In Spite of Myself (Abridged)
A rollicking, rich portrait of a life. And what a life! By one of our greatest actors.

Plummer tells how “this young bilingual wastrel, incurably romantic, spoiled rotten, tore himself away from the ski slopes to break into the big bad world of theatre, not from the streets up but from an Edwardian living room down,” and writes of his early acting days as an eighteen-year-old playing the lead in Shakespeare's Cymbeline.

We see his glorious New York of the fifties, where life began at midnight, with the likes of Arthur Miller, Carson McCullers, Tennessee Williams, and Paddy Chayefsky, and how Plummer's own Broadway world developed and swept him along through the last Golden Age the American Theatre would ever remember . . . how the sublime Ruth Chatterton (“she might have been created by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis”) introduced him to the right people in New York . . . how Miss Eva Le Gallienne gave Plummer his Broadway debut at twenty-five in The Starcross Story (“It opened and closed in one night! One solitary night! But what a night!”).

He writes about his film career: The Sound of Music (affectionately dubbed “S&M”) . . . Inside Daisy Clover, which brought him together with the beautiful Natalie Wood . . . John Huston's The Man Who Would Be King (Plummer was Rudyard Kipling). He tells the story of accepting Sir Laurence Olivier's invitation to join the National Theatre Company, playing in Amphytron directed by Olivier himself (“a great actor but lousy director”), and writes about falling deeply in love with and eventually marrying a young actress and dancer, Elaine Taylor-to this day, his “one true strength.”

Seamlessly written, with stories that make us laugh out loud and that make real the fascinating, complex, exuberant adventure that is the actor's (at least this actor's) life.
1102853943
In Spite of Myself (Abridged)
A rollicking, rich portrait of a life. And what a life! By one of our greatest actors.

Plummer tells how “this young bilingual wastrel, incurably romantic, spoiled rotten, tore himself away from the ski slopes to break into the big bad world of theatre, not from the streets up but from an Edwardian living room down,” and writes of his early acting days as an eighteen-year-old playing the lead in Shakespeare's Cymbeline.

We see his glorious New York of the fifties, where life began at midnight, with the likes of Arthur Miller, Carson McCullers, Tennessee Williams, and Paddy Chayefsky, and how Plummer's own Broadway world developed and swept him along through the last Golden Age the American Theatre would ever remember . . . how the sublime Ruth Chatterton (“she might have been created by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis”) introduced him to the right people in New York . . . how Miss Eva Le Gallienne gave Plummer his Broadway debut at twenty-five in The Starcross Story (“It opened and closed in one night! One solitary night! But what a night!”).

He writes about his film career: The Sound of Music (affectionately dubbed “S&M”) . . . Inside Daisy Clover, which brought him together with the beautiful Natalie Wood . . . John Huston's The Man Who Would Be King (Plummer was Rudyard Kipling). He tells the story of accepting Sir Laurence Olivier's invitation to join the National Theatre Company, playing in Amphytron directed by Olivier himself (“a great actor but lousy director”), and writes about falling deeply in love with and eventually marrying a young actress and dancer, Elaine Taylor-to this day, his “one true strength.”

Seamlessly written, with stories that make us laugh out loud and that make real the fascinating, complex, exuberant adventure that is the actor's (at least this actor's) life.
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In Spite of Myself (Abridged)

In Spite of Myself (Abridged)

by Christopher Plummer

Narrated by Christopher Plummer

Abridged — 16 hours, 38 minutes

In Spite of Myself (Abridged)

In Spite of Myself (Abridged)

by Christopher Plummer

Narrated by Christopher Plummer

Abridged — 16 hours, 38 minutes

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Overview

A rollicking, rich portrait of a life. And what a life! By one of our greatest actors.

Plummer tells how “this young bilingual wastrel, incurably romantic, spoiled rotten, tore himself away from the ski slopes to break into the big bad world of theatre, not from the streets up but from an Edwardian living room down,” and writes of his early acting days as an eighteen-year-old playing the lead in Shakespeare's Cymbeline.

We see his glorious New York of the fifties, where life began at midnight, with the likes of Arthur Miller, Carson McCullers, Tennessee Williams, and Paddy Chayefsky, and how Plummer's own Broadway world developed and swept him along through the last Golden Age the American Theatre would ever remember . . . how the sublime Ruth Chatterton (“she might have been created by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis”) introduced him to the right people in New York . . . how Miss Eva Le Gallienne gave Plummer his Broadway debut at twenty-five in The Starcross Story (“It opened and closed in one night! One solitary night! But what a night!”).

He writes about his film career: The Sound of Music (affectionately dubbed “S&M”) . . . Inside Daisy Clover, which brought him together with the beautiful Natalie Wood . . . John Huston's The Man Who Would Be King (Plummer was Rudyard Kipling). He tells the story of accepting Sir Laurence Olivier's invitation to join the National Theatre Company, playing in Amphytron directed by Olivier himself (“a great actor but lousy director”), and writes about falling deeply in love with and eventually marrying a young actress and dancer, Elaine Taylor-to this day, his “one true strength.”

Seamlessly written, with stories that make us laugh out loud and that make real the fascinating, complex, exuberant adventure that is the actor's (at least this actor's) life.

Editorial Reviews

APRIL 2014 - AudioFile

This work is more of a full-fledged autobiography than a memoir as actor Plummer offers a highly entertaining, well-connected series of adventures and anecdotes of his long and successful life and career. The content is made all the more enjoyable by Plummer’s affable, highly conversational narration. His skilled performance features his resonant voice as he discusses matters as diverse as his family’s role in the political and business leadership of Canada and his well-known role in the film THE SOUND OF MUSIC. It seems that none of his life is off-limits. Listeners will feel they come to know more of this charming individual. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2014 - AudioFile

This work is more of a full-fledged autobiography than a memoir as actor Plummer offers a highly entertaining, well-connected series of adventures and anecdotes of his long and successful life and career. The content is made all the more enjoyable by Plummer’s affable, highly conversational narration. His skilled performance features his resonant voice as he discusses matters as diverse as his family’s role in the political and business leadership of Canada and his well-known role in the film THE SOUND OF MUSIC. It seems that none of his life is off-limits. Listeners will feel they come to know more of this charming individual. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID: 2940172165221
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Publication date: 08/13/2013
Edition description: Abridged
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