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Monday, July 10 at 8 p.m.
Repeating Sunday, July 16 at 2:30 p.m.
and Sunday, September 10 at 2:30 p.m.
Leading Man offers fresh, rare insights about the man who has
been called "Canada's preeminent actor" and "the world's greatest living
classical actor."
The documentary follows Hutt through his much-publicized last season at
the Stratford Festival in 2005, as he played Prospero in Shakespeare's The
Tempest. As a confluence of biography and artistic profile, Leading
Man shows Hutt musing as much about the nature of his craft as the
events of his life.
Throughout his 57 years on the stage, Hutt has been especially modest, some
might say guarded about his personal life. In the film's especially candid
moments, Hutt discusses those topics he typically avoids - his family, his
war experience, his most difficult acting roles - revealing a life story
entwined with rich cultural histories, the story of the rise of Canadian
Theatre, as well as touching personal moments.
Hutt won the Military Medal for his service with the medical corps during
the Second World War. He also had a tumultuous relationship with his conservative
parents over the issue of his sexuality.
In the late 1940s, Hutt was one of many soon-to-be famous actors involved
with the Hart House Theatre community at the University of Toronto. He was
later cast in the first season of the Stratford Festival in 1953, when performances
were staged in a tent because the theatre hadn't yet to be built. In the
decades that followed, he became the resident star of the Festival, appearing
in more of Shakespeare's plays than Alec Guinness or Sir Lawrence Olivier.
Executive Producer Richard Neilsen says "Hutt's consistent risk-taking indicated
to me extraordinary courage. As a young man he was openly gay at a time
when being openly gay was a very dangerous identity. He shunned violence,
but he volunteered as a medic in the Second World War, and he later won
the Military Medal for his services; and, this I found most fascinating:
he committed to a career in theatre when such a thing as the "Canadian Theatre"
simply did not exist."
The documentary also features interviews with the legendary Christopher
Plummer, and director Norman Jewison as well as Hutt's family and friends.
Together they reflect on the events of Hutt's life, "even the ones," says
Director Joel Gordon, "that Hutt doesn't much like talking about."
Links
The
Tao of Bill: CBC.ca Arts and Entertainment
William
Hutt takes final bow: CBC.ca Arts
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