Harron's eldest
daughter Martha said her father died on Saturday morning surrounded by family
at his Toronto
TORONTO(CP) — Don
Harron, who entertained generations of Canadians with his comic alter ego
Harron's eldest
daughter Martha said her father died on Saturday morning surrounded by family
at his Toronto
home after choosing not to seek treatment for cancer.
The wit and humour
that landed him roles on CBC radio programs and television variety shows such
as "Hee Haw" continued to define her father to the very end, Martha
Harron said.
"He was still
sharp. He was still capable of being funny even though his voice was barely above
a whisper," she said in a telephone interview from Toronto . "It's horribly sad, but it's
beautiful too."
Harron was born
Donald Hugh Harron in Toronto
on 19 September 1924 and, according to his own accounts in past
interviews, got his start in show business at an early age.
Harron said he
began his career as a cartoonist drawing caricatures of people at banquets in
the 30s before landing an audition for CBC radio.
Harron's
granddaughter, freelance journalist Zoe Cormier, said Harron's intellectual
passions nearly led him down a very different career path than the one that
made him famous.
His passion for
philosophy won him scholastic awards at the University of Toronto
"He's one of
the few people that I would describe as a true polymath," Cormier said.
"Anything he ever put his hand to he excelled at."
Harron's acting
career saw him take on roles on stages from London
to Stratford ,
Ont., but the character for which he's best remembered stemmed from a very
different type of experience.
Charlie
Farquharson, a fictitious folksy story teller from Parry Sound, Ont. who poked
fun at almost anything Canadian, became a cult classic that lasted decades.
Harron said a stint
working on an Ontario
farm inspired him to create the character in 1952.
"It took me 10
years really to bring it fully out in the open, to come out of the closet, Harron
recalled in a 1977 CBC interview.
The Farquharson
character debuted on CBC's "The Big Review," but went on to make
regular appearances on the U.S.
variety show "Hee Haw."
But Harron's most
celebrated work was accomplished behind the scenes when he helped create the
musical version of "Anne of Green Gables," the Lucy Maud Montgomery
classic about a red-haired orphan living on Prince Edward Island .
Harron joined
forces with Norman and Elaine Campbell and Mavor Moore to turn the beloved
novel into a CBC television production in 1955.
Harron told the
Canadian Press that he didn't have to dig deep for inspiration when Norman
Campbell approached him about a collaboration.
"I said I'd
been reading a book to my kids called 'Anne of Green Gables' and it seems to me
that this little girl has such an imagination that the only way you can really
realize it would be in song," Harron recalled in a 2014 interview.
Nine years later,
the team adapted the television version into one for the stage.
The play has been
performed for more than 50 consecutive years at the Charlottetown Festival, a
fact Harron sees as a stroke of good fortune.
"To have a
theatre that will do it every year, that's luck," he said.
Cormier said her
grandfather was drawn to projects about strong Canadian women, adding he also
collaborated on a musical about artist Emily Carr entitled "The Wonder of
it All."
Cormier said Harron
enjoyed capturing a "celebration of the female mind," adding his
patriotism was also a driving artistic force.
"Canada is constantly riddled with being
perceived as America 's
little sibling, but we've had some really unique, really beautiful products. He
really wanted . . . to bring that alive."
Harron's career
also included a five-year stint as host of CBC Radio's "Morningside,"
the show later helmed by Peter Gzowski.
In recent years
Harron lent his talents to a campaign to persuade other seniors to consider
using canes and walkers to help keep them steady on their feet. He used his
Charlie alter-ego in a postcard campaign showing him using a cane, scooter and
walker, urging other seniors to "Get over bein' an old fogey! Get a
handle
on life."
Harron is survived
by his partner Claudette Gareau and his three daughters, some of whom have followed
him into show business.
Mary Harron has
earned acclaim as the director of such movies as "American Psycho,"
and Kelly Harron is working to turn the "Anne of Green Gables"
musical into a film.
