Christopher Plummer wins Academy Award for role as elderly gay man in 'Beginners'
Sun. February 26, 2012 11:32 PM by GoPride.com News Staff
christopher plummer (left) and ewan mcgregor in "beginners"
photo credit // focus features
Plummer wins supporting actor Oscar, becomes oldest Academy Award winner
Los Angeles, CA -
A role as an elderly widower who comes out as gay won 82-year-old Christopher Plummer an Academy Award on Sunday night.
Wearing a navy velvet tuxedo, Plummer took to the stage to accept his award at the 84th Annual Academy Awards. "You're only two years older than me darling, where have you been all of my life?" Plummer joked as he looked at the gold statuette.
Plummer also thanked his wife and co-star Ewan McGregor, saying, "I would happily share this award with him if I had any decency, which I don't."
Writer/director Mike Mills said the movie, "Beginners," is based on his own experience with his father, who came out at age 75. Mills' father, who was a museum director, died five years later.
Mills told the Los Angeles Times that he often runs into people whose parents have come out late in life.
"It's a film from a straight son about a gay dad that's filled with curiosity and empathy and absolutely no judgement or shame," he said.
ChicagoPride.com movie critic and entertainment writer Gregg Shapiro said Plummer "turned in the best performance of his career, one strong enough to make us forgive him for 'The Sound of Music.'"
Not only is this Plummer's first Oscar, he is the oldest person to ever win one.
Related: View photos from "On the Red Carpet," Center on Halsted's Annual Oscar Party at the Park West in Chicago
Wearing a navy velvet tuxedo, Plummer took to the stage to accept his award at the 84th Annual Academy Awards. "You're only two years older than me darling, where have you been all of my life?" Plummer joked as he looked at the gold statuette.
Plummer also thanked his wife and co-star Ewan McGregor, saying, "I would happily share this award with him if I had any decency, which I don't."
Writer/director Mike Mills said the movie, "Beginners," is based on his own experience with his father, who came out at age 75. Mills' father, who was a museum director, died five years later.
Mills told the Los Angeles Times that he often runs into people whose parents have come out late in life.
"It's a film from a straight son about a gay dad that's filled with curiosity and empathy and absolutely no judgement or shame," he said.
ChicagoPride.com movie critic and entertainment writer Gregg Shapiro said Plummer "turned in the best performance of his career, one strong enough to make us forgive him for 'The Sound of Music.'"
Not only is this Plummer's first Oscar, he is the oldest person to ever win one.
Related: View photos from "On the Red Carpet," Center on Halsted's Annual Oscar Party at the Park West in Chicago