Christopher Plummer not only won an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and an Emmy Award, but he co-starred in one of the most beloved movies of all time and played the villain in both a popular Star Trek feature film and a cult-favorite Star Wars knock-off. He also had several other interesting Star Trek connections.
Plummer, who died in 2021 at the age of 91, won his Oscar for his supporting performance in Beginners (2011), in which he co-starred opposite Star Wars actor Ewan McGregor. He took home two Emmys in his long career, one for Arthur Hailey’s the Moneychangers in 1977 (Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie) and the other for Madeline in 1994 (Outstanding Voice-Over Performance). And he earned two Tonys as well, one for Cyrano in 1974 (Best Actor in a Musical) and another for Barrymore in 1997 (Best Actor in a Play). As for the movie we described as one of the most beloved of all time, that would be The Sound of Music.
Star Trek fans will remember that he chewed the scenery to great effect as the Shakespeare-spouting Klingon, General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Among his memorable lines: “Once more unto the breach, dear friends” and “Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war.” He also reprised the role in 2000, for the video game Star Trek: Klingon Academy.
But those were just the biggest of his many ties to Star Trek. For example, William Shatner understudied Plummer, a fellow Canadian, during their time at the Stratford Festival in the 1950s and decades later, long after The Undiscovered Country, Shatner interviewed Plummer for one of his documentaries. Robert Wise, who directed The Sound of Music, also directed Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Additionally, Plummer shared the screen with Shirley MacLaine in the 2014 dramedy Elsa & Fred, which featured Star Trek: Enterprise’s Captain Archer, Scott Bakula, in a key supporting role. That same year, Plummer co-starred with Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty in the current Star Trek features, in Hector and the Search for Happiness. Years earlier, in 2000, while Star Trek: Voyager was still on the air, Plummer appeared with Jeri Ryan in Dracula 2000. And, Plummer’s only child is Amanda Plummer, who followed in her father’s villainous footsteps to play Vadic, captain of the Shrike, in a half-dozen third-season episodes of Star Trek: Picard.
And then there’s that cult-favorite Star Wars knock-off we mentioned. Plummer played the Emperor of the Universe in Starcrash, with David Hasselhoff portraying his son! One of the film’s other co-stars, Judd Hamilton, had his voice dubbed by actor Hamilton Camp, who later guest-starred in two episodes of Deep Space Nine and one of Voyager. Plummer later admitted he agreed to work on the ultra-cheesy movie because it gave him the opportunity to visit one of his favorite cities, Rome, Italy.
What’s your favorite Plummer-Star Trek connection -- beyond The Undiscovered Country?