VIDEO: First Look - Christopher Plummer in BARRYMORE on PBS's Great Performances

After Christopher Plummer's multiple awards wins for Beginners in 2010 (Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and more), the distinguished star of stage and screen went on to deliver another highly affecting performance, when he recreated his Tony Award-winning role of legendary actor John Barrymore in the film adaptation of William Luce's Broadway play of the same name.

Barrymore will air on Great Performances, Friday, January 31 at 9 p.m., ET on PBS (check local listings). Get a first look below!

Set in 1942, Barrymore shines a dramatic spotlight on the acclaimed-and notorious- John Barrymore, capturing the famously combative star in the final months of his life as he struggles to prepare for a backer's audition to stage a revival of his 1920 Broadway triumph in Richard III. Once among the most acclaimed stage actors of his generation, as well as a central member of Broadway and Hollywood's most famous acting dynasty, Barrymore is now in the twilight of his career, no longer a leading box office draw and wrestling with the ravages of his life of excess. In equal parts lacerating wit and piercing despair, the faded icon revisits the highs and lows of his theatrical triumphs and remarkable life.

The film had its world premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. It was directed and adapted by writer-director Érik Canuel from the production for which Plummer won both a Tony™ Award and Drama Desk Award. John Plumpis, who toured with Plummer in the play after its Broadway run, recreates his role of Frank, the prompter.

About Christopher Plummer

Christopher Plummer has enjoyed almost 60 years as one of the worlds most revered and beloved actors on screen and on stage. Since Sidney Lumet introduced him to the screen in Stage Struck(1958), his range of notable films include The Man Who Would Be King, Battle of Britain, Waterloo, Fall of The Roman Empire, Star Trek VI, Twelve Monkeys, and the 1965 Oscar-winning The Sound of Music; more recently, Oscar-nominated The Insider (as Mike Wallace, he won the National Film Critics Award), the Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind, National Treasure, Syriana, Inside Man and Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. His upcoming films include Imagined (opposite Al Pacino) and Elsa and Fred (opposite Shirley MacLaine). Plummer is also inMuhammad Ali's Greatest Fight, which is currently airing on HBO. His TV appearances, which number close to 100, have earned him two Emmys and seven Emmy nominations.

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