Christopher Plummer

This article is about the Canadian actor. For the Canon of Windsor, see Christopher Plummer (priest). For the English football player, see Chris Plummer.
Christopher Plummer
CC

Born Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer
(1929-12-13) December 13, 1929
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality Canadian
Alma mater McGill University
Occupation Actor
Years active 1953–present
Home town Senneville, Quebec, Canada
Spouse(s) Tammy Grimes (m. 1956; div. 1960)
Patricia Lewis (m. 1962; div. 1967)
Elaine Taylor (m. 1968)
Children Amanda Plummer
Relatives John Abbott (great-grandfather)
Awards Academy Award (2011),
BAFTA Award (2011),
Golden Globe Award (2011),
Screen Actors Guild Award (2011),
Tony Award (1974, 1997),
Emmy Awards (1977, 1994),
Drama Desk Award (1982, 1997)

Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer CC (born December 13, 1929) is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor.

After making his film debut in Stage Struck (1958), Plummer went on to a successful film career that has spanned over five decades. Some of his most notable film performances include: The Sound of Music (1965), Battle of Britain (1969), Waterloo (1970), The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), Murder by Decree (1979), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Nicholas Nickleby (2002), The New World (2005), Inside Man (2006), Up (2009), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011).

Plummer has notably portrayed several historical figures, including: Rudyard Kipling in The Man Who Would Be King (1975), Mike Wallace in The Insider (1999) and Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station (2009).

In a career that includes substantial roles in each of the dramatic arts, Plummer is best known to film audiences as the aristocratic widower, Captain Georg von Trapp, in the musical film The Sound of Music (1965), alongside Julie Andrews.[1] Plummer has ventured into various television projects, including the miniseries The Thorn Birds (1983).

Plummer has won numerous awards and accolades for his work, including: an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a SAG Award, and a BAFTA Award. With his win at age 82 in 2012 for Beginners, Plummer is the oldest actor ever to win an Academy Award.

Early life

Plummer was born on December 13, 1929 in Toronto, Ontario, the only child of Isabella Mary (née Abbott), who was secretary to the Dean of Sciences at McGill University, and John Orme Plummer, who sold stocks and securities.[2] Through his mother, Plummer is a great-grandson of Canadian Prime Minister and former McGill law dean Sir John Abbott,[3] and a great-great-grandson of Anglican clergyman and McGill president John Bethune.[4] His father's uncle was patent lawyer and agent F. B. Fetherstonhaugh.[2] Plummer's parents were divorced shortly after his birth, and he was brought up at the Abbott family home in Senneville, Quebec, outside Montreal. He is bilingual, speaking English and French fluently.[5][6] Plummer is a second cousin of actor Nigel Bruce, the British actor, best known as Doctor Watson to Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes, and of Bruce's brother, Sir Michael Bruce, baronet and journalist.[4]

He had studied to be a concert pianist, but developed a love for the theatre at an early age. He began acting while he was living on Pine Avenue in Montreal and attending Montreal High.[7][8] He attended McGill, at which time he also took up acting, after watching Laurence Olivier's film Henry V (1944).[9]

In 1946, his performance as Mr. Darcy in the production of Pride and Prejudice at Montreal High brought Christopher Plummer to the attention of Herbert Whittaker, the theatre critic of the Montreal Gazette. Whittaker, who was also amateur stage director the Montreal Repertory Theatre, cast Plummer, aged 18, as Oedipus in Cocteau's La Machine infernale.[10][11][12]

Theatre

Plummer did his apprenticeship with the Canadian Repertory Company (Ottawa, Ontario) from 1948–50, appearing in 75 roles, including Cymbeline (1948) and The Rivals (1950). He acted with the Bermuda Repertory Theatre in 1952, appearing in many plays, including The Playboy of the Western World, The Royal Family, The Little Foxes, The Petrified Forest and The Constant Wife.

Broadway

Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1959

Plummer made his Broadway debut in January 1953 in The Starcross Story, a show that closed on opening night. His next Broadway appearance, Home is the Hero, lasted 30 performances in September–October 1954. He appeared in support of Broadway legend Katharine Cornell and film legend Tyrone Power in The Dark is Light Enough, which lasted 69 performances in February–April 1955. The play toured several cities, with Plummer serving as Power's understudy.[4] Later that same year, he appeared in his first Broadway hit, opposite Julie Harris (who won a Tony Award) in Jean Anouilh's The Lark. After appearing in Night of the Auk, which was not a success, Plummer appeared in Elia Kazan's successful Broadway production of Archibald MacLeish's Pulitzer Prize-winning play J.B.; Plummer was nominated for his first Tony as Best Actor in Play. (J.B. also won Tonys as Best Play and for Kazan's direction.)

Plummer appeared less frequently on Broadway in the 1960s as he moved from New York to London. He appeared in the title role in a 1963 production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, which did not succeed, but he had a great success in Peter Shaffer's The Royal Hunt of the Sun, playing conquistador Francisco Pizarro to David Carradine's Tony Award-nominated Atahuallpa. (In the 1969 film adaptation, Plummer would take the title role.) From May to June 1973, he appeared on Broadway as the title character in Cyrano, a musical adaptation of Edmond Rostand's 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac by Anthony Burgess and Michael J. Lewis. For that performance, Plummer won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance. Later that year, he played Anton Chekhov in Neil Simon's adaptation of several Chekhov short stories, The Good Doctor.[13]

In the 1980s, he appeared on Broadway in two Shakespearean tragedies, Othello, playing Iago to James Earl Jones' Moor, and the title role in Macbeth with Glenda Jackson playing his lady. His Iago brought him another Tony nomination. He appeared with Jason Robards in the 1994 revival of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land and had great success in 1997 in Barrymore, which he also toured with after a successful Broadway run. His turn as John Barrymore brought him his second Tony Award (this time as Best Actor in Play) and a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actor in a Play. He was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his 2004 King Lear and for a Tony playing Henry Drummond in the 2007 revival of Inherit the Wind.[14]

Stratford Festival

Plummer made his debut at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 1956, playing the title role in Henry V, which subsequently was performed that year at the Edinburgh Festival. He played the title role in Hamlet and Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night at Stratford in 1957. The following year, he played Leontes in The Winter's Tale, Bardolph, in Henry IV, Part 1, and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. In 1960, he played Philip the Bastard in King John and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. In 1962, he played the title roles in both Cyrano de Bergerac and Macbeth, returning in 1967 to play Mark Antony in Antony and Cleopatra.[15]

In 2002, he appeared in a lauded production of King Lear, directed by Jonathan Miller.[16] The production successfully transferred to New York City's Lincoln Center in 2004.[17] He returned to the stage at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in August 2008 in a critically acclaimed performance as Julius Caesar in George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra directed by Tony winner Des McAnuff; this production was videotaped and shown in high-definition in Canadian cinemas on January 31, 2009 (with an encore presentation on February 23, 2009) and broadcast on April 4, 2009 on Bravo! in Canada. Plummer returned to the Stratford Festival in the summer of 2010 in The Tempest as the lead character, Prospero (also videotaped and shown in high-def in cinemas), and again in the summer of 2012 in the one-man show, A Word or Two, an autobiographical exploration of his love of literature. In 2014, Plummer presented A Word or Two again, at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.[18]

United Kingdom

In April 1961, he appeared as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing with the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He also appeared with the RSC in May 1961 in the lead role of Richard III. He made his London debut on June 11, 1961, playing King Henry II in Jean Anouilh's Becket with the RSC at the Aldwych Theatre, directed by Peter Hall. The production later transferred to the Globe for a December 1961 to April 1962 run.[15] For his performance, Plummer won the Evening Standard Award for Best Actor.[19]

From June 1971 to January 1972, he appeared at the National Theatre, acting in repertory for the season. The plays he appeared in where Jean Giraudoux's Amphitryon 38 directed by Laurence Olivier;[20] Georg Büchner's Danton's Death (director Jonathan Miller); Adrian Mitchell's Tyger; Luigi Pirandello's The Rules of the Game; and Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night at the New Theatre in London.[21]

Other venues

Edward Everett Horton hired Plummer to appear as Gerard in the 1953 road show production of André Roussin's Nina,[22] a role originated on Broadway by David Niven in 1951.[23] He appeared as Jason opposite Dame Judith Anderson in Robinson Jeffers' adaptation of Medea at the Theatre Sara Bernhardt in Paris in 1955. The American National Theatre and Academy production, directed by Guthrie McClintic, was part of Le Festival International.

Also in 1955, he played Mark Antony in Julius Caesar and Ferdinand in The Tempest at the American Shakespeare Festival (Stratford, Connecticut). He returned to the American Shakespeare Festival in 1981 to play the title role in Henry V.[15]

Plummer appeared in Lovers and Madmen at the Opera House, Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. in 1973 and in Love and Master Will at the same venue in 1975.[24] Love and Master Will consisted of selections from the works of William Shakespeare on the subject of love, arranged by Plummer. His co-stars were Zoe Caldwell, Bibi Andersson and Leonard Nimoy. Plummer played "Edgar" in E. L. Doctorow's Drinks before Dinner with the New York Shakespeare Festival at the Public/Newman Theatre in New York City in 1978.

Film

Plummer's film career began in 1958 when Sidney Lumet cast him as a young writer in Stage Struck. That same year, he also appeared in Nicholas Ray's film of Budd Schulberg's Wind Across the Everglades. He did not appear on screen again for six years, until he played the Emperor Commodus in Anthony Mann's epic The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964). His next film, the Oscar-winning The Sound of Music, made cinematic history, becoming the all-time top-grossing film, eclipsing Gone With the Wind.[25]

Since then, he has appeared in a vast number of notable films, including Inside Daisy Clover (1965), The Night of the Generals (as Field Marshal Erwin Rommel) (1967), Oedipus the King (1968), The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969), Battle of Britain (1969), Waterloo (1970), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), The Silent Partner (1978), International Velvet (1978), Murder by Decree (1979), Somewhere in Time (1980), Eyewitness (1981), Dragnet (1987), Shadow Dancing (1988), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), Malcolm X (1992), Wolf (1994), Dolores Claiborne (1995), 12 Monkeys (1995), Syriana (2005), The New World (2005), The Lake House (2006) and Remember (2015). In addition, Plummer was cast to replace Rex Harrison for the film adaptation of Doctor Dolittle. This decision was later reversed, but Plummer was nonetheless paid $87,500 for signing the contract. At the same time, Plummer was performing in the stage play The Royal Hunt of the Sun and his whole Dolittle participation was so brief that Plummer never missed a performance.[26]

One of Plummer's most critically acclaimed roles was that of television journalist Mike Wallace in Michael Mann's biographical film The Insider (1999), for which he was honoured with several critics' awards for Best Supporting Actor, though a corresponding Academy Award nomination did not materialize.[27]

In January 2010, Plummer received his first Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of author Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station (2009).[28] Speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in an interview that aired on March 7, 2010,[29] Plummer added, tongue-in-cheek, "Well, I said it's about time! I mean, I'm 80 years old, for God's sake. Have mercy." On Oscar night, March 7, 2010, however, he lost to Christoph Waltz.[30]

Plummer received his second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Beginners (2011), and was announced as the winner at the 84th Academy Awards. Plummer's win made him, at age 82, the oldest actor to win an Academy Award. When he accepted the award, he quipped "You're only two years older than me, darling. Where have you been all my life?".[31]

Other recent successes include his roles as Dr. Rosen in Ron Howard's Academy Award-winning A Beautiful Mind (2001), Arthur Case in Spike Lee's film Inside Man (2006), and the philosopher Aristotle in Alexander, alongside Colin Farrell. In 2004, Plummer played John Adams Gates in National Treasure.

Plummer has also done some voice work, such as his role of Henri the pigeon in An American Tail (1986), the villainous Grand Duke of Owls in Rock-a-Doodle (1991), the antagonistic Charles Muntz in Up (2009), and the elder leader 1 in the Tim Burton-produced action/science fiction film 9 (2009). He also served as the narrator in Philip Saville's film The Gospel of John (2003).

Documentaries

In 1963, he was the subject of a short National Film Board of Canada documentary, 30 Minutes, Mister Plummer, directed by Anne Claire Poirier.[32]

In 2011, he appeared in the feature-length documentary The Captains. The film, written and directed by William Shatner, sees Shatner interview Plummer at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Theatre where they talk about their young careers, long lasting friendship, and Plummer's role as Chang in Star Trek VI. The film references that Shatner, two years Plummer's junior, was the other's understudy in a production of Henry V at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. When Plummer had fallen ill, Shatner took the stage, earning his first big break.[33]

The Sound of Music

Plummer and Julie Andrews on the set for The Sound of Music in Salzburg, 1964

Owing to the box office success and continued popularity of The Sound of Music (1965), Plummer remains widely known for his portrayal of Captain Von Trapp, a role he later described as "so awful and sentimental and gooey".[34] He found all aspects of making the film, except working with Andrews, unpleasant and avoids using its name, instead calling it "that movie", "S&M", or "The Sound of Mucus".[35][36] He declined to attend the 40th Anniversary cast reunion, but did provide commentary on the 2005 DVD release. Plummer relented in 2010 for the 45th anniversary, and appeared with the full cast on The Oprah Winfrey Show on October 28, 2010.

In 2009, Plummer said of the film and his role that he was "...a bit bored with the character. Although we worked hard enough to make him interesting, it was a bit like flogging a dead horse. And the subject matter is not mine. I mean, it can't appeal to every person in the world."[1] However, Plummer admits the film itself was well made and, despite his reservations, is proud to be associated with a film with such mass appeal. "The world has seen [The Sound of Music] so many times. And there's a whole new generation every year—poor kids—that have to sit through it [laughs]. But it was a very well-made movie, and it's a family movie and we haven't seen a family movie, I don't think, on that scale for ages. I don't mind that. It just happened to be not my particular cup of tea."[37] His singing voice was mostly dubbed by Bill Lee.[38]

Television

Plummer made his television debut in the February 1953 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation production of Othello, starring Lorne Greene as the Moor.[39] He appeared regularly on American television throughout the 1950s, appearing on both dramatic showcase programs like The Alcoa Hour, General Electric Theater, Kraft Television Theatre and Omnibus and episodic series. In 1956, he appeared with Jason Robards and Constance Ford in an episode entitled "A Thief There Was" of CBS's anthology series Appointment with Adventure.

In 1958, he appeared in the live television drama Little Moon of Alban with Julie Harris, for which he received his first Emmy Award nomination. He also appeared with Harris in the 1958 television adaptation of Johnny Belinda and played Torvald Helmer to Harris' Nora in a 1959 television version of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House.

He also starred in the television adaptations of Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story (1959), George Bernard Shaw's Captain Brassbound's Conversion (1960), Jean Anouilh's Time Remembered (playing the role of Prince Albert originated by Richard Burton on Broadway[40]), and Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (1962). In 1964, his performance of the Gloomy Dane in the BBC production Hamlet at Elsinore garnered his second Emmy nomination.[41] Another notable play in which he appeared was the 1974 adaptation of Arthur Miller's After the Fall, in which he played Quentin (a part originated on Broadway by Jason Robards[42]) opposite Faye Dunaway's Maggie.

He has appeared in almost 100 television roles in all, including appearances as Herod Antipas in Jesus of Nazareth, the five-time Emmy Award-winning The Thorn Birds, the Emmy-winning Nuremberg, the Emmy-winning Little Moon of Alban and the Emmy-winning The Moneychangers (for which he won his first Emmy Award as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series).[43]

He co-starred in American Tragedy as F. Lee Bailey (for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination), and appeared in Four Minute Mile, Miracle Planet, and a documentary by Ric Burns about Eugene O'Neill. He received an Emmy Award nomination for his performance in Our Fathers and reunited with Julie Andrews for a television production of On Golden Pond. He was the narrator for The Gospel of John. He also co-starred with Gregory Peck in The Scarlet and The Black.

He narrated the animated television series Madeline, for which he received an Emmy Award,[44] as well as the animated television series David the Gnome.

Other works

Plummer has also written for the stage, television and the concert-hall. He and Sir Neville Marriner rearranged Shakespeare's Henry V with Sir William Walton's music as a concert piece.[45] They recorded the work with Marriner's chamber orchestra the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He performed it and other works with the New York Philharmonic and symphony orchestras of London, Washington, D.C., Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago Minneapolis, Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax.[45] With Marriner he made his Carnegie Hall debut in his own arrangements of Mendelssohn's incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream.[45]

In 2000, he reprised his role from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in the video game Star Trek: Klingon Academy.[46] In 2011, he provided the voice of Arngeir, leader of the Greybeards, in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.[47]

Honours and awards

Plummer has won many honours in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and Austria. He was the first winner of Canada's Genie Award, for Best Actor in Murder by Decree (1980) and has received three other Genie nominations. Plummer has won two Tony Awards (from seven nominations), and two Emmy Awards (six nominations) in the United States, and Great Britain's Evening Standard Awards.[48]

In 1968, he was invested as Companion of the Order of Canada, at the time among Canada's highest civilian honours. In 2001, he received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.[49] He was made an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts at New York's Juilliard School and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, McGill University, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Ottawa, and most recently the University of Guelph. Plummer was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1986 and into Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto in 1998.[50]

His awards include the following:

Personal life

Plummer has been married three times. Plummer was married to the actress Tammy Grimes for four years from 1956.[51] The couple had a daughter, Amanda (born 1957), an acclaimed actress in her own right, but (as he mentions in his autobiography) he had no contact with her during her early and teenage years. They now maintain a friendly relationship. Plummer was married to journalist Patricia Lewis from May 4, 1962, until their divorce in 1967. He and his third wife, British dancer and actress Elaine Taylor, dated since 1968, got married on 2 October 1970 and live in a 100-year-old converted farm house in Weston, Connecticut.[52] In 2015, Plummer sold his Connecticut estate for $11.2 million.[53]

Plummer's memoir, In Spite of Myself, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in November 2008.[4] Plummer is a patron of Theatre Museum Canada.[54]

Performances

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1958 Stage Struck Joe Sheridan
1958 Wind Across the Everglades Walt Murdock
1964 The Fall of the Roman Empire Commodus
1965 The Sound of Music Captain Georg von Trapp
1966 Inside Daisy Clover Raymond Swan
1966 Triple Cross Eddie Chapman
1967 The Night of the Generals Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
1967 Oedipus the King Oedipus
1968 Nobody Runs Forever Sir James Quentin
1969 Battle of Britain Squadron Leader Colin Harvey
1969 The Royal Hunt of the Sun Atahualpa
1969 Lock Up Your Daughters! Lord Foppington
1970 Waterloo Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
1973 The Pyx Dt. Sgt. Jim Henderson
1974 After the Fall Quentin
1974 The Happy Prince The Happy Prince Short film
1975 The Spiral Staircase Dr. Joe Sherman
1975 The Return of the Pink Panther Sir Charles Litton
1975 Conduct Unbecoming Major Alastair Wimbourne
1975 The Man Who Would Be King Rudyard Kipling
1975 The Day That Shook the World Archduke Ferdinand of Austria
1976 Aces High Captain 'Uncle' Sinclair
1977 The Assignment Captain Behounek
1977 The Disappearance Deverell
1977 Silver Blaze Sherlock Holmes
1978 The Silent Partner Harry Reikle
1978 International Velvet John Seaton
1979 Starcrash The Emperor
1979 Murder by Decree Sherlock Holmes Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
1979 Hanover Street Paul Sellinger
1980 Somewhere in Time William Fawcett Robinson
1981 Eyewitness Joseph
1981 Amateur, TheThe Amateur Professor Lakos Nominated—Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
1984 Lily in Love Fitzroy Wynn / Roberto Terranova Alternative English title: Playing for Keeps, Hungarian title: Játszani kell, directed by Károly Makk
1984 Dreamscape Bob Blair
1984 Highpoint James Hatcher
1984 Terror in the Aisles Archival appearance Documentary
1984 Ordeal by Innocence Leo Argyle
1986 The Boy in Blue Knox
1986 The Boss' Wife Mr. Roalvang
1986 An American Tail Henri Voice talent
1986 Vampire in Venice Professor Paris Catalano
1987 Dragnet Reverend Jonathan Whirley
1987 I Love N.Y. John Robertson Yeats
1987 The Man Who Planted Trees Narrator
1987 The Gnomes' Great Adventure Narrator
1988 Light Years Metamorphis
1988 Shadow Dancing Edmund Beaumont
1988 The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind Narrator Documentary
1989 Souvenir Ernst Kestner
1989 Mindfield Doctor Satorius
1989 Kingsgate
1990 Where the Heart Is Jerry
1990 Red Blooded American Girl Dr. John Alcore
1990 Money Martin Yahl
1991 Firehead Colonel Garland Vaughn
1991 Rock-a-Doodle Grand Duke Voice talent
1991 Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country General Chang
1992 Impolite Naples O'Rorke Nominated—Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
1992 Malcolm X Chaplain Gill
1992 Liar's Edge Harry Weldon
1994 Wolf Raymond Alden
1994 Crackerjack Ivan Getz
1995 Dolores Claiborne Det. John Mackey
1995 12 Monkeys Dr. Goines
1996 The Conspiracy of Fear Joseph Wakeman
1997 Babes in Toyland Barnaby Crookedman Voice talent
1998 Hidden Agenda Ulrich Steiner
1998 The First Christmas Narrator Voice role
1998 Blackheart Holmes
1998 The Clown at Midnight Mr. Caruthers
1999 Madeline: Lost in Paris Narrator Voice role
1999 The Insider Mike Wallace Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
2000 Dracula 2000 Abraham Van Helsing
2001 Lucky Break Graham Mortimer
2001 A Beautiful Mind Dr. Rosen Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2001 Full Disclosure Robert Lecker
2002 Ararat David Nominated—Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
2002 Nicholas Nickleby Ralph Nickleby National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
2003 Blizzard Santa Claus Nominated—Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
2003 The Gospel of John Narrator
2003 Cold Creek Manor Mr. Massie
2004 National Treasure John Adams Gates
2004 Alexander Aristotle
2005 Must Love Dogs Bill Nolan
2005 Syriana Dean Whiting
2005 The New World Captain Newport
2006 Inside Man Arthur Case
2006 The Lake House Simon Wyler
2006 American Experience Narrator/James Tyrone Eugene O'Neill: A Documentary Film
2007 Man in the Chair Flash Madden
2007 Closing the Ring Jack
2007 Emotional Arithmetic David Winters Nominated—Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
2007 Already Dead Dr. Heller
2009 Caesar and Cleopatra Julius Caesar Also executive producer
2009 Up Charles Muntz Voice talent
2009 My Dog Tulip J.R. Ackerley Voice talent
2009 9 1 Voice talent
2009 The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Doctor Parnassus
2009 The Last Station Leo Tolstoy Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
2010 Beginners Hal Fields Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor[55]
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Detroit Film Critics Society for Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Hollywood Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actor
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
Indiana Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Houston Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor(runner-up)
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated—Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor(runner-up)
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor[56]
2011 Priest Monsignor Orelas
2011 Barrymore John Barrymore
2011 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Henrik Vanger
2013 The Legend of Sarila Croolik Voice talent
2014 Elsa & Fred Fred Barcroft
2014 Hector and the Search for Happiness Professor Coreman
2014 The Forger Joseph Cutter
2015 Danny Collins Frank Grubman
2015 Remember Zev Guttman
2016 The Exception Kaiser Wilhelm In post-production
2017 Boundaries Jack In post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1958 Little Moon of Alban Kenneth Boyd Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1959 A Doll's House Torvald Helmer Live television drama
1961 Playdate Host
1962 Cyrano de Bergerac Cyrano de Bergerac Television film
1964 Hamlet at Elsinore Hamlet Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1971 Don Juan in Hell Don Juan
1976 Arthur Hailey's the Moneychangers Roscoe Heyward Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1977 Jesus of Nazareth Herod Antipas Miniseries
1979 Riel John A. Macdonald Television film
1980 Desperate Voyage Burrifous Television film
1980 The Shadow Box Brian Television film
1981 When the Circus Came to Town Duke Royal Television film
1982 Little Gloria... Happy at Last Reggie Vanderbilt Miniseries
1983 The Scarlet and the Black Colonel Herbert Kappler Television film
1983 The Thorn Birds Archbishop Vittorio Contini-Verchese Miniseries
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1983 Prototype Dr. Carl Forrester
1985 The World of David the Gnome Narrator Animated series
1985 Rumpelstiltskin Narrator Animated short film
1986 Crossings Armand DeVilliers Miniseries
1986 Spearfield's Daughter Lord Jack Cruze Television film
1987 A Hazard of Hearts Sir Giles Staverley Television film
1988-1991 Madeline Narrator Animated specials
6 specials
1989 Nabokov on Kafka Vladimir Nabokov Television short
1990 A Ghost in Monte Carlo The Grand Duke Ivan Television film
1990 The Little Crooked Christmas Tree Television short
1990-1993 Counterstrike Alexander Addington Television series
65 episodes
1991 Young Catherine Sir Charles Miniseries
1991 A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz Alfred Stieglitz Television film
1991 Berlin Lady Wilhem Speer Miniseries
1991 The First Cirlce Victor Abakumov Television film
1992 Secrets Mel Wexler Television film
1993-1995 Madeline Narrator Animated series
Seasons 1 and 2
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
1993 A Stranger in the Mirror Clifton Lawrence Television film
1995 Harrison Bergeron John Klaxon Television film
1996 We the Jury Wilfred Fransiscus Television film
1996 Skeletons R. Carlyle Television film
1997 The Arrow George Hees Miniseries
1998 Winchell Franklin D. Roosevelt Television film
1999 Celebrate the Century Himself Documentary
2000 Nuremberg Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe Miniseries
2000 The Dinosaur Hunter Hump Hinton Television film
2000 Possessed Archbishop Hume Television film
2000 American Tragedy F. Lee Bailey Miniseries
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2001 Leo's Journey Narrator Television film
2001 On Golden Pond Norman Thayer Television film
2002 Night Flight 'Flash' Harry Peters Television series
2002 Agent of Influence John Watkins Television film
2005 Our Fathers Cardinal Bernard Law Television film
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2005 Miracle Planet Narrator Documentary
6 episodes
2008 The Summit P.J. Aimes Miniseries: 2 episodes
2013 Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight John Marshall Harlan II Television film

Stage

Year Title Role Notes
1958 J.B. Nickles Nominated - Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play
1974 Cyrano Cyrano de Bergerac Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical
1982 Othello Iago Nominated - Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play
1994 No Man's Land Spooner Nominated - Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play
1997 Barrymore John Barrymore Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play
2004 King Lear King Lear Nominated - Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play
2007 Inherit the Wind Henry Drummond Nominated - Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play

Video games

Year Title Voice role
2000 Star Trek: Klingon Academy General Chang
2009 Up Charles Muntz
2011 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Arngeir

See also

References

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