Gordon Pinsent

Gordon Pinsent
Born	July 12, 1930 (1930-07-12) (age 79) Grand Falls, Newfoundland and Labrador
Years active	1962 - Present
Spouse(s)	Charmion King (1962-2007 - her death)

Gordon Edward Pinsent, CC, FRSC (born July 12, 1930) is a Canadian television, theatre and film actor.

Biography

Early life

Pinsent, the youngest of six children, was born in Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland and Labrador, the son of Flossie (née Cooper) and Stephen Arthur Pinsent, a papermill worker and cobbler.^[1] His mother was "quiet spoken" and a religious Anglican; the family was descended from immigrants from Kent and Devon in England.^[2][3] He was an "awkward child"^[3] who suffered from rickets.^[2]

Pinsent began acting on stage in the 1940s at the age of 17. He soon took on roles in radio drama on the CBC, and later moved into television and film as well. In the early 1950s, he took a break from acting and joined the Canadian Army, serving for approximately four years as a Private in The Royal Canadian Regiment.

Career

During the early years of his career he appeared in Scarlett Hill but was best known for co-starring in the CBC children's series The Forest Rangers in the early 1960s. Later television roles have included the series Quentin Durgens, M.P., A Gift to Last (which he created), The Red Green Show, Due South, Wind at My Back and Power Play. The pilot episode of A Gift to Last was adapted for the stage by Walter Learning and Alden Nowlan and has become a perennial Canadian Christmas favourite in regional theatres across the country.

Pinsent's movie roles have included Lydia, The Rowdyman, Who Has Seen the Wind, "Blacula", John and the Missus, The Shipping News and Away from Her. He wrote the screenplays for The Rowdyman and John and the Missus. Perhaps his best known early film role was that of the President of the United States in the 1970 science fiction cult classic Colossus: The Forbin Project. He starred in a role called Horse Latitudes based upon Donald Crowhurst, now featured in Deep Water

In 1979 he was made an officer of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Companion in 1998. In 2006, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.^[4] On March 6, 2007, it was announced that Pinsent would receive a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.

On March 8, 2007, it was publicly announced in Toronto, Canada, that Pinsent had accepted the appointment of Honorary Chairman of the "Building for the Future".^[5] fundraising campaign for The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum.^[6]

During the 2008 summer period of CBC Radio One, Pinsent presented a radio documentary series called the The Late Show about the lives of notable deceased Canadians whom the producers believed deserved attention.

Personal life

Pinsent married actress Charmion King in 1962, and they were married until her death on January 6, 2007 from emphysema; their daughter, Leah Pinsent, is an actress. Pinsent also has two children from an earlier marriage.

His autobiography, By the Way, was published in 1992. He has also written a number of stage plays and television screenplays. In 1997 he won the Earl Grey Award.

Health

On the evening of September 11, 2006, at the Toronto International Film Festival, Pinsent collapsed while attending an after party, celebrating the opening of Away from Her, at Harry Rosen's on Bloor Street. He was conscious as he was transferred into an ambulance.^[7] He was diagnosed as dehydrated and stayed in the hospital overnight before returning home to rest.^[8]

Awards

Pinsent received an LL.D from the University of Prince Edward Island in 1975, and Honorary doctorates from Queen's University, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and Lakehead University (2008).

It was on July 12th, 2005, in his hometown of Grand Falls-Windsor, and in honor of his 75th birthday, that the Arts & Culture Center was renamed The Gordon Pinsent Centre for the Arts.

On September 25th, at a “Newfoundland and Labrador Inspired Evening” at The Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto, the Company Theatre presented Mr. Pinsent with the inaugural Gordon Pinsent Award of Excellence.

Filmography

Television series

• 1962-1964: Scarlett Hill
• 1963-1965: The Forest Rangers
• 1966-1969: Quentin Durgens, M.P.
• 1969: Adventures in Rainbow Country
• 1974: The Play's The Thing
• 1978-1979: A Gift to Last
• 1989: Babar
• 1991-2006: The Red Green Show
• 1993 Street Legal
• 1994-1997: Due South
• 1996: Wind at My Back
• 1998: Made In Canada
• 1998-2000: Power Play

Television specials and movies

• 1969: Quarantined (TV movie)
• 1972: Incident on a Dark Street
• 1979: The Suicide's Wife
• 1981: Escape from Iran: The Canadian Caper
• 1982: The Life and Times of Edwin Alonzo Boyd
• 1984: A Case of Libel
• 1988: Two Men
• 1993: Bonds of Love
• 1993: In the Eyes of the Stranger
• 1995: A Vow to Kill
• 1996: A Holiday for Love
• 1999: Win, Again!
• 2000: Jewel On The Hill (narrator)
• 2001: Blind Terror
• 2002: The New Beachcombers
• 2003: Fallen Angel (TV movie)
• 2003: Hemingway vs Callaghan
• 2004: H20: The Last Prime Minister
• 2006: Yours, Al
• 2009: Corner Gas
• 2010: The Pillars of the Earth

Movies

• 1964: Lydia
• 1968: The Thomas Crown Affair
• 1969: Colossus: The Forbin Project
• 1972: Blacula
• 1972: Chandler
• 1972: The Rowdyman
• 1974: The Heatwave Lasted Four Days
• 1974: Newman's Law
• 1974: Only God Knows
• 1976: Blackwood (narrator)
• 1977: Who Has Seen the Wind
• 1980: Klondike Fever
• 1981: Silence of the North
• 1987: John and the Missus
• 1989: Babar: The Movie (voice)
• 1990: Blood Clan
• 1997: Pale Saints
• 1997: Pippi Longstocking (voice)
• 1999: The Old Man and the Sea (voice)
• 2001: The Shipping News
• 2002: A Promise
• 2003: Nothing
• 2003: Snow on the Skeleton Key
• 2004: The Good Shepherd
• 2004: Saint Ralph
• 2006: Away from Her

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gordon Pinsent

• Canadian Film Encyclopedia [A publication of The Film Reference Library/a division of the Toronto International Film Festival Group]
• Gordon Pinsent at the Internet Movie Database
• Northern Stars: Gordon Pinsent