Christopher Plummer, a patrician Canadian who starred as widower Captain von Trapp opposite Julie Andrews in the blockbuster 1965 musical The Sound Of Music, has died at the age of 91, Deadline Hollywood reports.

Plummer died peacefully at his home in Connecticut with his wife Elaine Taylor at his side, the publication said.

Plummer, an accomplished Shakespearean actor honoured for his varied stage, television and film work in a career that spanned more than six decades, was best known for his role in The Sound Of Music, which at the time eclipsed Gone With the Wind (1939) as the top-earning movie ever.

Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer in a promotional portrait for ‘The Sound Of Music’, directed by Robert Wise, 1965. Photo: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Plummer flourished in a succession of meaty roles after age 70 – a time in life when most actors merely fade away.

He claimed a long-awaited Oscar at age 82 for his supporting performance in Beginners as an elderly man who comes out of the closet as gay after his wife’s death.

“You’re only two years older than me, darling,” Plummer, who was born in 1929, purred to his golden statuette – first given for films made in 1927 and 1928 – at the February 2012 Oscars ceremony.

“Where have you been all my life?”

Christopher Plummer won an Oscar after decades of acting. Picture: Getty

Plummer became the oldest actor to win a competitive Academy Award – supplanting Jessica Tandy and George Burns, who both were 80 when they won theirs.

Plummer appeared in more than 100 films and also was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Russian author Leo Tolstoy in 2009’s The Last Station.

He won two Tony Awards for his Broadway work, two Emmy Awards for TV work and performed for some of the world’s top theatre companies.