Flags fly at half-mast at the National Arts Centre in honour of legendary actor Douglas Campbell
October 07, 2009
Ottawa (Canada) -- It was with great sadness the National Arts Centre (NAC) today learned of the death of actor Douglas Campbell, one of the greatest icons of the Canadian stage.
Douglas Campbell, who was 87, was the 2003 Winner of the Governor General’s Award for lifetime achievement in the performing arts and a founding member of the Stratford Festival of Canada.
Mr. Campbell had deep roots with the NAC going back to his time on the theatre advisory committee that established the Centre’s English Theatre Department in the mid-sixties and later as part of the NAC’s resident theatre company. Mr. Campbell performed many times at the National Arts Centre over the last four decades in such notable productions as Mother Courage (1980) and Loot (1980) with his son Benedict. Mr. Campbell’s last two NAC English Theatre productions were The Vaudevilles of Chekhov in 2003 and Hamlet in 2004.
“Theatre in Canada owes much to Douglas Campbell,” said Peter Hinton, NAC English Theatre Artistic Director. “His voice and larger-than-life personality have reached beyond the back row of most of our country’s major theatres. Our sympathies go out to his family.”
From the first time he set foot on the stage at the age of five, Douglas Campbell proved to be an artist of outstanding power, dedication and integrity. Throughout his long career, Mr. Campbell has never stopped working to make the theatre better. He arrived in Canada from his native Scotland more than 50 years ago to take a lead role in one of this country’s most significant theatrical experiment, the inaugural season at Stratford. In 1954, he and Tom Patterson co-founded The Canadian Players, an institution that continues to have a significant influence for both the NAC and Canadian theatre.
His career at Stratford is notable for more that 50 roles, including the celebrated 1954 production of Oedipus Rex and his later definitive interpretations of Falstaff and Lear.
Flags at the NAC are at half-mast in honour of Douglas Campbell.
- 30 -
For more information, please contact:
Carl Martin
Communications
National Arts Centre
613-947-7000, ext. 560
613-291-8880 (cell)
