Our Bill breaks a leg
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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
She was born rich and endured her share of tragedy — she lost her only two brothers to the Great War. She was courageous enough to drive an ambulance in World War I. Injured, she returned home, never married, and was the last member of the pioneering Allan shipping clan. Today, the home she grew up in — Ravenscrag — is occupied by the Allan Memorial Hospital. Miss Allan lived in the coach house for many years and held lively meetings with theatre types, sinking her energy, money, connections and passion into the task of building a vital theatre industry in Montreal. She was synonymous with the Montreal Repertory Theatre (guys like William Shatner and Christoher Plummer passed through that outfit). She largely laid the groundwork for a great national theatre scene.