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William Hutt, king of the Canadian stage

Broadcast Date: Jan. 31, 1962

Does a 41-year-old actor have the maturity and experience to play a convincing King Lear? William Hutt is prepared to try as the Stratford Festival prepares for its tenth season. In this 1962 clip from CBC Television, the versatile, baritone-voiced Hutt identifies the challenge in Shakespeare's tragic patriarch: "I believe that Lear is, in some respects, the longest death scene ever written."

William Hutt, king of the Canadian stage

• Born in Toronto, Hutt began acting while in university with the Hart House Theatre at the University of Toronto. After serving as a medic in the Second World War he returned to Canada for a career on the stage, joining the Canadian Repertory Theatre in Ottawa. He was at the Stratford Festival for its first season in 1953, and performed there almost every season until his death. In 1964 he performed on Broadway in the Edward Albee play Tiny Alice.

• Hutt's roles over the years were the envy of any actor: Shakespearean characters Hamlet, Macbeth, Falstaff, Prospero, Titus Andronicus and, on four occasions, Lear. In 1975 he donned drag to play Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

• In this clip, Hutt tells host Alan Millar that even though Lear is old – about 90 – any actor portraying Lear should be under age 55 because the role requires a lot of energy. In 1996, at age 76, he performed as Lear for the fourth time in his career.

• In a 1978 appearance on CBC's Canada After Dark, Hutt described playing Lear at Stratford during the final game of the 1972 Summit Series. The theatre was full of anxious high-school students who could think only of hockey, and the actors had a TV backstage. As a climactic scene finished, Hutt put the students out of their misery by shouting: "Canada won six to five!" The theatre erupted.

• Though Hutt was renowned for his work on the stage, he also performed in feature films and television. His performance as Sir John A. Macdonald in CBC's The National Dream won him an ACTRA award for best actor. One of many fan letters for Hutt began: "All the drunkards in our village just worship you." (Source: Maclean's, June 19, 1995)

• Hutt made his home in Stratford, Ontario, on the bank of the Avon River. The town paid him tribute by naming a bridge after him: the William Hutt Bridge crosses Lake Victoria, a widened section of the Avon River at the centre of Stratford.
• As The Tempest's Prospero, Hutt was immortalized in a Canada Post stamp issued in 1999 to celebrate the Stratford Festival.

• In 1969 Hutt was made a Companion of the Order of Canada for his contribution to Canadian theatre.
• At age 84 Hutt was still acting, playing Vladimir in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot with Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre.
• Hutt, who had leukemia, died in Stratford on June 27, 2007. He was 87.

William Hutt, king of the Canadian stage

Medium: Television

Program: 701

Broadcast Date: Jan. 31, 1962

Guest(s): William Hutt

Host: Alan Millar

Duration: 9:09

Last updated:
Feb. 28, 2008