Silver Hair and Golden Voice: Austin Willis, from Halifax to Hollywood

by Ernest Dick, Costas Halavrezos (Foreword by), Ron Foley MacDonald (Afterword)

Overview

Over his extensive career, Halifax-born film, television, and radio performer Austin Willis worked with luminaries from Orson Welles and Peter Sellers to a young William Shatner (his subordinate in CBC's Space Command—precursor to Star Trek). He bested Goldfinger at cards—with help from Sean Connery's James Bond—and with his prematurely white hair, he became the debonair, wry host of the 1970s CBC-TV quiz show, This Is The Law.

Through his formidable personal library, his insatiable curiosity, and his conversations with the man himself, oral historian and archivist Ern Dick has brought the voice of Austin Willis to life in the memoir Willis wanted to write—but didn't, because he never stopped performing.

Featuring a foreword by former CBC Radio personality Costas Halavrezos, afterword by arts and culture commentator Ron Foley MacDonald, and dozens of photos that highlight Willis's greatest moments of stage, screen, and airwaves, Silver Hair and Golden Voice offers a unique perspective on the life of one of Canada's most overlooked stars.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771088527
Publisher:	Nimbus Publishing
Publication date:	10/19/2020
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Ernest J. Dick lives in Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia. His archival career has focussed on Canada's audio-visual heritage, first at the National Archives of Canada, then the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Read an Excerpt

Toronto Beckons

Once I got to Toronto I immediately got myself into radio drama, as this new world offered dozens of possibilities in those days. Everything the CBC sent to any competition invariably won and it was very difficult to get in as a young, relatively inexperienced actor.

Radio drama was also terrifying because it was broadcast live in those days—but at least we had our scripts in front of us. In rehearsal, directors would get you to do a scene over and over again. You would often do things you didn't know you could do. An actor named John Drainie gave me advice one day that I have never forgotten. We were rehearsing a fight scene and I knew I just wasn't getting it to sound right for radio. Drainie said, "Aust—you are not making any pictures. For every word that I speak on radio I make pictures in my mind. It's in colour, and that seems to get it off the page."

How I Started the Second World War

Shortly after I moved to Toronto to work for CBC Radio, I got blamed for starting the war. CBL was the "anchor" station for the network, because we broadcast news to the whole country. One day, I happened to be sitting in the CBL booth as we were playing "Smoke Gets in your Eyes." Someone came running in wild-eyed from the newsroom and handed me a piece of paper. I broke in and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen: I interrupt this program and bring you a special bulletin—Canada has declared war on Nazi Germany."

As required when announcing a bulletin of this importance, I read it a second time.

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I interrupt this program and bring you a special bulletin—Canada has declared war on Nazi Germany."

After making this grave declaration, I returned to regular programming. On this day, unfortunately, it meant listeners digesting the ominous news were served up an utterly ridiculous but popular novelty tune: "Inka Dinka Doo." (The Financial Post later reported that "incredible stupidity had been shown by Canada's state-owned broadcasting...with no sense of the sober gravity" that the announcement warranted.)

From that time on, I appeared in books as having started the war.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Chapter 1: Growing up in Halifax with "Brother Frank"
An Explosive Infancy
The Bite of the Acting Bug
My One-Night Wrestling Career
Dancer or Target
Radio Waves and Waves on Radio

Chapter 2: Going to Toronto—and Going to War
Toronto Beckons
How I Started the Second World War
Ducks, Banjos, Hockey Rinks, and Celebrities
Out of the Booth and Into Uniform
To Jump or Not to Jump
My War

Chapter 3: Inventing Film for Canada—or Trying to
Flying and Fighting in the Bush / Pioneers and Pilots
The Wages and Litigation of Sin

Chapter 4: Doing Everything and Anything on Radio
Radio Keeps Food on the Table
More than "Just" Mary
Not Exactly Everybody's Teacup

Chapter Five: Inventing Television—or Trying to
What To Do with Television
Madhouse or Hell (Avoid the Cable If You're Able)
Commanding Space
Don't Get Hit on Hit Parade
Hypnotizing the Nation

Chapter Six: On Stage—and Off
Preparing for Television
Friend or Foe
My Best Friend Always
Career Versus Career
Scorpion's Sting
Hazards of Success
Holding it Together

Chapter Seven: Stage and Screen—Away from North America
Roaring Twice on the Same Day
The War That Never Ended
Cigars, Noses, and Love
Cancellation

Chapter Eight: Making It in America—Or Trying To
A Sour Note
Goldfinger and my Golden Wrist
Being a Barbarian or Not (When in Rome, Hold Your Horses)

Chapter Nine: Back to Canada
My Trans-Atlantic Shuffle
Warden of the Plains
A Canadian Cowboy Flick
Playing Hockey on Film
True Confessions
Vaudeville in Kleinberg
Enemies, Neighbours, and Founding Fathers
Diversifying
The Esso Man—Murray Westgate
Commanding the Seaway

Chapter Ten: Go Big—or Stay Home
Foxy Meets Lord Buttons
A Horse and a Hero
The Real Bad Guys
On a Lighter Note
Waiting, and Waiting, and Waiting
Around Town
Clint's Turtle, Fred

Chapter Eleven: Hollywood Was a Mistake
Leaving Hollywood and Going Fishing
Back to Canada
Being a Target—Again
Maintaining the Law

Chapter Twelve: Who's Austin Willis?
Coming Home
Final Confessions
Goodbye

Epilogue: Austin Willis Comes to Granville Ferry
Afterword by Ron Foley Macdonald
Timeline
Acknowledgements