Career: Plummer made his Broadway debut in 1953 in The Starcross Story - a play that lasted just one night. He had better luck with his next show, Home is the Hero, which lasted for 30 performances. He has since appeared successfully on stages around the world, including London. Plummer's film career began in 1958 when he was cast in Stage Struck, but it was The Sound of Music in 1965 that made him an international star. Since then, he has been a heavily in-demand character actor and appeared in a number of notable films, including The Night of the Generals (1967), The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), Malcolm X (1992), The Insider (1999), A Beautiful Mind (2001) and The Lake House (2006). He received his first Academy Award nomination in 2009 for The Last Station, but lost out to Christoph Waltz. He had better luck in 2012 when he won an Oscar for his performance in Beginners (2010). His recent credits include Priest (2011) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011).

Career: Howard had small roles in the films The Way Ahead (1944) and The Way to the Stars (1945) before his big break in 1945, playing the stoic Dr Alec Harvey in David Lean's Brief Encounter. He went on to have an acclaimed film career, starring in The Third Man (1949), Outcast of the Islands (1951), The Cockleshell Heroes (1955), The Key (1958), Sons and Lovers (1960), Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) and Rawlinson End (1980). He died on January 7, 1988 at the age of 74.