terrific to come along that’s different.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadian Screen Awards will air Sunday on CBC from Toronto’s Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Of all the revered roles Christopher Plummer has portrayed over the years \u2014 Capt. Georg von Trapp, King …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":93226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[16383],"class_list":["post-93225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-christopher-plummer","mauthors-victoria-ahearn","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}