Sometimes when I go to the theatre or watch a movie or TV show, I get the sense that truly great performances are a thing of the past. Will there ever be another Laurence Olivier or John Gielgud? There was a sense of grandeur to their presence, on stage or onscreen, that is no longer fashionable. One of their contemporaries has now also left us. William Hutt, considered Canada’s greatest classical actor, died today in Stratford, Ontario at the age of 87.
As a young man he served as a medic during World War II and was even decorated for bravery. He described how the horrors he saw on the battlefield taught him a lesson about the preciousness of the human soul and he felt it affected every role he played from that point onwards. He was brave enough to be an openly gay man in a generation where that simply was not done.
He was an actor and a person I admired. I wish I could have met him.
Here is a link to CBC’s story today about him.
