FEBRUARY 7, 2021 - Christopher Plummer, world-renowned actor and one of the stars of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, passed away last Friday, February 5th, at the age of 91. According to a piece in The Hollywood Reporter, Plummer’s talent agency, ICM Partners announced that he died peacefully at his home in Connecticut, with his wife by his side.

Star Trek fans know Plummer best, of course, as General Chang in The Undiscovered Country, but his film and television career spans across eight decades, beginning with an appearance in the Canadian anthology series Encounter in 1953. He went on to perform in films like 1975’s The Return of the Pink Panther, 1995’s Twelve Monkeys and 2011’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Plummer is probably best known worldwide for his role as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music.

A separate piece from The Hollywood Reporter also relates that Plummer was a huge fan of Star Trek, and friends with William Shatner. In Shatner’s 2011 documentary The Captains, Plummer admitted, “I was a serious Trekkie when it first came out.”

On Friday, Shatner tweeted a tribute to his friend, saying, “A gentleman whose name is Christopher Plummer died today. He was what I call a friend. What is the definition of a friend? Somebody you know intimately whose every breath and every thought that is so much like yours or can a friend be someone whose life is intertwined near and afar with great gaps of time between meetings? That was the kind of friend Chris Plummer was to me. [...] I am so sad to lose him.”

Please join me in sending condolences to Plummer’s family.