IN 1978, I WAS A TOO-SERIOUS 18-year-old with a troubled home life chasing my acting dream. I'd performed in high school productions of Shakespeare, but my only TV experience was in a McHappy Day commercial, so I was thrilled when I was cast as Tess, one of five Irish girls in the CBC's A Gift to Last, starring Gordon Pinsent.
Gift was a three-season drama set in 1900, in the fictional town of Tamarack, Ontario. Gordon played the roguish Sergeant Edgar Sturgess, and his romantic interest, the Irish housemaid Sheila, had brought the girls from Ireland to work in town. We shot interior scenes in the CBC studios and exteriors in Kleinburg. On our first day, the Irish girls were led onto a soundstage where Gordon was in the middle of a scene. I was star-struck. He thrust out his hand and introduced himself warmly. He never assumed that anyone would or should know who he was.
On set, Gordon led by example: focused yet playful when the cameras were rolling, loose and cheerful between takes. Before a big scene, he would say in a stage whisper, "Okay, everyone, lick your lips and tense up!" Later, at the Celebrity Club, an actors' haunt on Jarvis Street, we gathered around him. He regaled us with stories of his years in Hollywood, starring in The Thomas Crown Affair and Colossus: The Forbin Project. Often, he'd crack himself up until tears streamed down his face.
Denne historien er fra May 2023-utgaven av Toronto Life.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra May 2023-utgaven av Toronto Life.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Marital Arts
Three Toronto couples who celebrated their nuptials in spectacular fashion
Strings Attached
Country music's barrier-busting cowboy Orville Peck is tearing through 2024 with a new album, new collabs and a new outlook on life
On Thin Ice
As a competitive hockey player, I dreamed of playing professionally. When I lost my leg to bone cancer, I thought it spelled the end of my career
SCATTER Brain
Five years ago, hardly anyone was talking about adult ADHD. Now it's all over social media, and self-diagnosis is rampant. How a complex neurological condition became the new superpower
THE BATTLE FOR Leslieville
Last summer, when a stray bullet killed a young mother near the South Riverdale supervised consumption site, it sparked a vicious fight between area residents. One year later, tensions are high, neither side will back down and the opioid crisis rages on
WHO EARNS WHAT
Groceries, rent, inflation, shrinkflationToronto has never been more expensive. What better time than now to obsess over other people's incomes?
There will be blood
Bedbugs are-no exaggeration-everywhere in Toronto: our libraries, offices, schools, hospitals, hotels, transit and homes. Inside the always expensive, often traumatic, probably futile battle to eradicate the bloodsucking parasites that are ruining our lives
Work Less, Live More
The 40-hour workweek sucks. Ambition is overrated. Life is short. Confessions from the new and intentionally underemployed labour force
Dinner, Party
Four resto-clubs where you can fuel up then boogie down-all without leaving the premises
Urban Diplomat
One of my friends has started policing strangers' social lives online. If he overhears people gossiping, he'll whip out his phone and surreptitiously record.