Awarded The Edwin Booth Lifetime Achievement Award by The Players, 1997.
Father, with Tammy Grimes, of actress Amanda Plummer.
Grew up in the village of Senneville, Québec, Canada.
Has won two Tony Awards: in 1974, as Best Actor (Musical), playing the title role in "Cyrano," and in 1997, as Best Actor (Play), playing the title role of John Barrymore in "Barrymore." He has also been nominated for the Tony four other times: as Best Actor (Dramatic), in 1959 for "J.B.," and as Best Actor (Play), in 1982 for Shakespeare's "Othello," in 1994 for "No Man's Land," and in 2004 for Shakespeare's "King Lear."
Has worked with both Obi-Wan Kenobis on film. Alec Guinness played his father in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), while Plummer later played father to Ewan McGregor in Beginners (2010).
Has worked with two Spider-Mans. First he worked with Nicholas Hammond in The Sound of Music (1965), and later with Andrew Garfield in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009).
He and daughter Amanda Plummer have both appeared in adaptation of Stephen King novels. Amanda appeared in Needful Things (1993), while Christopher appeared in Dolores Claiborne (1995).
He and his daughter Amanda Plummer both received Emmy nominations in 2005. She won, he didn't.
He received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Western Ontario on June 8, 2004.
He was awarded the C.C. (Companion of the Order of Canada) in the 1968 Queen's Honours List for his services to drama.
His first paying part was in "Machina Infernale" (The Infernal Machine) by Jean Cocteau, in which he worked with another young Montreal actor, William Shatner. The two were reunited years later when they both appeared in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).
Inducted to Canada's Walk of Fame in 1998 (charter member).
Is only 13 years older than Charmian Carr who played his daughter in The Sound of Music (1965).
Is the great grandson of former Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Abbott.
Is the only The Sound of Music actor to meet the real Maria Von Trapp in Vermont as a child.
On April 22, 2002, he was awarded the first Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre by the Roundabout Theatre. His The Sound of Music (1965) co-star Julie Andrews was among those in attendance.
One of 115 people invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 2007.
Played Christian in a television production of Cyrano de Bergerac, opposite José Ferrer, and later played Cyrano himself. In the former role, he performed the translation by Brian Hooker. In the latter, he performed the translation by Anthony Burgess, which he personally selected Burgess to write.
Played the title role in Hamlet at Elsinore (1964) (TV), appearing with Michael Caine, who played Hamlet's closest friend Horatio. Caine later said that he had never truly understood Hamlet until he saw Plummer playing the part.
Schoolmate of jazz piano master Oscar Peterson.