William Needles
| George William Needles, CM, LLD | |
|---|---|
William Needles in 2012
|
|
| Born |
January 2, 1919 Yonkers, New York |
| Died | January 12, 2016 (aged 97) Alliston, Ontario |
| Residence |
Stratford, Ontario Mono, Ontario |
| Nationality | American, Canadian |
| Alma mater |
Kitchener Collegiate Institute Goodman School of Drama |
| Occupation | Actor and teacher |
| Years active | 1940–2006 |
| Spouse(s) | Dorothy-Jane Goulding (m. 1946) |
George William Needles CM, LL.D (January 2, 1919 – January 12, 2016) was an American-born Canadian actor and teacher.
Critic Harry Lane praised his performances for their "apparently effortless intellectual and moral authority, combined with ironic playfulness and rich vocal sensitivity."
Raised in Kitchener, Ontario, his father, Ira Needles, was president of B.F. Goodrich Canada, a founder (and later chancellor) of the University of Waterloo, and a founder of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
Needles later said he chose acting "out of desperation" as a way to avoid going to business school, and so his father, after lecturing him on the pitfalls of the acting profession, insisted that he get the best training possible and sent him to the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago.
Needles joined the United States Army in 1943 and saw active service in the Pacific, first with the 7th Infantry Division in the Aleutian Islands Campaign in August of that year, and later with the New York 27th Infantry as a chaplain's assistant, taking part in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. In the latter campaign, he recalled focusing on soliloquies from Hamlet and Henry V to keep his sanity.
After the war, he returned to Canada to perform in Toronto, first in radio drama and then television.
A member of the acting company of the Stratford Festival since its inception in 1953, he has appeared in over one hundred roles with the company, among which are Albany in King Lear (1964 and 1972); the Duke of Venice in The Merchant of Venice (1996); the White King in Alice Through the Looking Glass (1996); the Lord Mayor in Richard III (1997); the Shepherd in Oedipus Rex (1997); Merriman in The Importance of Being Earnest (2000); Mortimer in Henry VI: Revenge in France (2002). Beginning with the Festival under Sir Tyrone Guthrie, he acted under eight artistic directors over the years. He has also appeared in over twenty motion pictures, including the CBC's Macbeth as Banquo opposite Sean Connery in the title role.
...
Wikipedia