Christopher Plummer and the rest of the Sound of Music cast reunite on Oprah

Christopher Plummer and the rest of the Sound of Music cast reunite on Oprah

Though he’s probably still best known as the strict Captain von Trapp in the classic film adaptation of The Sound of Music, Canadian film and theatre icon Christopher Plummer has always been far too dignified to discuss the feel-good Oscar-winning romp in public. Then he got The Call.

That’s right, the Oprah call.

The queen of talk can coax even the most refined celebrities to spill their guts on television, as she proved yesterday when she hosted an on-air reunion of Plummer and the entire original cast of The Sound of Music. It was the first time Plummer has joined the cast in public in 45 years.

While Julie Andrews gushed about her surprise at the film’s huge success, Plummer was more staid in his recollections, at times resorting to brutal honesty: “The role left something to be desired. It wasn’t human enough; there wasn’t enough humour in it.” He admitted to jokingly referring to the film as “The Sound of Mucus” to offset its saccharine qualities. “It could have gone overboard and become sentimental. And there were all these nuns around, and it made you want to be irreverent,” added the cheeky 80-year-old Toronto native.

And though Plummer, who was 35 years old when the film was made, may have had reservations about the experience, his female cast mates had no reservations about him. “I was in awe of this gentleman, a great dramatic actor, and I was just a musical songstress,” said Andrews, who was 28 years old at the time of filming.

Charmian Carr, who played 16-year-old Liesl—she herself was 21—admitted to being smitten with the handsome Canadian. “I had a huge crush on him. He was so perfect, and he spoke with this perfect British accent,” she said.

Plummer, for his part, admitted he watched the film again about a decade ago and realized it was actually passable. And, thanks to what we’re sure was some vigorous prompting from Oprah, Plummer kicked off the show by calling the entire von Trapp clan onstage with the same whistle call used in the original film. With most of the kids pushing 60, if not older, thank God they weren’t wearing their lederhosen.

• Oprah stages Sound of Music reunion [CBC]
• ‘Sound of Music’ stars reunite [Toronto Sun]