PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA, THE: INSIDE MEDIA: AN EVENING WITH CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER {LONG VERSION ANAMORPHIC}
Summary
One in a series of evenings and special screenings presented as part of The Paley Center for Media's Inside Media events. Held at the Paley Center in New York, this evening celebrates the long career of Academy Award- and Emmy-winning actor Christopher Plummer. Host Rebecca Paller (curator, The Paley Center for Media) offers opening remarks and introduces guest Alec Baldwin, who comments on Plummer's body of work, comparing him to famed Chinese pianist Lang Lang. He then introduces a clip package of Plummer's many television productions, including a number of Hallmark Hall of Fame films.
After the clips, Plummer takes the stage with moderator David Edelstein (film critic, New York magazine and National Public Radio). The conversation touches on such topics as: the "awful" experience of viewing footage of himself as a young, inexperienced actor; his early television project "The Gathering Night" (1953) and the experience of being on camera for the first time; he and his fellow stage actors' "terribly snobbish" attitude about television versus theatre; his role in an oddly-cast 1953 version of "Othello"; his friendship with "The Iceman Cometh" star Jason Robards; his distaste for his performance as Torvald in "A Doll's House" (1959), the final version of which he believed to be a dress rehearsal; his desire to portray an older version of "Peer Gynt"; his enjoyment of working alongside Baldwin in "Nuremberg" (2000); his Broadway debut alongside Eva Le Gallienne and her response to the crowd's wild applause; his view of live television as a frightening "series of Dunkirks"; his role in the Western "Even the Weariest River" alongside the likable Boris Karloff; his sense of his own youthful arrogance and difficulty as a co-star; memories of his hard-partying youth and the common presence of alcohol; a challenging scene alongside Viveca Lindfors in the live televised play "The Riddle of Mayerling" (1953) during which he had to enter through the fireplace, much to the ire of director Martin Manulis; the strong influence of advertising executives and many big stars' move to television; memories of working alongside Julie Harris, "the last first lady of American theatre"; the fun of taking on fewer romantic leading roles and more character-actor roles after age forty; the "cruel medium" of live television; the "real drama" of the McCarthy trials in the 1950s; his barroom acquaintance with Johnny Carson; his famous dislike for his 1965 musical hit "The Sound of Music," despite his affection for Vienna and co-star Julie Andrews; his role in Arthur Miller's "After the Fall" (1974); his forty-two year marriage to Elaine Taylor and her role in helping him curb his wild lifestyle; his favorite role as Hamlet in "Hamlet at Elsinore" (1964); and his experience meeting journalist Mike Wallace, whom he portrayed in "The Insider" (1999), and his desire for a scene showing his vulnerable side.
Questions from the audience then lead to a discussion of the following topics: his "drinking-buddy" friendship with Richard Burton and Dylan Thomas; winning a stage role after Peter O'Toole's departure to film "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) and O'Toole's subsequent frustration; his friendship with Raymond Massey; his star-making role in the play "J.B." by Archibald MacLeish; the upcoming HBO film "Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight," also starring Frank Langella; and his recent Oscar win for "Beginners" (2010).
Clips featuring Plummer's work are interspersed throughout the program, including: "Westinghouse Studio One: The Gathering Night" (1953); "Appointment With Adventure: A Thief There Was" (1956); "Hallmark Hall of Fame: Little Moon of Alban" (1958); "Hallmark Hall of Fame: Johnny Belinda" (1958); "Hallmark Hall of Fame: A Doll's House" (1959); "Hallmark Hall of Fame: Captain Brassbound's Conversion" (1960); "Hallmark Hall of Fame: Time Remembered" (1961); "Hallmark Hall of Fame: Cyrano de Bergerac" (1962); "Hamlet at Elsinore" (1964); "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1973); "ABC Theatre: The Shadow Box" (1980); "Little Gloria… Happy at Last" (1982); "The Thorn Birds" (1983); "Nabokov on Kafka" (1989); "American Playhouse: A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz" (1991); "Winchell" (1998); "The Insider" (1999); "Nuremberg" (2000); and "On Golden Pond" (2001).
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: May 29, 2012 6:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:32:25
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 107250
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Rebecca Paller … Host
- David Edelstein … Moderator
- Alec Baldwin … Guest
- Christopher Plummer … Guest
- Julie Andrews
- Richard Burton
- Johnny Carson
- Julie Harris
- Boris Karloff
- Lang Lang
- Eva Le Gallienne
- Frank Langella
- Viveca Lindfors
- Archibald MacLeish
- Martin Manulis
- Raymond Massey
- Peter O'Toole
- Jason Robards
- Elaine Taylor
- Dylan Thomas
- Mike Wallace