Our Bill breaks a leg
Montreal’s own William Shatner was making headlines for his acting chops 50 years ago this month. According to the online Canadian Encyclopedia, it was the year of his big break, “when he replaced Christopher Plummer on three hours’ notice in the role of Henry V, after Plummer was hospitalized.” (Plummer — who grew up in Montreal, attending the High School of Montreal — now called MIND High FACE, an arts-intensive public school (thanks for the correction, Kate M) — and learned his craft here, had made his big splash two years before in New York.)
You’ve got to hand it to him: he did very well for himself over the years — a Golden Globe award, a couple of Emmys (as well as three Emmy nominations in ‘06), plus his induction into the Television Hall of Fame. And he’s still going strong.
This Canadian Press item comes from the Montreal Herald, Wednesday, August 1, 1956.
His co-recipient of a 1956 Guthrie Award, Marie Day, is the daughter of a former Toronto mayor. She won for costume design. She is also a published author of children’s fiction.
Fittingly, the man who handed out the awards — Vincent Massey, who was the first Canadian-born vice-regal (i.e., the ceremonial representative of the British monarch to Canada) — just happened to be the brother of Raymond Massey, one of Canada’s greatest movie stars.
Tyrone Guthrie (after whom the award was named) was a pretty interesting chap, too. A legend of the British stage, he accepted an unlikely posting to Canada and helped build the Stratford festival into one of the world’s great Shakespearean attractions.
1950s drama montreal Montreal history Montreal Repertory Theatre movie stars MRT Quebec culture stage theatre1950s drama montreal Montreal history Montreal Repertory Theatre movie stars MRT Quebec culture stage theatre
The High School of Montreal became FACE, not MIND. I think MIND’s up on St-Urbain near Beauty’s. I know a few people whose kids went to FACE and it’s the one down on University.
Right you are. Text now reflects reality.
There’s another guy in Montreal named William Shatner. I think he’s a distant relative of the real William Shatner. Apparently the real Shatner grew up at the building on the southwest corner of Monkland and Girouard (on the Girouard side, it’s some kinda medical clinic nowadays). Anwyay it’d be interesting to note who taught Shatner to act, whoever would get the blame for that one? I think the real gem if you could find it would be a newspaper mention of Burt Bacharach, if there is one from the time he lived in Montreal and went to McGill. Very little is known about that formative time in the great composers career and I’ve heard a few rumours.