In a New Yorker blog post last year, George Plimpton’s son, Taylor, likened his father’s accent to that of “a befuddled, self-deprecating professor.” That voice is one of the main pleasures of the entertaining new documentary “Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself.”
The film evokes a segment of the American cultural scene from the 1950s through the ’70s, though Plimpton worked until his death in 2003. He grew up in New York City with WASP credentials; became the longtime editor of the Paris Review, working with many of the great novelists of the day; contributed to the New Journalism by writing about his experiences as an amateur dipping into various occupations, mostly professional sports (his stint with the Detroit Lions produced a best-selling book and movie, “Paper Lion”); was a close pal of the Kennedys (he was alongside Robert Kennedy when Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, and helped restrain the gunman.)
It’s a life worth remembering.
