Daily Inspiration Quote by Christopher Plummer

Plummer nails a very showbiz kind of admiration: the delight in someone who can be publicly “awful” and still read as irresistible. Calling Mike Wallace “visible to the public” sounds neutral, but it’s a sly way of underlining Wallace’s whole brand: not just a journalist, but a persona engineered for maximum exposure. The camera doesn’t merely capture him; it completes him.

The details do the real work. “Smoking up a storm” is period texture and character sketch in one move. In the early TV era, the cigarette wasn’t just a habit; it was a prop that signaled confidence, appetite, a refusal to be managed. Then Plummer slides in the real charge: “insulting his guests.” That’s not reported as a flaw but as performance, a kind of aggressive choreography that turns the interview into a contest Wallace intends to win.

“Wonderfully evil and charming too” is where Plummer’s actor brain shows. He’s reading Wallace the way you’d read a great villain: the pleasure comes from transgression contained inside craft. “Evil” is obviously not literal; it’s a compliment to Wallace’s willingness to weaponize politeness, to poke where it hurts while maintaining the sheen of professionalism. Plummer’s subtext is that American television rewards this mix of menace and magnetism: the host as moral enforcer, the audience as accomplice, the guest as sacrificial offering. Wallace’s charm doesn’t soften the cruelty; it sells it.