Download It was with great sadness that the Stratford

PRESS RELEASE
43/09
Stratford Shakespeare Festival mourns the loss
of theatre pioneer Douglas Campbell
October 7, 2009… It was with great sadness that the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, its
staff, company and crew learned of the death of Douglas Campbell, a founding member
of the Festival’s acting company and a pioneer in Canadian theatre. Mr. Campbell died
Tuesday in hospital in Montreal at the age of 87.
Mr. Campbell performed for more than 60 years. Twenty-five of those were at Stratford,
where between 1953 and 2001 he played more than 50 roles, and was involved in 25
more productions as a director, fight arranger and choreographer.
His loss is deeply felt amongst all those who worked with him.
“Douglas Campbell was one of the true giants in the history of this institution. He was
one of our pioneers and a force behind the resident theatre movement in North America
from its very beginnings. He had many talents as a theatre artist but, most of all, he was
the quintessential classical actor,” said Artistic Director Des McAnuff.
Said General Director Antoni Cimolino: “Douglas Campbell was not only a member of
our first company, he was a life force. He had an enormous passion for the theatre, and
especially for the Stratford Festival. Douglas was an iconoclast who never feared to speak
truth to power. In many ways over the years Douglas was our conscience. His influence
on theatre in Canada was seminal. We have lost a great champion and a dear friend of the
theatre.”
Mr. Campbell was born in Glasgow on June 11, 1922, and began acting professionally
when he was still in his teens. In 1941, at age 19, he appeared with Sir Lewis Casson and
Dame Sybil Thorndike in the Old Vic Theatre's touring productions of Medea and
Jacob’s Ladder.
In 1953, Tyrone Guthrie lured him to Canada for the inaugural season of the Stratford
Shakespearean Festival, offering him the parts of Parolles in All’s Well That Ends Well
and Hastings in Richard III. Over the following few years he received great acclaim for
his portrayals of Oedipus Rex, Othello, Falstaff, Sir Toby Belch and Henry VIII – the
early highlights of a triumphant career.
In 1954 Mr. Campbell co-founded the Canadian Players, a touring company that brought
professional theatre to all regions of the country and into the U.S.
In the years that followed, he acted for every major theatre in Canada. He starred on
Broadway in Paddy Chayefsky’s Gideon and directed the Broadway production of Orson
Welles's adaptation of Moby Dick. He performed at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, the
Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, the Chicago Lyric Opera and the Guthrie Theatre in
Minneapolis, where he was also artistic director. In the late 1970s he took on the title role
in CBC-TV’s The Great Detective, once again entertaining Canadians from coast to
coast.
He returned to the Festival many times, playing such roles as William Blake in Blake
(1983), King Lear (1985), The Common Man in A Man for All Seasons (1986) and
Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1988) and Falstaff in Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 (2001).
His most recent directing credits at Stratford include Oedipus Rex (1997), Julius Caesar
(1998) and The Alchemist (1999). In 1998, Mr. Campbell moved to Montreal, where he
continued acting until his death.
In summing up his career for his Stratford biography in 2001, Mr. Campbell noted: “To
name parts played, plays produced, dances danced and songs sung would require a larger
space than I am allowed to fill. Sufficient to say that I've had, and continue to have, a
good life in the theatre, and I hope that I have been able to contribute to it and serve the
public with what talent I have to entertain.”
Mr. Campbell enriched the lives of theatergoers and artists throughout the country and
around the world. He is being honoured by his family, friends and colleagues as they
remember his impact on their lives. A memorial celebration is being planned.
Mr. Campbell was predeceased by his first wife Ann Casson in 1990. He leaves his wife,
Moira Wylie, his children, Dirk, Teresa, Thomas, Benedict, Beatrice and Torquil, eight
grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and another on the way.
Statement from Christopher Plummer
“Douglas, that proud and warlike Campbell who fought so valiantly in defense of
theatrical integrity, is gone. And with his passing, gone too is a great part of my youth
when he showed me what discipline meant and gave me the moral support I needed so
desperately. A rebellious fugitive from the venerable Glasgow Citizens Company, he was
brought to this country by Tyrone Guthrie in the early fifties and like a true pioneer
Douglas did more for the growing up of professional theatre in Canada coast to coast than
almost anyone I can think of. As a lover of the night he always managed to outlast any
overzealous drinking competitor that dared challenge his capacity. He had a gregarious
soul and a great heart so it is no small wonder that he was the best Falstaff I have ever
seen. Douglas sprang from those Babylon days when the stage was revered and respected
and his own devotion to his art, which he carried with him to the end, shone like a beacon
of hope to anyone eager and wise enough to follow in his path.”
-30PHOTOS OF DOUGLAS CAMPBELL:
http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/imagegallery/imagegallery.aspx?id=3338
For more information contact:
Ann Swerdfager
Media Manager
Stratford Shakespeare Festival
519-271-0055 x2297
[email protected]