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In Spite of Myself
A rollicking, rich portrait of a life. And what a life! By one of today’s greatest living actors.
He was born a Canadian on a Friday the thirteenth in 1929—the year of the Crash. His boyhood was one of privilege: an ancestor was a Governor General; his great-grandfather Sir John Abbott was Canada’s third prime minister and owned railroads. There were steam yachts, mansions, and a life of Victorian gentility and somewhat cluttered splendor.
Plummer tells how “this young bilingual wastrel, incurably romantic, spoiled rotten, tore himself away from the ski slopes to break into the big bad world of theatre, not from the streets up but from an Edwardian living room down,” and writes of his early acting days as an eighteen-year-old playing the lead in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, directed by the legendary Komisarjevsky of Moscow’s Imperial Theatre.
We see his glorious New York of the fifties, where life began at midnight, with the likes of Arthur Miller, Carson McCullers, Tennessee Williams, and Paddy Chayefsky, and how Plummer’s own Broadway world developed and swept him along through the last Golden Age the American Theatre would ever remember . . . how the sublime Ruth Chatterton (“she might have been created by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis”) introduced him to the right people in New York . . . how Miss Eva Le Gallienne gave Plummer his Broadway debut at twenty-five in The Starcross Story (“It opened and closed in one night! One solitary night! But what a night!”). He writes about Miss Katherine Cornell (the last stage star to travel by private train), who, with her husband, Guthrie McClintic, added to what experience Plummer had the necessary gloss, spit, and polish to take him to the next level. Guthrie bundled Plummer off to Paris for a production of Medea, opposite Dame Judith Anderson (“a little Tasmanian devil . . . who with one look could turn an audience to stone”).
Plummer writes about the great producers with whom he worked—Kermit Bloomgarden, Robert Whitehead, and Roger Stevens—about Lillian Hellman, Leonard Bernstein, Elia Kazan (“If you weren’t careful, this chameleon of chameleons might change into you, wear your skin, steal your soul”), and the miracle that was the new Stratford Festival in Canada, where Plummer blossomed in the classics under the extraordinary Tyrone Guthrie. He writes about his (too brief) encounters with his favorite geniuses, Orson Welles and Jonathan Miller. He writes about his lifelong friendships with Raymond Massey and the wild Kate Reid, and with that fugitive from the Navy, “that reprobate and staunch drinking buddy, the true reincarnation of Eugene O’Neill, whose blood was mixed with firewater,” Jason Robards, Jr.
Plummer writes about his affairs and his marriages, and about his daughter, Amanda, who “despite her slim looks and tiny bones could raise tempests, guaranteed to loosen the foundation of any theatre in which she chose to rage.”
We see him becoming a leading actor for Peter Hall’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre, with a company of young talented players, each destined for stardom—Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Peter O’Toole, et al., collectively the future of the English stage. The old guard was brilliantly represented by Dames Edith Evans and Peggy Ashcroft and Sir John Gielgud. Plummer, the only fugitive from the New World, played Richard III, Benedick, and Henry II in Becket.
He writes about his film career: The Sound of Music (affectionately dubbed “S&M”) . . . Inside Daisy Clover, which brought him together with the beautiful Natalie Wood . . . John Huston’s The Man Who Would Be King (Plummer was Rudyard Kipling). He tells the story of accepting Sir Laurence Olivier’s invitation to join the National Theatre Company, playing in Amphytron directed by Olivier himself (“a great actor but lousy director”), and writes about falling deeply in love with and eventually marrying a young actress and dancer, Elaine Taylor—to this day, his “one true strength.”
Seamlessly written, with stories that make us laugh out loud and that make real the fascinating, complex, exuberant adventure that is the actor’s (at least this actor’s) life.
He was born a Canadian on a Friday the thirteenth in 1929—the year of the Crash. His boyhood was one of privilege: an ancestor was a Governor General; his great-grandfather Sir John Abbott was Canada’s third prime minister and owned railroads. There were steam yachts, mansions, and a life of Victorian gentility and somewhat cluttered splendor.
Plummer tells how “this young bilingual wastrel, incurably romantic, spoiled rotten, tore himself away from the ski slopes to break into the big bad world of theatre, not from the streets up but from an Edwardian living room down,” and writes of his early acting days as an eighteen-year-old playing the lead in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, directed by the legendary Komisarjevsky of Moscow’s Imperial Theatre.
We see his glorious New York of the fifties, where life began at midnight, with the likes of Arthur Miller, Carson McCullers, Tennessee Williams, and Paddy Chayefsky, and how Plummer’s own Broadway world developed and swept him along through the last Golden Age the American Theatre would ever remember . . . how the sublime Ruth Chatterton (“she might have been created by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis”) introduced him to the right people in New York . . . how Miss Eva Le Gallienne gave Plummer his Broadway debut at twenty-five in The Starcross Story (“It opened and closed in one night! One solitary night! But what a night!”). He writes about Miss Katherine Cornell (the last stage star to travel by private train), who, with her husband, Guthrie McClintic, added to what experience Plummer had the necessary gloss, spit, and polish to take him to the next level. Guthrie bundled Plummer off to Paris for a production of Medea, opposite Dame Judith Anderson (“a little Tasmanian devil . . . who with one look could turn an audience to stone”).
Plummer writes about the great producers with whom he worked—Kermit Bloomgarden, Robert Whitehead, and Roger Stevens—about Lillian Hellman, Leonard Bernstein, Elia Kazan (“If you weren’t careful, this chameleon of chameleons might change into you, wear your skin, steal your soul”), and the miracle that was the new Stratford Festival in Canada, where Plummer blossomed in the classics under the extraordinary Tyrone Guthrie. He writes about his (too brief) encounters with his favorite geniuses, Orson Welles and Jonathan Miller. He writes about his lifelong friendships with Raymond Massey and the wild Kate Reid, and with that fugitive from the Navy, “that reprobate and staunch drinking buddy, the true reincarnation of Eugene O’Neill, whose blood was mixed with firewater,” Jason Robards, Jr.
Plummer writes about his affairs and his marriages, and about his daughter, Amanda, who “despite her slim looks and tiny bones could raise tempests, guaranteed to loosen the foundation of any theatre in which she chose to rage.”
We see him becoming a leading actor for Peter Hall’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre, with a company of young talented players, each destined for stardom—Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Peter O’Toole, et al., collectively the future of the English stage. The old guard was brilliantly represented by Dames Edith Evans and Peggy Ashcroft and Sir John Gielgud. Plummer, the only fugitive from the New World, played Richard III, Benedick, and Henry II in Becket.
He writes about his film career: The Sound of Music (affectionately dubbed “S&M”) . . . Inside Daisy Clover, which brought him together with the beautiful Natalie Wood . . . John Huston’s The Man Who Would Be King (Plummer was Rudyard Kipling). He tells the story of accepting Sir Laurence Olivier’s invitation to join the National Theatre Company, playing in Amphytron directed by Olivier himself (“a great actor but lousy director”), and writes about falling deeply in love with and eventually marrying a young actress and dancer, Elaine Taylor—to this day, his “one true strength.”
Seamlessly written, with stories that make us laugh out loud and that make real the fascinating, complex, exuberant adventure that is the actor’s (at least this actor’s) life.
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First published October 14, 2008
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About the author
Christopher Plummer
18 books16 followersArthur Christopher Orme Plummer, CC.
In 1968, he was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada (CC). In 2001, he received the Canadian Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.
Recipient of two Tony Awards (1974, 1997), two Emmy Awards (1976, 1974), and the Golden Globe Award and Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (2012). Best known for Sound of Music.
Awarded honourary doctorates from New York's Juilliard School, University of Toronto, Ryerson University, McGill University, University of Western Ontario, University of Ottawa, and University of Guelph.
In 1968, he was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada (CC). In 2001, he received the Canadian Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.
Recipient of two Tony Awards (1974, 1997), two Emmy Awards (1976, 1974), and the Golden Globe Award and Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (2012). Best known for Sound of Music.
Awarded honourary doctorates from New York's Juilliard School, University of Toronto, Ryerson University, McGill University, University of Western Ontario, University of Ottawa, and University of Guelph.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews
March 27, 2020
“The theatre is not for sissies.”
I picked up this memoir because I have seen Mr. Plummer on stage, and in a few films, especially recently. He has enjoyed a late career movie renaissance. After finishing it, I am not sure how the text is organized. It seems like if Mr. Plummer remembered something he wished to share, he did, and in a mostly chronological order.
The book is pompous, but Plummer admits that he is pompous. He is obviously a very well read man, tons of allusions throughout the text. Sometimes it gets a little grating. I also don’t think he is a very good fellow. At least there is not much in what he presents of his life that impressed me all that much.
Mr. Plummer is a creature of the theatre, which I greatly admire about him. He focuses a lot on that in this memoir, although it is the part of his career that most people will know the least about. Good on him! He is also unabashedly profuse in his praise of others. Really the memoir is just a recounting of his experience of other people. And by and large he is a fan of them. It is very generous in that regard.
The text’s final chapter takes on the theater and its importance in our lives, the nature of memory and aging, literature, and mortality. It is actually quite brilliantly written, and above all, very lovely and a fitting conclusion. I have to share this statement Mr. Plummer made towards the end of his memoir that I enjoyed, “A painted moon can tell more stories than a real one and I swear that when all the effects and robots and holograms have been exhausted, and we poor thespians have been replaced by clones and digitized out of existence, there will still be an empty stage somewhere waiting for someone to make an entrance in order to satisfy human nature’s insatiable need to work it’s imaginary forces.”
“In Spite of Myself” reads like it comes from another time and place, and I guess in a way it does. Sometimes that is a good thing, and sometimes it is not.
I picked up this memoir because I have seen Mr. Plummer on stage, and in a few films, especially recently. He has enjoyed a late career movie renaissance. After finishing it, I am not sure how the text is organized. It seems like if Mr. Plummer remembered something he wished to share, he did, and in a mostly chronological order.
The book is pompous, but Plummer admits that he is pompous. He is obviously a very well read man, tons of allusions throughout the text. Sometimes it gets a little grating. I also don’t think he is a very good fellow. At least there is not much in what he presents of his life that impressed me all that much.
Mr. Plummer is a creature of the theatre, which I greatly admire about him. He focuses a lot on that in this memoir, although it is the part of his career that most people will know the least about. Good on him! He is also unabashedly profuse in his praise of others. Really the memoir is just a recounting of his experience of other people. And by and large he is a fan of them. It is very generous in that regard.
The text’s final chapter takes on the theater and its importance in our lives, the nature of memory and aging, literature, and mortality. It is actually quite brilliantly written, and above all, very lovely and a fitting conclusion. I have to share this statement Mr. Plummer made towards the end of his memoir that I enjoyed, “A painted moon can tell more stories than a real one and I swear that when all the effects and robots and holograms have been exhausted, and we poor thespians have been replaced by clones and digitized out of existence, there will still be an empty stage somewhere waiting for someone to make an entrance in order to satisfy human nature’s insatiable need to work it’s imaginary forces.”
“In Spite of Myself” reads like it comes from another time and place, and I guess in a way it does. Sometimes that is a good thing, and sometimes it is not.
September 4, 2014
A brilliant diamond with a hollow core – is how I must describe the man behind this memoir. Sadly, I came to this conclusion in spite of myself. His soul speaks loud and clear in his memoir – what vestige of it there may be, that is!
One cannot discount his acting abilities. He now adds a good grasp of the English language to his repertoire for he writes beautifully, if not structurally. That, and his love of dogs, is all that I can find to recommend both the essence of the memoir and the man’s character. The rest, to my great shock and horror, depicts an empty shell of a man, who learnt nothing from his life except how to mark notches in his belt – names who hit the spotlight (hundreds of them); empty associations made in drunken stupors with males and females alike; pretty ladies who could ‘supposedly’ act or who looked delectable enough to eat, who tended to distract his prose long enough to digress; boys-will-be-boys late nights with bar-hopping and aimless amusements. Well, you get the picture … it goes on and on; more of the same until the end.
Mr. Plummer latches on to those big names in a frenzied effort to identify himself and his achievements. The underlying insecurity is, however, what comes to the fore in all his ramblings. It is these associations and the character roles he played that define the man. Being one of the boys and fooling around, as do most in his profession. Which, to my mind, was his denouement, for in his zeal to fit into his peer group – to please them, to feel accepted, to feel that he’s one of the top brass – he redefined the real Christopher and turned him into a zombie and a clone. The most vital parts of himself were methodically suppressed until they no longer existed.
He sets out famously in his ‘Book One’, which depicts his early life. There we had a clean slate of the boy with his Airedale (though somewhat over-dramatised), a beleaguered mother, no father in sight but plenty of elderly male role models from the Abbot clan. Very sweet. And, I thought for a while, promising. A nice, clean, cultured family with a lot of love shared and time devoted to one another. I loved this first part of his memoir. I particularly loved his evident love of dogs, to which he dedicated his memoir. It was his only redeeming trait as far as I’m concerned. (At first, I thought Fuff was another one of his dogs, but later it turned out to be one of the wives, which was of itself quite revealing, I have to say.)
At any rate, upon that lovely childhood journey, I was all agog for a fruitful passage from childhood to adulthood. Right? Wrong!! By God, was I wrong! I read on in growing revulsion, and hoping against hope that somewhere along the way the poor little boy who’d gone astray, would somehow find his way. He never did! That was the end of the road for Mr. Christopher Plummer, I very much fear. Any growth in his character literally came to a standstill somewhere in his late teens and he got stuck in that rut for the remaining decades. Still is, by all accounts.
Did he miss the boat? Clearly, Mr. Plummer does not think so! Was acting really supposed to be his calling? Clearly, Mr. Plummer is convinced of it! But the clean slate that was that sweet little boy had the makings of a far higher calling. Had he not thrown in the towel so quickly, had he not been so hell-bent on being “one of the boys”, on belonging to a group, so to speak, Arthur Christopher Ormer Plummer could have been anything! And I mean ANYTHING! He had the right foundation to make something more of himself than the drunken, peer-driven libertine be became for most of his adult life. To little old me, who has admired him for most of my life, it was a revolting picture. His crude words match his crude behaviour all the way to the late sixties when, supposedly, his life took a turn. But did it really??
What follows is debatable in my mind, though many are persuaded that somehow he was rescued by an angel of mercy – his third wife whom he dubs Fuff! He himself declares it, though what Mr. Plummer says as opposed to what he really feels is also questionable. I think it’s a habit with him to say what he thinks people would like to hear rather than what he really thinks. Considering that the words in his long memoir were written in his late seventies, with retrospective thoughts of the whale of a time he had with his ol’ pals of his profession (which, by the way, did not really ever stop at all!), the truth of the matter is that Mr. Plummer is still stuck in the good old days, where the hedonistic lifestyle is viewed as worldly, trendy, hip; ergo, the stuff real men are made of. Ugh! Is the fellow not aware that some of his fans are female??!
No gentleman there! A man’s man, mayhap, but definitely no genteel man. Ok, I got that! But there’s more, far more, that exposes the tired, soulless man behind the glitter. The saddest thing for me, who admired him so well for the longest time. Superficial is too mild a word to define him, but really that’s all there is to the poor fellow. The man inside that hollow diamond is the same cardboard, one-dimensional man, whom he so hated to personify in his acting roles. Perhaps because he gave all of himself into his roles, there was no real man left. Or perhaps the roles became HIM, in a manner that took him over like a wild beast. When you spend your entire life living in someone else’s shoes, invariably you tend to hog those shoes as your own. And there is no time to look inward at the self. A kind of shape-shifting.
Captain von Trapp was way too good for him! That’s the poor one-dimensional fellow he detested above all else – the same fellow who filled the hearts of millions around the globe, young and old alike. The Sound of Music is a treasured memory from my childhood. I loved the film when I was old enough to watch it in the 70s. I love it still today. There is something magical about that movie that will never die – the music, the scenery, indeed the simple romanticism of the story itself. Plummer says it’s gooey, but that’s because there’s not an ounce of sensitivity inside him. God! to disparage it so callously as he did for decades after, when it was the film that MADE HIM, is the ultimate ignominy! Hollow, vacuous, plastic!
In conclusion, Plummer’s memoir shows the real soul behind the man – a faceless man who thrived on his vanity in search of self-aggrandisement and the acceptance of his peers, with little to no thought for the casualties he left in his wake along the way.
He was simply numb. Still is, judging by his prolific writings. I grieved for many of those casualties in his life, even though I never knew them. But above all, I grieved for that little boy – little Arthur Christopher Ormer Plummer – who held so much promise and missed so much living. His soul journey was a futile passage, as it were, for he learnt nothing of worth. He knew his Shakespeare and his ‘friends’ but that’s about it! Of the rest of the world he knows nothing, gave nothing.
I get no pleasure writing such a harsh review. In fact, I usually don’t write anything if I don’t like something about a book. But I was too upset by the contents of this memoir not to. An icon falls in my estimation and the purging needed to be got out of the way. He’s a leading role model, or could have been had he been the proper gentleman he was meant to be. He certainly had the makings of one.
One cannot discount his acting abilities. He now adds a good grasp of the English language to his repertoire for he writes beautifully, if not structurally. That, and his love of dogs, is all that I can find to recommend both the essence of the memoir and the man’s character. The rest, to my great shock and horror, depicts an empty shell of a man, who learnt nothing from his life except how to mark notches in his belt – names who hit the spotlight (hundreds of them); empty associations made in drunken stupors with males and females alike; pretty ladies who could ‘supposedly’ act or who looked delectable enough to eat, who tended to distract his prose long enough to digress; boys-will-be-boys late nights with bar-hopping and aimless amusements. Well, you get the picture … it goes on and on; more of the same until the end.
Mr. Plummer latches on to those big names in a frenzied effort to identify himself and his achievements. The underlying insecurity is, however, what comes to the fore in all his ramblings. It is these associations and the character roles he played that define the man. Being one of the boys and fooling around, as do most in his profession. Which, to my mind, was his denouement, for in his zeal to fit into his peer group – to please them, to feel accepted, to feel that he’s one of the top brass – he redefined the real Christopher and turned him into a zombie and a clone. The most vital parts of himself were methodically suppressed until they no longer existed.
He sets out famously in his ‘Book One’, which depicts his early life. There we had a clean slate of the boy with his Airedale (though somewhat over-dramatised), a beleaguered mother, no father in sight but plenty of elderly male role models from the Abbot clan. Very sweet. And, I thought for a while, promising. A nice, clean, cultured family with a lot of love shared and time devoted to one another. I loved this first part of his memoir. I particularly loved his evident love of dogs, to which he dedicated his memoir. It was his only redeeming trait as far as I’m concerned. (At first, I thought Fuff was another one of his dogs, but later it turned out to be one of the wives, which was of itself quite revealing, I have to say.)
At any rate, upon that lovely childhood journey, I was all agog for a fruitful passage from childhood to adulthood. Right? Wrong!! By God, was I wrong! I read on in growing revulsion, and hoping against hope that somewhere along the way the poor little boy who’d gone astray, would somehow find his way. He never did! That was the end of the road for Mr. Christopher Plummer, I very much fear. Any growth in his character literally came to a standstill somewhere in his late teens and he got stuck in that rut for the remaining decades. Still is, by all accounts.
Did he miss the boat? Clearly, Mr. Plummer does not think so! Was acting really supposed to be his calling? Clearly, Mr. Plummer is convinced of it! But the clean slate that was that sweet little boy had the makings of a far higher calling. Had he not thrown in the towel so quickly, had he not been so hell-bent on being “one of the boys”, on belonging to a group, so to speak, Arthur Christopher Ormer Plummer could have been anything! And I mean ANYTHING! He had the right foundation to make something more of himself than the drunken, peer-driven libertine be became for most of his adult life. To little old me, who has admired him for most of my life, it was a revolting picture. His crude words match his crude behaviour all the way to the late sixties when, supposedly, his life took a turn. But did it really??
What follows is debatable in my mind, though many are persuaded that somehow he was rescued by an angel of mercy – his third wife whom he dubs Fuff! He himself declares it, though what Mr. Plummer says as opposed to what he really feels is also questionable. I think it’s a habit with him to say what he thinks people would like to hear rather than what he really thinks. Considering that the words in his long memoir were written in his late seventies, with retrospective thoughts of the whale of a time he had with his ol’ pals of his profession (which, by the way, did not really ever stop at all!), the truth of the matter is that Mr. Plummer is still stuck in the good old days, where the hedonistic lifestyle is viewed as worldly, trendy, hip; ergo, the stuff real men are made of. Ugh! Is the fellow not aware that some of his fans are female??!
No gentleman there! A man’s man, mayhap, but definitely no genteel man. Ok, I got that! But there’s more, far more, that exposes the tired, soulless man behind the glitter. The saddest thing for me, who admired him so well for the longest time. Superficial is too mild a word to define him, but really that’s all there is to the poor fellow. The man inside that hollow diamond is the same cardboard, one-dimensional man, whom he so hated to personify in his acting roles. Perhaps because he gave all of himself into his roles, there was no real man left. Or perhaps the roles became HIM, in a manner that took him over like a wild beast. When you spend your entire life living in someone else’s shoes, invariably you tend to hog those shoes as your own. And there is no time to look inward at the self. A kind of shape-shifting.
Captain von Trapp was way too good for him! That’s the poor one-dimensional fellow he detested above all else – the same fellow who filled the hearts of millions around the globe, young and old alike. The Sound of Music is a treasured memory from my childhood. I loved the film when I was old enough to watch it in the 70s. I love it still today. There is something magical about that movie that will never die – the music, the scenery, indeed the simple romanticism of the story itself. Plummer says it’s gooey, but that’s because there’s not an ounce of sensitivity inside him. God! to disparage it so callously as he did for decades after, when it was the film that MADE HIM, is the ultimate ignominy! Hollow, vacuous, plastic!
In conclusion, Plummer’s memoir shows the real soul behind the man – a faceless man who thrived on his vanity in search of self-aggrandisement and the acceptance of his peers, with little to no thought for the casualties he left in his wake along the way.
He was simply numb. Still is, judging by his prolific writings. I grieved for many of those casualties in his life, even though I never knew them. But above all, I grieved for that little boy – little Arthur Christopher Ormer Plummer – who held so much promise and missed so much living. His soul journey was a futile passage, as it were, for he learnt nothing of worth. He knew his Shakespeare and his ‘friends’ but that’s about it! Of the rest of the world he knows nothing, gave nothing.
I get no pleasure writing such a harsh review. In fact, I usually don’t write anything if I don’t like something about a book. But I was too upset by the contents of this memoir not to. An icon falls in my estimation and the purging needed to be got out of the way. He’s a leading role model, or could have been had he been the proper gentleman he was meant to be. He certainly had the makings of one.
January 14, 2015
Well worth reading. I found the last chapter or two incredibly moving. I will read again, for all the parts I missed. Agreed, it is a little long, but Christopher Plummer's memoir is a real gift to his fans on many levels.
May 27, 2009
It took me weeks to read this all too aptly titled memoir. Despite a gargantuan effort to present himself as charming – and a very effortful effort it is, rather as if someone once described charm to him but he’d never actually seen it in action himself – Plummer is ultimately unable to disguise the thing that has probably kept him from entering the pantheon of legendary and beloved North American actors: he is a simply terrible human being. His choice of anecdotes, the way he talks about colleagues, his amorous adventures and sexual conquests (numbingly numerous and largely repetitive), his blithe sidelining of wives and offspring who disappear from both his life and the narrative as soon as the knot is tied or the infant delivered, all give him away as a spoiled, self-indulgent, narcissistic, egotistical, misogynist creep. (I’d like to use a stronger word, but this is a family site!) At least one reminiscence, in which he and a girlfriend deliberately invade the personal privacy and belongings of a revered older actress in a completely unforgivable way – a story he tells with not a shred of retrospective guilt or shame - made me walk away altogether for several days until I could stand to be around him again. It’s a pity, really, because the early part of the book about his somewhat Gilded-Age childhood between the wars in Quebec is from a purely informational standpoint a very interesting depiction of a time and place I didn’t know anything at all about; he was part of the last great golden era of Broadway, an extraordinarily vibrant period when New York actors had the glamour and the celebrity that only movie stars have today; and he’s worked with an incredible array of fascinating and distinguished people all over the world, from Diana Barrymore to Russell Crowe. But all of it somehow gets tainted by Plummer’s condescending and distinctly unlikable narrative presence. When an enraged Anthony Hopkins bursts into his dressing-room at the National Theatre in a roaring, alcohol-fueled Welsh temper at having his plum role on the season taken away and given to Plummer, as well as over Plummer’s high-handed and insulting treatment of the ensemble, you want to stand up and cheer for him. (Plummer is only bemused by this display of Celtic passion, as if he doesn’t understand what this noisy little man could possibly be on about – and probably he didn’t.) Also, the book is riddled with typos and mistakes, most of them affecting the names of his peers and their work. I got the feeling that even his copy editor couldn’t stand him and just decided to let the book go out as it stood, revealing a man who doesn’t even respect his colleagues enough to remember how to spell their names properly. (Although I was very amused by Plummer’s apparent belief that the Yiddish word “mensch” – meaning a person of integrity and honor - is a pejorative. He uses it several times when the word he clearly wants is…well, something else.) Though one can’t deny his great gifts as an actor, Plummer is a labored and tiresome writer with a single endless theme: the Wonderfulness of Me. Go for David Niven’s delightful The Moon’s a Balloon and Bring On The Empty Horses if you want to read a sincerely charming reminiscence, or Michael Caine’s lively and hilarious What’s It All About. Both men are much more genuine and engaging raconteurs, and infinitely more fun to spend time with.
January 28, 2009
It's just after midnight here in Chicago. The deep cold outside is seeping in at the windows of my room here at the Hotel Blake. I've just turned the last page of In Spite of Myself: A Memoir by Christopher Plummer. Most of this I read in my dressing room over the last four weeks. I read it during the quiet time before half hour is called, in the fifteen minutes between half and fight call, and during intermissions in Cincinnati, South Bend, Peoria, and Chicago at the Auditorium. And I haven't enjoyed it much at all, except for the last 100 pages which I read tonight.
I think the fact that reading this made me so irritated - angry, even - says more about me than about Mr. Plummer. He's not an actor who writes about the work, but rather one who brags about the life. And that seems to push a large button with me. And also sends me a warning.
Richard Chamberlain's book encouraged me.
So, here I am. Warned and encouraged. I wonder what I'll do with that.
December 9, 2021
This is a richly entertaining and splendidly written autobiography by a master at both acting and writing. Portions of it read like great poetry, yet there’s earthiness and plenty of dish, too. By all means, listen to Plummer’s reading of the audiobook if you can. His voice and narration are magical complements to the beautiful text.
June 23, 2012
There's a bit in In Spite of Myself when Plummer is writing the memoir and trying to remember the details of how he and his wife Elaine met and got together. So he asks her. She's reading a book.
In Spite of Myself is a rambling mish-mash that gives the impression of having gushed from the author's pen without benefit of editor, but it is full of gems like that quoted above.
"Help me," I plead. "Take me back, in your own words, to the time we met." She looks up. "There must have been something about you. And, oh, yes, we tumbled into bed and all that, but I didn't like you very much. I thought you were the most conceited prig--the way you ponced about in that big convertible of yours. And you drank far too much--but there was something, I suppose..." she trailed off, couldn't think of what it was, and went back to her book.
In Spite of Myself is a rambling mish-mash that gives the impression of having gushed from the author's pen without benefit of editor, but it is full of gems like that quoted above.
June 5, 2012
Admittedly, I picked this up on a whim after watching the 45th Anniversary Sound of Music reunion on Oprah. I was nostalgic, I was tearful, I was vulnerable.
I love Christopher Plummer. I love his acting. I thought he was one of the best parts of The Sound of Music. I loved to hate him in Somewhere in Time. I loved it when he guest-starred on The Cosby Show. I even loved his turn in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
He should never try to write. Really. It wandered and rambled and meandered. He never even mentions Somewhere in Time, which makes me sad.
I know that some people really enjoyed this book and that's great. I did not. It might work as an audio book, with Plummer reading it.
No matter what, though, the man is a heck of an actor.
I love Christopher Plummer. I love his acting. I thought he was one of the best parts of The Sound of Music. I loved to hate him in Somewhere in Time. I loved it when he guest-starred on The Cosby Show. I even loved his turn in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
He should never try to write. Really. It wandered and rambled and meandered. He never even mentions Somewhere in Time, which makes me sad.
I know that some people really enjoyed this book and that's great. I did not. It might work as an audio book, with Plummer reading it.
No matter what, though, the man is a heck of an actor.
Read
April 8, 2016Did not finish. Oh, the drama! Oh, the name dropping! Oh, the ego! Oh, the random Shakespearean quotes!
March 18, 2021
As I neared the end of this autobiography, I found reading it quite bittersweet knowing that this man who had such joie de vivre had recently died. What a life he lived! What company he kept! What places he saw! What roles he played! Those exclamations are tribute to Plummer who, himself, used many exclamation points while recounting his life and why not? He earned the right to be excited and seemingly shout his good fortune and memorable moments to us readers.
While some readers might look upon his book as one long name-dropping brag book, I found him to be humbly telling us how lucky he was to have worked with and befriended so many luminaries. He was nothing but kind and complimentary in how he described most everyone who he encountered in his long life. My Lord, anyone would be fortunate to have a tiny fraction of the friends he had, the places he visited, and the satisfying work he enjoyed.
He definitely enjoyed his women and drink, but luckily for him he found a woman who settled him down. How these people in the theater ever got anything done while drinking day and night never ceases to amaze me.
I really enjoyed this immensely even when I had no idea who he was talking about. He was a very talented writer who wrote with enthusiasm, beautiful turns of phrase, and incredible detail. If nothing else, it was worth reading for his all-too-brief chapter about the making of The Sound of Music. He was famously not a fan of the movie, until later in life when he watched it at a party and discovered an appreciation for it. That passage made me very happy and moved me to tears. It might not be his beloved Shakespeare, but he finally understood how beloved the movie is among its fans.
RIP, Captain.
While some readers might look upon his book as one long name-dropping brag book, I found him to be humbly telling us how lucky he was to have worked with and befriended so many luminaries. He was nothing but kind and complimentary in how he described most everyone who he encountered in his long life. My Lord, anyone would be fortunate to have a tiny fraction of the friends he had, the places he visited, and the satisfying work he enjoyed.
He definitely enjoyed his women and drink, but luckily for him he found a woman who settled him down. How these people in the theater ever got anything done while drinking day and night never ceases to amaze me.
I really enjoyed this immensely even when I had no idea who he was talking about. He was a very talented writer who wrote with enthusiasm, beautiful turns of phrase, and incredible detail. If nothing else, it was worth reading for his all-too-brief chapter about the making of The Sound of Music. He was famously not a fan of the movie, until later in life when he watched it at a party and discovered an appreciation for it. That passage made me very happy and moved me to tears. It might not be his beloved Shakespeare, but he finally understood how beloved the movie is among its fans.
RIP, Captain.
September 13, 2024
I was so torn on what I wanted to rate this book. I don't want it to seem like this is a bad read. It was most interesting to read about the author's life from him. Finding out his inner thoughts and dispelling some of the criticisms about him was relieving. Self-admittedly, he wasn't always on his best behavior, but he got richer with age. If you are looking for a full account of his works, you won't find it here, as he mainly focuses on his stage career and his love of Shakespeare. The depth of detail he goes into for these plays get tedious at times, but I would still say it is worth the read.
March 6, 2021
First let me say that I'm not much of an audiobook person in general, but I cannot imagine reading this instead of having listened to it - Plummer narrates and it makes this overly-long, occasionally purple-prosed autobiography not just bearable but (for me) a genuine treat.
- He was a great actor. Is he a "great" guy? Gonna pass on that assessment!
- Are there parts of this book that read, in the year of our lord 2021, as deeply, WOWly problematic? Indeed!
-Does he skim over some key (usually emotional) elements of his life and go way, way into detail on some truly dull specifics of, say, 1940s Canadian radio-play casting? Yes!
AND YET. I really, really enjoyed this (audio)book. Just some truly insane (mostly theater-related) gossip from the '40s on, name drops galore, multiple "how are you still alive?" injuries and illnesses, lotta drinking and carousing and backstage-drama. And y'know what.... I enjoyed it! So sue me!
(Still, despite a lovely beginning about his childhood, once it gets going I think a reader without any general interest in the worlds of film or theater of the 1940s-70s would find this book to be quite a slog. But for the right reader/listener-- and I can't stress enough that you should listen-- it's a fun way to pass the time, with a surprisingly meditative last few pages.)
- He was a great actor. Is he a "great" guy? Gonna pass on that assessment!
- Are there parts of this book that read, in the year of our lord 2021, as deeply, WOWly problematic? Indeed!
-Does he skim over some key (usually emotional) elements of his life and go way, way into detail on some truly dull specifics of, say, 1940s Canadian radio-play casting? Yes!
AND YET. I really, really enjoyed this (audio)book. Just some truly insane (mostly theater-related) gossip from the '40s on, name drops galore, multiple "how are you still alive?" injuries and illnesses, lotta drinking and carousing and backstage-drama. And y'know what.... I enjoyed it! So sue me!
(Still, despite a lovely beginning about his childhood, once it gets going I think a reader without any general interest in the worlds of film or theater of the 1940s-70s would find this book to be quite a slog. But for the right reader/listener-- and I can't stress enough that you should listen-- it's a fun way to pass the time, with a surprisingly meditative last few pages.)
June 11, 2016
I picked up this biography not knowing much about the life of Christopher Plummer, I just wanted Sound of Music scoops. I think this book would appeal more to fans of his theater work, it’s all a little too high-brow for me, but still I enjoyed it overall.
I got so much more out of this memoire than I anticipated, who knew Christopher Plummer was such player... and not just on the stage. He’s a charming, boozing, womanizing, cocky, overconfident man (I would say Captain Von Trapp comes close to being his polar opposite!) but his writing is witty, self deprecating, packed with great one-liners and so hilariously honest that it was a pleasure to read.
I didn’t get very many Sound of Music scoops, but I love that he refers to it as ‘S&M’. ha! He also says that: “watching the Sound of Music is like being beaten to death with a Hallmark card”. Hysterical!
If I knew he was Canadian I had forgotten, so it was a real treat to read about Montreal (my city) in the ‘old days’; I found myself pining for a time I didn’t know.
I think to satisfy my craving for behind the scenes gossip, I’ll give the book “Forever Liesl” by Charmian Carr a try.
I got so much more out of this memoire than I anticipated, who knew Christopher Plummer was such player... and not just on the stage. He’s a charming, boozing, womanizing, cocky, overconfident man (I would say Captain Von Trapp comes close to being his polar opposite!) but his writing is witty, self deprecating, packed with great one-liners and so hilariously honest that it was a pleasure to read.
I didn’t get very many Sound of Music scoops, but I love that he refers to it as ‘S&M’. ha! He also says that: “watching the Sound of Music is like being beaten to death with a Hallmark card”. Hysterical!
If I knew he was Canadian I had forgotten, so it was a real treat to read about Montreal (my city) in the ‘old days’; I found myself pining for a time I didn’t know.
I think to satisfy my craving for behind the scenes gossip, I’ll give the book “Forever Liesl” by Charmian Carr a try.
February 8, 2009
It took me the better part of two weeks to read this - not because it is a bad book but because it is so overwhelming in scope. I was amazed at the number of people this man has worked with over the last forty years, ranging from Lillian Hellman and Raymond Massey to Russell Crowe and Spike Lee. The sheer number of names dropped from the world of Hollywood and New York Theatre are amazing. Plummer is probably best known as the Baron von Trapp from the Sound of Music and after thirty years or so he now admits that the film is actually pretty good, even though for years he called it "The Sound of Mucus" or "S&M". He still maintains that as a non-singer and non-dancer he was horribly miscast but does now admit that the film itself isn't awful. This is a fascinating autobiography full of life, humor and tragedy, some his own most of the various stars he has worked with over the years. It was slow going but well worth the time and effort spend.
July 11, 2014
A wonderful and very informative read by Mr. Plummer and even though the narrative seems long at times, this is tempered by the author's knack for skillfully relating humorous anecdotes, witty, original poetic interludes and sharp wisecracks. One thing I could have done with less of was the seemingly incessant interjection of French phrases, particularly early on in the autobiography. I suppose this is not surprising, considering Plummer is a native of Quebec, Canada, but it alienates non-French-speaking readers such as myself. (I know, I know - I should learn French). In any case, a very interesting book from a very interesting and surprisingly versatile actor - one whose career has spanned the early days of the Stratford Theater in Connecticut to present-day Hollywood and who has interacted or worked with nearly everyone from Laurence Olivier to Orson Welles to Roddy McDowall to Jason Robards and yes, even John Candy. His body of work has also taken him from the golden age of theater in NYC on Broadway to the desserts of Africa and to the shivering lands of Russia and Ukraine during the Iron Curtain. His word pictures of the people and places are perhaps what make this work so priceless and so engaging. You are left feeling you too actually met Oliver, Orson Welles, or director Sidney Lumet and playwright Neil Simon. Surprisingly the work is also very self-deprecating and honest - no bombastic ego here, despite Plummer saying he was full of himself as a younger actor. Not all of his roles were Tony-award winning or Oscar worthy and Plummer tells the reader with great forthrightness when the role was for him and when it was not. He is also this way on a personal level, unique to autobiography. Of his first two failed marriages, he admits his own part in their demise. "I was a lousy husband and an even worse father and Tam's and my life was clearly over," he writes at one point, unabashedly describing his relationship with first wife Tammy Grimes and only daughter Amanda. At least third time was the charm for Plummer, who in the late 1960s finally met his third and present wife and was able to reconnect with his daughter Amanda as an adult, also an accomplished actress in her own right.
So for anyone left remembering Plummer only as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, there is so much more to discover within these pages.
So for anyone left remembering Plummer only as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, there is so much more to discover within these pages.
September 4, 2014
Christopher Plummer, the actor, is much to be admired. The assessment of Plummer, the life, is more complicated. I think the title of his memoir is apt. He spent a great deal of time in the early years sabotaging his early success. Excessive drinking, tactless comments to people of influence, and the blatant refusal to recognize through two marriages that he had a partner and a child, left me scratching my head in wonder about the parts he landed. On the other hand, success came to him because of his talent and his superb powers of networking, hence "because of myself" is also a theme. From the beginning Plummer knew how to flatter and to keep on the right side of producers, directors and fellow actors. They remembered him and took care to recommend him. Most of the time he did not let them down.
His writing is witty and self-deprecating. He is also well-read and quick to admit when his work was not acceptable. He glosses over his many extra-curricular relationships, leaving the reader to read between the lines. He was a busy man in the after-theatre hours. I particularly enjoyed stories about particular productions and the many talented colleagues whose names I know and some I don't. His biography is as much a story of the founding of The Shakespeare Festival in Ontario and other theatre companies as well as a glimpse of a raucous Montreal in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
His writing is witty and self-deprecating. He is also well-read and quick to admit when his work was not acceptable. He glosses over his many extra-curricular relationships, leaving the reader to read between the lines. He was a busy man in the after-theatre hours. I particularly enjoyed stories about particular productions and the many talented colleagues whose names I know and some I don't. His biography is as much a story of the founding of The Shakespeare Festival in Ontario and other theatre companies as well as a glimpse of a raucous Montreal in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
September 11, 2009
Wow! I don't know how this book passed an editor's blue pencil. It was so long-winded I found myself skipping whole pages. If you can stick with the verbosity of it there are quite a few gems buried in the text. I had a bit of a preconceived idea of what Christoper Plummer would be like as I had read several other autobiographies (of other actors with whom he's worked) in which he played a part. It's interesting to read Plummer's take on certain circumstances. Overall, this would've been a much stronger book if Plummer would have cut out about 300 pages! You know by reading this that he definitely wants to keep that spotlight on himself! (By the way, I can usually rip through a book in a day or two--this one took me TWO WEEKS! Granted, a lot of it was boring and I had to force myself to pick it up and continue.)
July 20, 2012
I've always loved Christopher Plummer and live theatre especially, which it turns out, is his preference over movies as well.
I gave this book a high rating because it was an absolute pleasure to read. He has an excellent use of the English language, with the occasional smattering of French, and a good sense of dry humour throughout.
The most surprising aspect of the book was it actually reads like an historical account of who's who in the theatre and in film throughout his lifetime. I'm so grateful for now knowing how much he has accomplished and the incredible people he worked with along the way. He also expresses such true caring for those he remained friends with, and heartwarmingly for those who passed too soon.
I really enjoyed learning more about our famous Canadian icon.
Both thumbs up, Christopher!
I gave this book a high rating because it was an absolute pleasure to read. He has an excellent use of the English language, with the occasional smattering of French, and a good sense of dry humour throughout.
The most surprising aspect of the book was it actually reads like an historical account of who's who in the theatre and in film throughout his lifetime. I'm so grateful for now knowing how much he has accomplished and the incredible people he worked with along the way. He also expresses such true caring for those he remained friends with, and heartwarmingly for those who passed too soon.
I really enjoyed learning more about our famous Canadian icon.
Both thumbs up, Christopher!
February 15, 2021
DNF. What an insufferable jerk Christopher Plummer was. I wish I had never read it, because like a lot of girls who saw The Sound of Music at an impressionable age, I had a major crush on his Captain von Trapp. The endless recitations of who he slept with (including while his wife was pregnant) and the stories of people I cared nothing about caused me to kick this to the curb when something better popped up in my library loans. Full of errors - he pretentiously tosses French around but misspells words like vieille as vielle (means old for those who complained in other reviews about the French).
October 3, 2019
DNF. bailed when he described “raping girls with his eyes” at about 4% complete. No thanks. I’d like to keep my fond memories of Captain Von Trapp as intact as is now possible.
November 25, 2025
This was great fun. It's generally an entertaining name-dropping read. He seems to have liked everyone he acted with, and I was most surprised by his affection for Edward Everett Horton, whom he acted with very early in his career. He badmouths almost no one by name though he had mixed feelings about Olivier and Gielgud, and isn't afraid to dis himself on occasion. Later in life, he changed his thinking about Sound of Music, finally accepting that it's a great movie. Interesting tidbit: the person he hung out with the most on location in Austria was Gil Stuart who had the small role of Franz, the butler. He also talks a lot about Jason Robards, Judith Anderson, Tyrone Power, Glenda Jackson, and Raymond Massey.
I'm amazed at the number of readers who lower their rating for this book because they think Plummer comes off as a bad person. It's true, he does, but I'm not judging him as a person but as a writer. He focuses on his acting experiences and almost totally ignores his wives and his daughter. The inattention he gives to his first wife, Tammy Grimes, is shameful, he admits he was not a good father, and he's an old school admirer of women (i.e., always going on about them physically). While that information will always color my thoughts about him in a negative way, as a book about actors and acting, I think it's among the best (though his style gets a little purple at times).
I'm amazed at the number of readers who lower their rating for this book because they think Plummer comes off as a bad person. It's true, he does, but I'm not judging him as a person but as a writer. He focuses on his acting experiences and almost totally ignores his wives and his daughter. The inattention he gives to his first wife, Tammy Grimes, is shameful, he admits he was not a good father, and he's an old school admirer of women (i.e., always going on about them physically). While that information will always color my thoughts about him in a negative way, as a book about actors and acting, I think it's among the best (though his style gets a little purple at times).
March 10, 2017
Always admired Christopher Plummer the actor (especially his rendition of Prospero in "The Tempest" at Canada's Stratford Shakespeare Theatre a few years ago). After reading this book, not so sure about Christopher Plummer the person. Self-centred, selfish and full of himself. Extremely opinionated about fellow actors, directors, producers and agents to the point of becoming an ad nauseum diatribe.
Despite that, Plummer, from his perspective, provides a wonderful look at the history of theatre in Canada, the U.S. and England from the 1950s on, the burgeoning film industry and the early days of television.
"In Spite of Myself: A Memoir" is a thick tome and, in some areas, gets bogged down in lists of names and details and ends somewhat mawkishly.
Despite that, Plummer, from his perspective, provides a wonderful look at the history of theatre in Canada, the U.S. and England from the 1950s on, the burgeoning film industry and the early days of television.
"In Spite of Myself: A Memoir" is a thick tome and, in some areas, gets bogged down in lists of names and details and ends somewhat mawkishly.
March 7, 2009
Fun to read about his life--not quite finished---hope he pulls himself together! He did.
August 18, 2021
What a fun ride. Always liked Plummer, from my first awareness of him as the old dude on Counterstrike, through the Sound of Music, Star Trek VI, and beyond.
He’s a humble narrator, but not boring. He gives himself a proper rating as a theatre actor, and film was just a good moneymaker that he learned to enjoy as well.
Travel, shenanigans, drinking with Old Guard Hollywood and Theatre folk from NYC, his connections are a veritable who’s who of the first and second half of the 20th Century. Orson Welles and Lawrence Olivier all the way to Pacino and Nicholson.
It’s not name dropping as it might seem, sometimes he is just a big fan, and fun to see how he felt intimidated by others’ presence.
A ladies man who was no good at relationships until his 50s, he owns up to being a shit husband and a fairly large drinker.
But what shines through is his love for the stage, his passion for plays, literature, and of course, Shakespeare. Includes a lot of stuff on the Stratford Festival in Canada and it’s development into one of the premiere live theatre venues and events in North America and the World.
Made me want to go re-read some Shakespeare and dive into some of those other classics that might have been missed when I was younger. But I feel like he fully understood that he appreciated more as he got older, and hopefully others will go enjoy and immerse themselves in the prose.
There won’t be another like him, and the closest we have are 2 other Canadians who have their whole careers tied up with Plummer as well: William Shatner and Donald Sutherland. Great stories about both.
My favourite anecdote of the whole thing is a story about how Studio Executives flew in to try and have his part cut from “The Man Who Would be King”. First off, it’s a phenomenal film, Michael Caine, Sean Connery and Plummer as Rudyard Kipling, who narrates but also appears with the 2. John Huston Directing.
Anyhoo, the studio folks wanted to axe his role, and when they arrived at the hotel, they were met by Sir Sean and a couple other folks who insisted on escorting them up to their room. One of the witnesses to this later informed Plummer that once the lift doors closed, Connery grabbed the big boss by the collar, held him up in the air so his feet were dangling and told him “if you cut Plummer I walk and I’ll never work for you again.” Except it’s far more entertaining in his writing.
I thoroughly recommend the book, it’s one I read over 6 months, in patches here and there, and just endeared me to Plummer even more than I already did, and it reinforced my opinion of him. Maybe it’s cause of the Canadian connection but he’s always been a well respected and popular figure in my circles.
He’s a humble narrator, but not boring. He gives himself a proper rating as a theatre actor, and film was just a good moneymaker that he learned to enjoy as well.
Travel, shenanigans, drinking with Old Guard Hollywood and Theatre folk from NYC, his connections are a veritable who’s who of the first and second half of the 20th Century. Orson Welles and Lawrence Olivier all the way to Pacino and Nicholson.
It’s not name dropping as it might seem, sometimes he is just a big fan, and fun to see how he felt intimidated by others’ presence.
A ladies man who was no good at relationships until his 50s, he owns up to being a shit husband and a fairly large drinker.
But what shines through is his love for the stage, his passion for plays, literature, and of course, Shakespeare. Includes a lot of stuff on the Stratford Festival in Canada and it’s development into one of the premiere live theatre venues and events in North America and the World.
Made me want to go re-read some Shakespeare and dive into some of those other classics that might have been missed when I was younger. But I feel like he fully understood that he appreciated more as he got older, and hopefully others will go enjoy and immerse themselves in the prose.
There won’t be another like him, and the closest we have are 2 other Canadians who have their whole careers tied up with Plummer as well: William Shatner and Donald Sutherland. Great stories about both.
My favourite anecdote of the whole thing is a story about how Studio Executives flew in to try and have his part cut from “The Man Who Would be King”. First off, it’s a phenomenal film, Michael Caine, Sean Connery and Plummer as Rudyard Kipling, who narrates but also appears with the 2. John Huston Directing.
Anyhoo, the studio folks wanted to axe his role, and when they arrived at the hotel, they were met by Sir Sean and a couple other folks who insisted on escorting them up to their room. One of the witnesses to this later informed Plummer that once the lift doors closed, Connery grabbed the big boss by the collar, held him up in the air so his feet were dangling and told him “if you cut Plummer I walk and I’ll never work for you again.” Except it’s far more entertaining in his writing.
I thoroughly recommend the book, it’s one I read over 6 months, in patches here and there, and just endeared me to Plummer even more than I already did, and it reinforced my opinion of him. Maybe it’s cause of the Canadian connection but he’s always been a well respected and popular figure in my circles.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
April 30, 2024DNF because had to return to the good ol ILL BUT I loved his narration! His childhood was darling but a lot of his young and mid-life was sinful and bad to read. His dry humor was self-aware enough to avoid being super annoying, but you can tell he's a man who loves his craft and yet is restless. He describes all the ways he tries to fill his inner emptiness, but I wasn't able to see if he felt fulfilled in the end. His descriptions of all his theater buddies could get annoying when there were long stretches of people I didn't know but some were delightful.
Some great turns of phrase:
"for a while we got on like a house on fire" (289)
"Meeting Katharine Hepburn is like being hit by a warm sirocco."
"I fell in love with that little church and with Mondsee." (396-me too!)
"How can I begin to write about her-about us, even? We are too close." (489-sort of the opposite of Sartre's Look!)
Some great turns of phrase:
"for a while we got on like a house on fire" (289)
"Meeting Katharine Hepburn is like being hit by a warm sirocco."
"I fell in love with that little church and with Mondsee." (396-me too!)
"How can I begin to write about her-about us, even? We are too close." (489-sort of the opposite of Sartre's Look!)
August 6, 2021
I enjoyed learning about Plummer's' life, and his path to becoming a famous actor. He shares a lot of personal information. I give it a 3.5, but haven't figured out how to give a .5 yet. There are too many French paragraphs that I couldn't translate, therefore I was left feeling like I'd missed out some. There are quite a few typos for a published book, but I appreciate him sharing his life with the public!
we-were-on-a-break
February 27, 2021Paused at 21%/Book Two, Chapter 11. This is just very long, and the first book moved slowly. I've put this back on hold at the library, but due to the length of this book, I'm going to need to turn my Kindle wifi back on before I can hope to finish it.
December 25, 2022
Ay yai yai someone get this man an editor
October 13, 2021
Maybe this should have been entitled "In love with myself." Don't get me wrong I think he was a gifted actor, may he rest in peace.
But if you are fan of his, like I have been, this is not the book to read.
He comes across as shallow, egotistical and not a very nice person. I had a huge crush on him as a little girl watching Sound of Music and assumed he might have some of the honourable traits he portrays in that role (though he loathed playing it). But nope, he comes across as shallow as a puddle. There is a gigantic gulf between the roles he played and the person he was in real life.
There was plenty of purple prose in this, including:
letting us know the colour and density of some woman's pubic hair;
letting us know that a woman who was assigned to look after him during filming became his sexual plaything and he spent the time frolicking naked on the beach with her for the most part;
his lack of fidelity to his first two wives;
bragging about having sex with a co-star in front of her oblivious husband (they were at a party and she was sitting on CP's lap fully dressed, while speaking to the husband). Does he feel no shame? How can he tell us this? What kind of personal ethics did he have?
I was hoping for some in-depth reflection. For example he was a child of divorced parents at a time when it was scandalous, and did not meet his father until he was in his teens. There was no reflection on how this might have made him a terrible father in turn - missing his daughter's entire childhood. Though he does admit he was too selfish to be a father.
Apart from that it was meandering and long-winded. I wish I hadn't read it. I prefer my own ideas on the person he was. I think I'll just go back to watching his terrific roles like Knives Out and Beginners, and enjoy them instead. They are a much better legacy for him than this book.
But if you are fan of his, like I have been, this is not the book to read.
He comes across as shallow, egotistical and not a very nice person. I had a huge crush on him as a little girl watching Sound of Music and assumed he might have some of the honourable traits he portrays in that role (though he loathed playing it). But nope, he comes across as shallow as a puddle. There is a gigantic gulf between the roles he played and the person he was in real life.
There was plenty of purple prose in this, including:
letting us know the colour and density of some woman's pubic hair;
letting us know that a woman who was assigned to look after him during filming became his sexual plaything and he spent the time frolicking naked on the beach with her for the most part;
his lack of fidelity to his first two wives;
bragging about having sex with a co-star in front of her oblivious husband (they were at a party and she was sitting on CP's lap fully dressed, while speaking to the husband). Does he feel no shame? How can he tell us this? What kind of personal ethics did he have?
I was hoping for some in-depth reflection. For example he was a child of divorced parents at a time when it was scandalous, and did not meet his father until he was in his teens. There was no reflection on how this might have made him a terrible father in turn - missing his daughter's entire childhood. Though he does admit he was too selfish to be a father.
Apart from that it was meandering and long-winded. I wish I hadn't read it. I prefer my own ideas on the person he was. I think I'll just go back to watching his terrific roles like Knives Out and Beginners, and enjoy them instead. They are a much better legacy for him than this book.
October 1, 2016
A long, but very worth it book to read. As is true for most of us, we enjoy the parts of this book which we lived through. For me the best parts were from the 60's onward. I had the pleasure of seeing him in his one man play "Barrymore" when it came to San Francisco. It was great! I even went to the stage door where a group of ladies were already standing in line to get his autograph on their programs. I have it framed with the Playbill cover and my ticket stub! He was gracious and so fun to meet in person. A day I'll always remember. Thank you, Mr. Plummer!
Previous reviews as I read this book were: Welcome to Book 4! Enjoying Book 3 of the 60's a lot more than the first two. Reading the chapter about the filming of The Sound of Music...interesting! Finally into the Book 2 section of this book which is the 1950's. Enjoying this portion of the book more than the Book 1 section which was his early & formative years growing up in Quebec. It's a wonderfully written and very detailed book, I just love all the photo's!
Previous reviews as I read this book were: Welcome to Book 4! Enjoying Book 3 of the 60's a lot more than the first two. Reading the chapter about the filming of The Sound of Music...interesting! Finally into the Book 2 section of this book which is the 1950's. Enjoying this portion of the book more than the Book 1 section which was his early & formative years growing up in Quebec. It's a wonderfully written and very detailed book, I just love all the photo's!
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