Christopher Plummer – In Spite of Myself – Book Review

I recently got a message from my cousin Lindy. Lindy is named after my mother. Our mom’s were twins. Lindy and I were the eldest of our families. I was the eldest with two sisters and Lindy was the eldest with three brothers. The message was about a book she wanted to know if I wantedt. Lindy’s husband James, was a well-known speaker and lover of the arts in and around Detroit. James had left her with a number of great books . . . a large number of great books. She wanted to know if I would like a copy of a book about Christopher Plummer. It took me about two seconds to say YES! My worship of Plummer goes back sixty years. An Excellent Gathering of Tears and Laughter.

Sometimes it’s nice to go back in time. As a junior at Clover Park High School in 1963 I had no real request for my parents at Christmas. I liked clothes but most times presents from my mom usually got returned or exchanged . . . shoes, shirts, and trousers. My father on the other hand bought sometimes the strangest of things . . . like a small electic keyboard piano. He also enjoyed recording on a film movie camera and editing family gatherings. I learned to record as well and then in my entire junior year at CP studied video production.

I was blown away when I opened my 1963 Christmas present from my parents. It was a huge reel to reel audio tape deck. It didn’t take long for me to record anything. The instructions were easy and soon we had our family speaking and being recorded. I was more interested in music, but my buddies and I had already attempted rock and roll, somehow one piano and three trumpets didn’t seem to make much rocking or rolling.

Sometime after Christmas, I discovered something interesting. I think it was Hallmark Hall of Fame that captured my attention. In my junior year I was studying speaking and acting along with daily work of live recordings of production via video tape at Clover Park Vocational School in addition to regular classes. The play “Cyrano de Bergerac” was about to capture my heart. I bought two hour long tapes and set up my tape deck with the microphone close to the speaker. I watched the production alone. I loved every minute of the black and white film and my audio recording. The play starred Christopher Plummer and Hope Lange. I was hooked. Many of the lines have run through my mind for decades and decades. One of my favorite lines is “You may go — Or tell me why are you staring at my nose!”

Here is a review on IMDB of the actual TV production from 1963:
Outstanding!
I was 13 when I saw the original broadcast. It was probably the first time I appreciated ACTING, rather than just being absorbed in the story of a movie, although the story was absorbing, indeed.

I am quite sure it was the first time I ever watched the ending credits of a program carefully in order to catch the name of an actor, and the name Christopher Plummer was welded into my mind.

IMDB 10/10 Review
Cyrano de Bergerac immediately became my favorite character of fiction. I think I have seen every film version of Cyrano ever made, some of them multiple times. I wish I could see this version again, now, through the eyes of an adult, and with the experience of the other versions to compare with it.

As you can see a thirteen year old teenager loved the play as much as I did. Christopher Plummer reeled me into his films for years and years.

Plummer was an active actor and won many awards as noted from IMDB: Plummer won two Emmy Awards out of seven nominations stretching 46 years from 1959 and 2011, and one Genie Award in six nominations from 1980 to 2009. For his stage work, Plummer has racked up two Tony Awards on six nominations, the first in 1974 as Best Actor (Musical) for the title role in “Cyrano” and the second in 1997, as Best Actor (Play), in “Barrymore”. Surprisingly, he did not win (though he was nominated) for his masterful 2004 performance of “King Lear”, which he originated at the Stratford Festival in Ontario and brought down to Broadway for a sold-out run. His other Tony nominations show the wide range of his talent, from a 1959 nod for the Elia Kazan-directed production of Macleish’s “J.B.”, to recognition in 1994 for Harold Pinter’s “No Man’s Land”, with a 1982 Best Actor (Play) nomination for his “Iago” in William Shakespeare’s “Othello”.

Somewhere there is a TV copy of Plummer in Cyrano de Bergerac. I will continue to search it out. In one of my boxes of tapes and discs is my audio recording of the TV production in 1962 converted to disc.

The book (Christopher Plummer In Spite of Myself – a Memoir) from Lindy reads like personal stories of famous acters from Broadway to Hollywood and on-location shots from around the world. It is heavy reading (647 pages), but captivating and amusing.

There’s an island deep down in my sleep*
A lost land I long to find
But I wake ‘ere I reach the island
So it must only live in my mind.

It could be the dream we yearn for
That on earth we may never attain
But I know there was love on that island
For it chased away all of my pain.

*This soulful poem illustrated above was read for a old man and his dead horse . . . go figure.

As I read more, I will write more. I’ve always loved Cyrano’s final line before he dies . . . the one thing he always carried “My panache*.”

The meaning of “panache” – noun. a grand or flamboyant manner; verve; style; flair: The actor who would play Cyrano must have panache. an ornamental plume of feathers, tassels, or the like, especially one worn on a helmet or cap.