In Spite of Myself ─ A Memoir

A vibrant, exuberant self-portrait of one of today’s greatest living actors.

Christopher Plummer’s magnificent book recounts the wild adventure that is his life, stretching from a privileged childhood in Canada to the glorious, star-studded New York of the fifties to a sensational career in film appearing in some of our most beloved classics. Here are his late nights out with Carson McCullers, Tennessee Williams, Paddy Chayefsky, and Arthur Miller; his affairs and marriages; his collaborations with famed producers; and his memorable roles alongside fellow young and talented actors, each also destined for stardom: Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Peter O’Toole, Natalie Wood, and countless others. Plummer weaves delicious anecdotes of a life spent on stages and film sets across the world—from Peter Hall’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre to The Sound of Music (affectionately dubbed “S&M”)—into a boisterous narrative filled with humor and irresistible charm.

Christopher Plummer was born in Toronto, Ontario. He has acted in more than 100 feature films, including The Man Who Would Be King, The Sound of Music, Stage Struck, and The Insider, and he has starred in three of the world's most important theatre companies: Great Britain's National Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Stratford Festival of Canada. He received two Tony Awards for Best Actor (Barrymore; Cyrano), and he has been nominated for the award seven other times. He also received a London Evening Standard Award for Best Actor for Becket. He has received Emmys, the John Gielgud Quill Award, the Edwin Booth Award (Barrymore), The Jason Robards Award for Excellence, and has been inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame. He received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Beginners. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Elaine Taylor.