THE PASSING SCENE OF 2021

 Another year is finished and another listing of the people we have lost in the past year. Even though each death brings us sadness, let us remember the great memories and talent of these stars that will live forever...

Stephen Sondheim

Composer STEPHEN SONDHEIM, died at the age of 91 on November 26th. Sondheim was praised for having "reinvented the American musical" with shows that tackled "unexpected themes that range far beyond the [genre's] traditional subjects" with "music and lyrics of unprecedented complexity and sophistication". Sondheim started his theatre career by writing the lyrics for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959) before becoming a composer and lyricist. Sondheim's best-known works include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), and Into the Woods (1987). He wrote five songs for 1990's Dick Tracy, including "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)", sung in the film by Madonna, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Film adaptations of Sondheim's work include West Side Story (1961), Gypsy (1962), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Into the Woods (2014), and West Side Story (2021). Sondheim remained active up to the day he died.

Actor CHARLIE ROBINSON, died on July 11th at the age of 75.He is best known for his role on the NBC sitcom Night Court as Macintosh "Mac" Robinson (Seasons 2–9), the clerk of the court and a Vietnam War veteran. Although his most frequent on-screen billing was Charlie Robinson, Night Court had credited him as Charles Robinson throughout his 1984–1992 stint as Mac. His final role was on the television series Love In The Time Of Corona in 2020.

Actress CICELY TYSON, died on January 28th at the age of  96. Having appeared in minor film and television roles early in her career, Tyson garnered widespread attention and critical acclaim for her performance as Rebecca Morgan in Sounder (1972); she was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her work in the film. Tyson's portrayal of the title role in the 1974 television film The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, based on the book by Ernest J. Gaines, won her further praise; among other accolades, the role won her two Emmy Awards and a nomination for a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Actor GALVIN MCLEOD, died on May 29th at the age of 90. MacLeod's career began in films in 1957. He co-starred with Bing Crosby and Tuesday Weld in 1960's High Time. MacLeod's career began in films in 1957. In 1965, he starred in The Sword of Ali Baba. He went on to appear in A Man Called Gannon (1968), in The Thousand Plane Raid (1969), and in Kelly's Heroes (1970). MacLeod also achieved continuing television success co-starring alongside Ernest Borgnine on McHale's Navy (1962–1964) as Joseph "Happy" Haines,  on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977) as Murray Slaughter, and most famously as the Captain on The Love Boat (1977-1986). Galvin retired from acting in 2009.

Actor, GEORGE SEGAL, died at the age of 87 on March 23rd during heart surgery. He became popular in the 1960s and 1970s for playing both dramatic and comedic roles. Some of his most acclaimed roles are in films such as Ship of Fools (1965), King Rat (1965), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967), Where's Poppa? (1970), The Hot Rock (1972), Blume in Love (1973), A Touch of Class (1973), California Split (1974), For the Boys (1991), and Flirting with Disaster (1996). On television, he is best known for his roles as Jack Gallo on Just Shoot Me! (1997–2003) and as Albert "Pops" Solomon on The Goldbergs (2013–2021).

Norm MacDonald

Comedian NORM MACDONALD, died of cancer on September 14th. He was 61. Norm was a Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, and actor known for his deadpan style.Early in his career, he wrote for the sitcom Roseanne and made guest appearances on shows such as The Drew Carey Show and News Radio. Macdonald was then a cast member on Saturday Night Live (SNL) for five years from 1993 to 1998, including anchoring the Weekend Update segment for three seasons. He also he performed impressions of Larry King, Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Quentin Tarantino, Charles Kuralt, and Bob Dole to name a few. After leaving SNL, he starred in the 1998 film Dirty Work and in his own sitcom, The Norm Show, from 1999 to 2001. In 2013, Macdonald started a video podcast, Norm Macdonald Live, on which he interviewed comedians and other celebrities. In 2018, he released Norm Macdonald Has a Show, a Netflix talk show with a similar premise to his podcast. He last appeared on five episodes of a talk show called Quarantined in 2020.

Singer, JIMMIE RODGERS, died on January 18th at the age of 87. He was an American singer. Rodgers had a run of hits and mainstream popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. His string of crossover singles ranked highly on the Billboard Pop Singles, Hot Country and Western Sides, and Hot Rhythm and Blues Sides charts; in the 1960s, Rodgers had more modest successes with adult contemporary music. Rodgers big hit was "Honeycomb" and "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" in 1957. He continued to perform until about early 2020. He performed often in Branson, Missouri, where I got to see him perform in 2000.

Actor HAL HOLBROOK, died at the age of 95 on January 23rd. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show he developed, Mark Twain Tonight! while studying at Denison University, performing as Mark Twain. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1966 for his portrayal of Twain. He would continue to perform his signature role for over 60 years, only retiring the show in 2017 due to his failing health. He later gained international fame for his performance as Deep Throat in the 1976 film All the President's Men. He played Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 miniseries Lincoln and 1985 miniseries North and South. He also appeared in such films as Julia (1977), The Fog (1980), Creepshow (1982), Wall Street (1987), The Firm (1993), Hercules (1997), and Men of Honor (2000).

Former child star JANE WITHERS died at the age of 95. She became one of the most popular child stars in Hollywood in the 1930s and early 1940s, with her films ranking in the top ten list for box-office gross in 1937 and 1938. In 1932, she and her mother moved to Hollywood, where she appeared as an extra in many films until landing her breakthrough role as the spoiled, obnoxious Joy Smythe opposite Shirley Temple's angelic orphan Shirley Blake in the 1934 film Bright Eyes. She made 38 films before retiring at age 21 in 1947. She returned to film and television as a character actor in the 1950s. From 1963 to 1974, she portrayed the character Josephine the Plumber in a series of television commercials for Comet cleanser. In the 1990s and early 2000s, she did voice work for Disney animated films. 

Cloris Leachman

Actress CLORIS LEACHMAN, died at the age of 94 on January 27th. She won many accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nominated. In film, she appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971) as the jaded wife of a closeted schoolteacher in the 1950s; she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, and the film is widely considered to be one of the greatest of all time. Additionally, she was part of Mel Brooks's ensemble cast, appearing in roles such as Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein (1974) and Madame Defarge in History of the World, Part I (1981). Leachman won additional Emmys for her role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She continued to work until 2021, until she died after suffering a stroke. She has two movies that will be released after her death.

Big band leader ELLIOT LAWRENCE, died on July 2nd at the age of 96. Elliot led an impressive big band in the 1940s and ‘50s, won a Tony Award in 1962 for his conducting of the Broadway show “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” and from 1967 to 2013 was Music Director and Conductor for the Tony Awards telecast itself (as was stated in The New York Times, that’s “an astounding 46-year run in a fickle business”). He was one of the last remaining big band leaders.

Comedian JACKIE MASON, died at the age of 93 on July 24th. His 1986 one-man show The World According to Me! won a Special Tony Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, an Ace Award, an Emmy Award, and earned a Grammy nomination. Later, his 1988 special Jackie Mason on Broadway won another Emmy Award (for outstanding writing) and another Ace Award, and his 1991 voice-over of Rabbi Hyman Krustofski in The Simpsons episode "Like Father, Like Clown" won Mason a third Emmy Award. He wrote and performed six one-man shows on Broadway. Known for his delivery and voice, as well as his use of innuendo and pun, Mason's often culturally grounded humor was described as irreverent and sometimes politically incorrect. 

Actress OLYMPIA DUKAKIS, died on May 1st at the age of 89. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in theater. Not long after her arrival in New York City, she won an Obie Award for Best Actress in 1963 for her off-Broadway performance in Bertolt Brecht's Man Equals Man. She later moved to film acting and won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, among other accolades, for her performance in Moonstruck (1987). She received another Golden Globe nomination for Sinatra (1992) and Emmy Award nominations for Lucky Day (1991), More Tales of the City (1998) and Joan of Arc (1999). She worked until the end of her life.

Singer JILL COREY, died on April 3rd at the age of 85. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she was a popular singer in the 1950s with hits such as Love Me To Pieces in 1957. She dated Frank Sinatra briefly as well as starred in a forgotten movie Senior Prom in 1958. She retired to marry a Pittsburgh Pirates player, but later resumed her career after her husband passed away.

Christopher Plummer

Actor CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, died on February 5th at the age of 91. Born in Toronto, Plummer became a leading actor on Broadway and in Hollywood. Plummer remains widely known for his portrayal of Captain Von Trapp due to the box office success and continued popularity of the Robert Wise directed musical epic The Sound of Music (1965). He won the Oscar for Best Supporting actor in 2012 for Beginners (2011), becoming the old actor nominated in that category. In recent years he was cast in the popular movie Knives Out (2019). n 2021, Plummer was set to play the lead for a film adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear, to be filmed in the summer, in Newfoundland, under director Des McAnuff. He died before filming commenced.

Actress MARKIE POST, died of cancer on August 7th at the age of 70.She was known for her roles as bail bondswoman Terri Michaels in The Fall Guy on ABC from 1982 to 1985, as public defender Christine Sullivan on the NBC sitcom Night Court from 1984 to 1992, and as Georgie Anne Lahti Hartman on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire from 1992 to 1995. She made her last appearance on film and television in 2019.

Former child actor TOMMY KIRK, died on September 28th at the age of 79. Kirk was best known for his performances in films made by Walt Disney Studios such as Old Yeller, The Shaggy Dog, Swiss Family Robinson, The Absent-Minded Professor, and The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, as well as the beach-party films of the mid-1960s. 

Actor NORMAN LLOYD, died at the age of 106 on May 11th. He worked in every major facet of the industry including theatre, radio, television, and film, with a career that started in 1923. His last film, Trainwreck, was released in 2015, after Lloyd had attained 100 years of age. As an actor, he appeared in over 60 films and television shows, with his roles including Bodalink in Charlie Chaplin's Limelight (1952), Mr. Nolan in Dead Poets Society (1989), and Mr. Letterblair in The Age of Innocence (1993). In the 1980s, Lloyd gained a new generation of fans for playing Dr. Daniel Auschlander, one of the starring roles on the medical drama St. Elsewhere on television from 1982 to 1986.

Actress ARLENE DAHL, died at the age of 96 on November 29th. Dahl was one of the last stars of classic Hollywood. Never a huge film star but known for her beauty, she starred in several MGM movies of  the 1940s and 1950s such as Three Little Words (1950) with Fred Astaire and Red Skelton. She made her last movie in 1991, but remained a socialite and beauty mogul.

Jane Powell

Actress JANE POWELL, died at the age of 92 on September 16th. As a teenager, she relocated to Los Angeles, where she signed a film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Powell's vocal, dancing, and acting talents were utilized for lead roles in a variety of musicals for the studio. She made her feature debut as a performer in Song of the Open Road (1944), followed by a lead in Arthur Lubin's Delightfully Dangerous (1945). Powell gained further widespread recognition for her lead roles in the musicals A Date with Judy (1948), Royal Wedding (1951), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), and Hit the Deck (1955). In later years Jane appeared on many television shows, often in dramatic roles. In 2009, Jane retired from acting , and after her fifth husband, former child star Dickie Moore, died in 2015, Jane became mostly a recluse.

Singer MARY WILSON, died at the age of 76 on February 8th. She gained worldwide recognition as a founding member of The Supremes, the most successful Motown act of the 1960s and the best-charting female group in U.S. chart history, as well as one of the best-selling girl groups of all-time. The trio reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100 with 12 of their singles, ten of which feature Wilson on backing vocals.

Musician MICHAEL NESMITH, died on December 10th at the age of 78. He was best known as a member of the pop rock band the Monkees and co-star of the TV series The Monkees (1966–1968). Nesmith's songwriting credits include "Different Drum" (sung by Linda Ronstadt with the Stone Poneys). After the break-up of the Monkees, Nesmith continued his successful songwriting and performing career, first with the seminal country rock group the First National Band, with whom he had a top-40 hit, "Joanne", and then as a solo artist.

Actor ED ASNER, died on August 29th at the age of 91. He is known for playing Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series Lou Grant, making him one of the few television actors to portray the same character in both a comedy and a drama. He is the most honored male performer in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, having won seven times. He played John Wayne's adversary Bart Jason in the 1966 Western El Dorado. Asner played Santa Claus in several films, including in 2003's Elf.  In 2009, he voiced Carl Fredricksen in Pixar's animated film Up. He continued to be active and work until his death.

Actress BETTY WHITE, died at the age of 99 on December 31st. She was 17 days away from celebrating her 100th birthday. Betty was an icon on television for decades, and she got her biggest acclaim on the television shows "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" from 1973 to 1978, "Golden Girls" from 1985 to 1992, and "Hot In Cleveland" from 2010 to 2015. She worked tirelessly for animal rights, and she remained active until right before the covid pandemic.

These stars and icons are gone, but they are truly never forgotten...

RIP: CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER

Christopher Plummer, who starred in The Sound of Music, won an Oscar for Beginners and was nominated for All the Money in the World and The Last Station, died peacefully today at his home in Connecticut, his family confirmed. Elaine Taylor, his wife and true best friend for 53 years, was by his side.

Lou Pitt, his longtime friend and manager of 46 years said; “Chris was an extraordinary man who deeply loved and respected his profession with great old fashion manners, self deprecating humor and the music of words. He was a National Treasure who deeply relished his Canadian roots. Through his art and humanity, he touched all of our hearts and his legendary life will endure for all generations to come. He will forever be with us.”

Plummer spent the past 75 years as a stalwart of stage and screen, the latter of which covered more than 100 film. He is best known for playing Captain John Von Trapp in 1965 Robert Wise-directed classic The Sound of Music, but he won his Oscar for the 2010 film Beginners, and he was most recently Oscar nominated for the Ridley Scott-directed All The Money In The World. In that film, he replaced Kevin Spacey in the role of J. Paul Getty, after Spacey had an #MeToo downfall. Plummer most recently costarred in the ensemble of the Rian Johnson-directed Knives Out.

Raised in Montreal, Plummer began his professional career on stage and radio in both French and English. After Eva Le Gallienne gave him his New York debut in 1954, the actor went on to star in many celebrated productions on Broadway and London’s West End winning accolades on both sides of the Atlantic.

He won two Tony Awards for the musical Cyrano and for Barrymore plus seven Tony nominations, his latest for his King Lear in 2004 and for his Clarence Darrow in Inherit the Wind three years later; also three Drama Desk Awards and the National Arts Club Medal. A former leading member of the Royal National Theatre under Sir Laurence Olivier and the Royal Shakespeare Company under Sir Peter Hall, where he won London’s Evening Standard Award for Best Actor in Becket; he also led Canada’s Stratford Festival in its formative years under Sir Tyrone Guthrie and Michael Langham.

Apart from honors in the UK, USA, Austria and Canada, he was the first performer to receive the Jason Robards Award in memory of his great friend, the Edwin Booth Award and the Sir John Gielgud Quill Award. In 1968, sanctioned by Elizabeth II, he was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada — an honorary knighthood. An Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts at Juilliard, he also received the Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. 

He played the great novelist Tolstoy opposite Helen Mirren in The Last Station for Sony Classics where he received his first Academy Award nomination in 2010. He followed that up the next year with another nomination and a win for Best Supporting Actor in Beginners from writer/director Mike Mills and appeared in David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that same year. In July and August 2012, he returned to the Stratford Festival to perform his one-man show that he created entitled A Word or Two, directed by Des McAnuff. In 2013, he starred opposite Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine in Elsa & Fred directed by Michael Radford, Hector And The Search for Happiness directed by Peter Chelsom, Danny Collins opposite Al Pacino and Annette Benning for writer/director Dan Fogelman and The Forger opposite John Travolta directed by Phillip Martin. In 2015, he starred in Remember, directed by Atom Egoyan and in 2017 The Exception, based on the novel “The Kaiser’s Last Kiss” co-starring Lily James, Jai Courtney and Janet McTeer He was recently seen in the very successful 2019 film Knives Out starring Daniel Craig and Chris Evans....

HISTORY OF A SONG: EDELWEISS

"Edelweiss" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. It is named after the edelweiss, a white flower found high in the Alps. It is sung by Captain Georg Ludwig von Trapp and his family during the concert near the end of Act II as a defiant statement of Austrian patriotism in the face of the pressure put upon him to join the navy of Nazi Germany.

In the 1965 film adaptation, the song is also sung by the Captain earlier in the film as he rediscovers music and a love for his children. It was introduced in the original Broadway production by Theodore Bikel.

While The Sound of Music was in tryouts in Boston, Richard Rodgers felt Captain von Trapp should have a song with which he would bid farewell to the Austria he knew and loved. He and Oscar Hammerstein II decided to write an extra song that Captain von Trapp would sing in the Kaltzberg Festival (Salzburg Festival in the film) concert sequence towards the end of the show. As they were writing it, they felt that this song could also utilise the guitar-playing and folk-singing talents of Theodore Bikel, who created the role of Captain von Trapp on Broadway. In the movie, the song was sung surprisingly well by non singer Christopher Plummer.

The Lindsay and Crouse script provides a metaphor of the edelweiss flower, as a symbol of the Austria that Captain von Trapp, Maria and their children knew would live on in their hearts despite the Nazi Anschluss (annexation of their homeland.) As such, the metaphor of this song builds on an earlier scene when Gretl presents a bouquet of edelweiss flowers to Elsa Schraeder during her visit to the von Trapp household. Rodgers provided a haunting waltz-time melody, based on simple romantic Biedermeier era tunes like Hänschen klein and others, to the simple Italian style ritornello lyric that Hammerstein wrote about the appearance of the Edelweiss flower. This song turned out to be one of the most beloved songs in the musical, and also one of the best-loved songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

This song was the last song that Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote together; Hammerstein was suffering from stomach cancer, which would take his life nine months after The Sound of Music opened on Broadway.

Although the stage production uses the song only during the concert sequence, Ernest Lehman's screenplay for the film adaptation uses the song twice. Lehman created a scene that makes extra use of the song. This scene, inspired by a line in the original script by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, calls for Captain von Trapp to sing this song with his children in their family drawing room and rediscover the love he felt for them. Lehman also expanded the scope of the song when it was sung in the Salzburg Festival concert scene so that Captain von Trapp and his family would call the crowds to join in the song with him, in defiance of the Nazi soldiers posted around the arena. It is interesting to note that one of the Nazi commandants is shown singing in a baritone, revealing that he cares more for Austria than for the Reich.

The great popularity of the song has led many of its audience to believe that it is an Austrian folk song or even the official national anthem. However, Austria's official anthem is "Land der Berge, Land am Strome". Hugh Fordin in his biography of Oscar Hammerstein speaks of "the ability of the authors to simulate the quality of an authentic folk song..."Ol' Man River" had the ring of a black laborer's song...Thirty years later "Edelweiss was widely believed to be an old Austrian song, though Oscar...composed it for the Sound of Music."

CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER: TALKING OSCAR

Christopher Plummer: Talking Oscar and Aging in Hollywood
By Cindy Pearlman

Raindrops on roses. Whiskers on kittens.

Bah humbug, says Christopher Plummer.

Of course, he has the inside track on silver white winters that melt into springs – but Captain Von Trapp himself has always had "an issue" with the screen classic.

At age 82, he's tired of being stalked.

By a movie.

"I don't hate that film, but it follows me around. That's the problem," he confides.

On a sunny winter afternoon, the Oscar nominee for "Beginners" is talking about his screen classic "The Sound of Music" where he famously played Captain Von Trapp.

"There's nothing I detest about it," he says. "I mean, it's a very well made film.

"But a musical is not always my cup of tea. It always brings the house down when I say those words," he says. "Sure, I may say a few other off color remarks every now and then about 'Sound of Music,' too.

"When I went on Oprah, she said, 'There's got to be a naughty guy around to look at the bad side of things when it comes to that musical.' I said, 'You got him,'" he says with glee.

Plummer is determined, even at his age, to make sure there is alternatives to watching him harmonize across the alps.

He stars in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: where he plays Henrik Vanger.

Then there is the matter of awards season. He just won a Golden Globe for a movie you might have missed. In the must rent film "Beginners," he plays Hal, a man in his 70s who has harbored a lifelong secret that he tells once his wife of several decades passes away. Hal is gay.

A few years before dying of terminal cancer, Hal comes out to his grown son (Ewan McGregor) and enjoys his last moments with great gusto and truth.

"What drew me to this role was that the character was so present and real," Plummer says. "This is a man without any self pity. And there was no message about being gay or being straight.

"The message of the movie is that a person can become enthusiastic at the end of his or her life rather than regretful," Plummer says.

"I thought there is great hope in that way of thinking," he says.

AGING ON SCREEN

Plummer says that his age means that most scripts sent his way have the inevitable wrenching death scene.

"They always want the old guy to die miserably," he whoops. "But in 'Beginners,' I found that it was such a hopeful way to die. The idea is that you can actually die happily and achieve what you're put on earth to do."

"I think that's a miracle," he says.

Ask him about his evergreen sex symbol status and he seems stunned. "Oh please, I don't know about that, but that's a very nice idea. I'll work on it. It will be a goal for my 90s."

Self-involved young stars? Don't run them by this screen legend.

"Dammit, I don't want the world to ever see me or know me as a star," he cries.

"What's so wonderful about me? That's what I tell younger actors. I say, 'Lose yourself in the role. Don't even show me anything about you. What's so wonderful about you?'"

PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

Born in 1929, Plummer grew up in Toronto and Quebec. He is the great grandson of former Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Abbott.

As a young boy and teenager, he concentrated on being a concert pianist.

He was a contract player for 20th Century Fox and made his small screen debut in 1953 in the series "Studio One in Hollywood." He concentrated on TV work until making his screen debut in 1958 in "Stage Stuck" and then played Commodus in "The Fall of the Roman Empire" (1964).

Plummer starred opposite Julie Andrews in "The Sound of Music" (1965). Despite everything he has already said, he has a soft place for the movie.

"I'm grateful to the movie. It made me well known," he says.

As for Oscar nominations, he says, "I truly think being nominated as one of the best four or five performances of a year is the win," he says. "But it's not the reason most of us are in the business. If awards come, they come."

When he's not working, Plummer and his wife Elaine live with their dogs on a 30-acre estate in Weston, Connecticut.

He doesn't sit in his den fretting about aging.

"We're supposed to be a lot younger now than the number dictate," he says. "I hear that 80 is really the new 60. But many of my 60 year old friends look like they're 80."

"Why do I say these things?" he interjects with a hearty laugh.

As for keeping strong, he says, "I walk. I never run. I play tennis and workout about twice a week.

"That's about it," she says. "Doing the job is what really keeps me in shape."

He might work with a few of them because he plans to never retire.

In fact, that's a dirty word to him. "We don't do that in our business," he says

"I never want to stop acting. It keeps me feeling young and it certainly ain't a chore.

"I also need the money. We all need the money these days, dammit," he says, laughing.

But he has another reason why he will never leave acting. "I've always thought of acting as the most romantic of escapes," he says.

SOURCE

CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER AT 81

NEW YORK – Ewan McGregor was having a hard time keeping up with Christopher Plummer.

At the suggestion of director Mike Mills, McGregor had brought his 81-year-old co-star to Barney's in Los Angeles to pick up a scarf for Plummer's elderly gay character in their film "Beginners." But Plummer had other designs.

"Christopher only wanted to get skinny black jeans," recalls McGregor. "That was his main goal in life. When we got there, he asked where the jeans department was, and off he went to find skinny jeans."

That one of the finest living interpreters of Shakespeare and one of the few remaining greats of classical acting was hell-bent on procuring a hipster staple might seem odd. But then again, Plummer has seldom acceded to the stereotypes of old age.

"I'm glad (my ambition) is still there," he says in a recent interview. "If it faded, what's there to live for? It makes you appreciate other things if you keep working at your job and you love your job. Too many people in the world are unhappy with their lot. And then they retire and they become vegetables. I think retirement in any profession is death, so I'm determined to keep crackin'."

Plummer's remarkable late period began with his acclaimed performance as Mike Wallace in Michael Mann's 1999 film "The Insider," continued in films such as 2009's "The Last Station" (his performance as a fiery yet deteriorating Tolstoy was nominated for an Oscar) and perhaps culminated with his staggering "King Lear" at Lincoln Center in 2004.

In "Beginners," which opens in theaters Friday, Plummer gives yet another career-capping performance. He plays Hal, a 75-year-old who comes out of the closet after his longtime wife dies, and shortly before terminal cancer sets in. McGregor stars as his son in a film largely based on Mills' own family.

The role suits Plummer particularly well because Hal, like Plummer, is randy, funny and undimmed.

"The wonderful thing about Hal is that he has such a ball at the end of his life," says Plummer. "It was a charming script, I thought, and so lacking in sentimentality and self-pity. ... Usually, when scripts like that come along, you have to work so hard to play against them because they're just so saccharine. And the writers and producers will tell you that's what the public wants. Blow it out your bum!"

Plummer long chaffed at less dynamic roles, none more than his most famous part: Capt. Von Trapp in "The Sound of Music." In his rollicking 2008 memoir, "In Spite of Myself," he surveys a life begun amid Montreal privilege, carried through boozy 1950s New York and swinging 1960s London, and ultimately spent in reverence of, as he says, "the Thee-ah-tah." He also refers to "The Sound of Music" as "S&M" and laments the "humorless and one-dimensional" Von Trapp.

"We tried so hard to put humor into it," he says. "It was almost impossible. It was just agony to try to make that guy not a cardboard figure."

The role catapulted Plummer to stardom, but he never took to leading men parts.

"I hated playing them," he says. "They were so innocuously and badly written and cardboard figures, most of them. In my 40s, I began to suddenly enjoy making movies because the character parts are so much more interesting. I started having a ball and working with much better directors — John Huston, for example, and Anatole Litvak from the old school. After Michael Mann's `The Insider,' then the scripts improved. I was upgraded! Since then, they've been first-class scripts. Not all successful, but worth doing."

All the while, though, Plummer returned to the stage. The Canadian-born actor has performed most of the major Shakespeare roles (among them Hamlet, Macbeth, Henry V and Iago), often at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada. Plummer, who lives with his wife of 41 years, Elaine Taylor, in Weston, Conn., last year played Prospero in "The Tempest" at Stratford.

"I've become simpler and simpler with playing Shakespeare," he says. "I'm not as extravagant as I used to be. I don't listen to my voice so much anymore. All the pitfalls of playing the classics — you can fall in love with yourself."

"I'm determined to finish playing all the great parts," says Plummer. "I think I have, actually."

Actors who have recently worked with Plummer speak of his unceasing joy in his work and his commitment to still growing as an actor.

"That was the surprising thing about Christopher, just how contemporary he is as an actor, how modern it feels when you're working with him," says McGregor. "Acting was very different and it's evolved. But what's very clear is that so has Christopher's acting. He gives an amazing performance in this film, but ... we were never aware of his performance. It just felt like I was in a scene with my dad."

Mills, whose only previous feature was 2005's "Thumbsucker," calls Plummer "a bit of a rascal, in the best sense of the word."

"It's really contagious being around a 79-year-old man (during filming two years ago) that loves what he's doing and isn't taking it for granted," says Mills. "There's something really magical and special about that. Ewan and I both talked about that a lot, like, `Wow, I want to be like that.'"

Plummer has been working at a pace of about three films and a play every year. He co-stars in the highly anticipated "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," due out later this year, and is currently prepping roles in two films and one play (though he declines to name them).

He says he relishes finding "new ways of simplifying things," and is enjoying acting more than ever.

"It's cliche, but you know that you have to," he says. "You appreciate life much more because there's so little of it left. I must say there's a sort of panic, too, that takes over when you hit 80. Am I going to be able to do all the things that I want to do, starting now? "Rather like Hal, in that respect, that he starts his life when it's too late. But never too late because even five minutes is glorious."

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