Coming from a broken family, Henry
has spent her life looking for a family of her own both on
and off the stage. Actor William Hutt, her co-star most
recently in the critically acclaimed Long Day's Journey Into
Night, describes the experience of working with her, and his
anger when Henry was fired as one of a team of artistic directors
at the Stratford Festival during the 1980s. Henry herself
explains that this devastating period in her life was like
the "death of someone you love" and says she learned from
that point onward that "you cannot turn the theatre into your
family - a theatre is where you work."
We hear from her admiring long-time friend Diana LeBlanc
who has directed Henry in many productions and seen her through
three marriages. Henry talks frankly about her marriages
including challenges that she and her present husband, actor
Rod Beattie are trying to work through, even now.
Seen in rare archival photographs and film taken of various
tour de force performances including Death of a Salesman and
The Glass Menagerie, the film explores Henry's techniques
for acting and character development. Henry has been
the recipient of numerous awards including the Governor General's
Award, the World Theatre Award, two Geminis, four Genies,
six honourary doctorates and the Order of Canada. In
addition to her remarkable acting talent, she also spent seven
successful years as Artistic Director for the Grand Theatre
in London, Ontario.
Original Air Date - October 26, 1997
Links
Martha
Henry (from Northern Stars)
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