Reasons to Love Toronto: No. 30, because Christopher Plummer at 82 is sexy

By Emily Landau | Photo Illustration by Gluekit

Christopher Plummer is an impossibly jocular old rascal. He dances jigs in his one-man shows. He guzzles stiff martinis. And even though he’s the best classical actor this country has produced, he loves to play the ham. In short, the octogenarian is having a blast. In last year’s movie Beginners, he played Ewan McGregor’s newly out dad with the winsome exuberance of a delighted child, partying at gay clubs and smooching Goran ­Visnjic with abandon. In February, he accepted his Oscar for the role with a mix of leonine majesty and avuncular charm. (He memorably thanked his “band of agents provocateurs,” including Toronto’s Perry Zimel, for keeping him out of jail.) This summer, he returns to his Stratford stomping grounds to star in A Word or Two, an autobiographical one-man show directed by Des McAnuff. We’re thrilled, because as much as we love him in his various roles—his dementia-afflicted Lear, Star Trek’s villainous General Chang, a reclusive Swedish tycoon in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo—the character we most love to see Plummer play is himself.