Walter Plimmer

Walter John Plimmer Jr. was born on November 22, 1900, in Brooklyn, New York, to theatrical producer Walter Plimmer Sr. and actress Rose Linden. The oldest of three children, Plimmer grew up immersed in the theater world through his family's professional involvement in the industry. He attended Army-Navy Prep School in Washington, D.C., and graduated from St. Francis College in Brooklyn.

Plimmer built a career as an American vaudeville actor and performer, appearing on Broadway between 1926 and 1927. His verified Broadway credits include Ten Per Cent and The Home Towners. Additional productions he was associated with during his time in the business included The Gorilla and Murray Hill. Among the performers he worked alongside were George M. Cohan, John Boles, Pat O'Brien, Miriam Hopkins, Eddie Dowling, and Fred Allen. His only recorded film appearance was in Isn't Life Wonderful (1924), in which he played the American. During the 1920s, he also traveled to Birmingham to act, and in 1929 he returned home to attend his mother's funeral while in the midst of a production.

Following the conclusion of his acting career, Plimmer pursued a vocation in the Roman Catholic priesthood and was ordained on May 26, 1934. He celebrated his first Mass at St. Malachy's, the actors' chapel in Manhattan. By 1943, he was listed in the official directory as a U.S. Army Chaplain, with a designation indicating membership in the Society of St. Sulpice. In August 1944, he officiated his father's funeral. He received a diocesan assignment in Trenton in 1944 and served at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore for one year beginning in 1946. He later appeared in records as a priest of the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio, suggesting he had departed his religious order. Plimmer was suspended from ministry in 1956, after which he performed missionary work in California, New Mexico, and Arizona.

In December 1963, Plimmer returned home to pursue publication of his autobiography, titled The Taste of Ashes. He fell ill shortly thereafter and died on September 16, 1968.