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There are three of Christopher Plummer's vignettes of Wellington that stand out for me:
-When he was relaxing under a tree with a copy of the London Times covering his face and Uxbridge asks him, if he is killed or wounded, what he plans are. The reply: taking the Times from his face he tells Uxbridge 'To beat the French' and continues his nap.
-When the charge of the Scots Greys starts to fall apart he tells a trumpeter to recall them. The trumpeter dutifully, and very loudly, sounds the recall right next to Sir Arthur, clearly annoying him. Sir Arthur shouts (words to the effect), 'Stop that infernal noise.' Then he leans over towards the trumpeter in a calm voice 'You might hurt yourself.'
-At yet another crisis in the fighting, one of Wellington's senior staff officers states 'Bad beans, Wellington.' Sir Arthur replies, 'If there is one subject I know nothing about it is agriculture.'
Great actor, great role, and he will be sorely missed.
Sad day, in a week when we seem to be losing some of our greats. It took a proud Canadian (holder of Canada’s second highest honour) to portray a British hero. I wonder how many of us when we read biographies and accounts actually channel his Wellington in our heads? Whatever the other faults we purists might have with the film at least we have his performance. I for one will be making some time for the DVD and raising a glass in memory. Tomorrow will be a good day.
Christopher Plummer's Wellington was excellent and very well done. Not so much Steiger's Napoleon-too emotional for one thing.
Ever since I saw Sergej Bondarchuk's "Waterloo" as a child, I've been associating the looks of Wellington and Napoleon with the actors Christopher Plummer and Rod Steiger. Great actor!