Christopher Plummer couldn’t stand The Sound of Music; the movie he is probably best known for. The 1965 musical starring Julie Andrews as an Austrian governess to a widowed naval officer’s seven children was a box office smash and won five Oscars.

But despite the film’s enduring popularity, Plummer found shooting all of the movie as Captain Georg von Trapp particularly unpleasant, expect for working alongside Maria star Andrews.

In the years since, Plummer wouldn’t refer to the film as The Sound of Music, but as “that movie”, “S&M” or even “The Sound of Mucus”.

Speaking with People magazine in 1982, the actor said: “That sentimental stuff is the most difficult for me to play, especially because I’m trained vocally and physically for Shakespeare. To do a lousy part like von Trapp, you have to use every trick you know to fill the empty carcass of the role. That damn movie follows me around like an albatross.” In 2005, he refused to attend the 40th anniversary cast reunion but did provide commentary on the DVD release that year.

However, in 2010, Plummer did relent and joined the 45th anniversary cast reunion on The Oprah Winfrey Show and a 50th-anniversary screening in Hollywood with Andrews in 2015. The year before, he told The Boston Globe: “I was a bit bored with the character. Although we worked hard enough to make him interesting, it was a bit like flogging a dead horse. And the subject matter is not mine. I mean it can’t appeal to every person in the world. It’s not my cup of tea.’’