KNEEBONE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-11-19 published
New Zealand comedian found fame in Canada
Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - Page R7
Toronto -- Comic actor Tom
KNEEBONE died in a Toronto hospital
on Saturday after suffering a heart attack. He was 71.
Mr. KNEEBONE, who was from Auckland, New Zealand, performed at
Ontario's Stratford and Shaw Festivals, as well as on Broadway
and at London's Old Vic.
After he came to North America in 1963, many critics remarked
on his expressive features. New York Times writer Walter Kerr
once wrote: "His eyes are all right, but I think his nose is
crossed."
In Toronto, he appeared in shows like Oh, Coward! and That Hamilton
Woman.
Recently, he had been working with the Smile Theatre Company,
writing and directing plays for senior-citizen centres. Canadian
Press
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KNEEBONE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-12-01 published
'Curtain up, laugh, laugh, laugh, curtain down'
Versatile comic actor appeared in a string of hit revues, as
well as at the Shaw and Stratford festivals, in London and on
Broadway
By Allison
LAWLOR,
Special to The Globe and Mail Monday, December
1, 2003 - Page R7
At the mere mention of his name some people would just start
giggling. In fact, wherever the wonderfully comic actor Tom
KNEEBONE
went there was laughter. He loved not only to make other people
laugh but also to let out his own deep laugh, which Friends say
seemed to start in his gut and make its way up through his body,
gathering force as it went.
"Tom could make me laugh longer and harder than anyone else,"
said Gary KRAWFORD, a long-time friend who first worked with
him in the mid-1960s. "He was without a doubt the funniest man
I've ever met in my life."
Mr. KNEEBONE, who has been described by some critics as one of
the world's top cabaret performers, died in a Toronto hospital
on November 15 after suffering a heart attack and other complications.
He was 71.
The versatile performer appeared for many years at the Shaw Festival
and the Stratford Festival of Canada, where during the 1976 season
he played Puck opposite Jessica
TANDY in A Midsummer Night's
Dream. He also performed at London's Old Vic, the Charlottetown
Festival and
on Broadway. He was a guest with the Canadian Opera
Company and the National Ballet of Canada, a company he greatly
admired.
Toronto audiences may remember him best for the string of hit
revues he performed with Dinah
CHRISTIE, which included Ding
Dong at the Dell, The Apple Tree and
Oh Coward! "I was absolutely
in awe of the man," Ms.
CHRISTIE said, recalling the first time
they performed together 38 years ago.
They developed an enduring partnership that resulted in appearances
across the country performing everywhere from cabarets to big
concert halls with symphony orchestras. In Toronto, they performed
together at Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall. Over the years,
working with Mr.
KNEEBONE became like "working with kith and
kin," Ms. CHRISTIE said.
"We made each other laugh," she said, adding that they worked
so well together because they were complete opposites.
While Mr. KNEEBONE was happy living and working in the big city,
Ms. CHRISTIE feels more at home on her farm in rural Ontario
with her animals and open space.
Born in Auckland, New Zealand, on May 12, 1932, Mr.
KNEEBONE
later moved to England to study at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre
School. After graduation, he went with the company on a 1963
North
American tour. When the tour folded in New York, Mr.
KNEEBONE
went out looking for work. He travelled to Toronto and joined
the Crest Theatre Company, where he got a job performing in a
production of She Stoops to Conquer. He later starred with the
Canadian comic actor Barbara
HAMILTON in the hit revue That Hamilton
Woman. The road was paved for him after that and, as he was quoted
as saying, it was 40 years of "curtain up, laugh, laugh, laugh,
curtain down."
Over the years, several critics remarked on Mr.
KNEEBONE's unique
facial features. Walter
KERR in The New York Times once wrote:
"His eyes are all right, but I think his nose is crossed."
In Time magazine, comparisons were made between Mr.
KNEEBONE,
Pinocchio and Charlie Brown. "With leprechaun whimsy, and a pace
as assured as the Dominion Observatory Time Signal, his major
weapon is a wonderfully mobile face that he seems never to have
grown accustomed to. Small wonder," the writer wrote. "His features
might have been drawn by a child. Eyes like silver dollars, a
nose that wobbles to a Pinocchio point, and a mouth tight and
tiny as Charlie Brown's when he is sad."
The moment the sun came up in the morning, Mr.
KNEEBONE was up
and out of bed, opening his curtains and declaring: "Let's get
on with the show," his friend Doug
McCULLOUGH recalled. "You
cannot take the theatre out of Tom," Mr.
McCULLOUGH said. "Tom
was always on stage."
Mr. KNEEBONE was never without a story to tell, whether it was
a tale about the crazy person who gravitated to him on a Toronto
subway or a character he met while performing in a small town.
"Everything had a theatrical dimension," Mr.
McCULLOUGH said.
In recent years, Mr.
KNEEBONE turned his attention toward writing
and directing plays for the Smile Theatre Company. Once again
he and his long-time friend Ms.
CHRISTIE were collaborators.
Together they brought professional theatre to senior citizens'
homes, long-term care facilities and hospitals. Mr.
KNEEBONE
had been the company's artistic director since 1987.
Known for his extensive research, he spent hours combing through
books and old musical recordings at libraries and theatrical
museums collecting information to use in his productions. He
charmed all the librarians at Toronto's public libraries, Ms.
CHRISTIE said.
He loved the process of gathering Canada's little-known stories,
whether it was the tale of a war bride or the country's first
black doctor, and then bringing them to audiences. He also saw
it as a way to give something not only to people whose health
prevented them from getting to the theatre, but to the country
that has accepted him so warmly when he arrived.
Despite his writing and directing, he never stopped performing.
Just weeks before he died, Mr.
KNEEBONE and Ms.
CHRISTIE performed
some of Noël Coward material together for a benefit.
"He was one of the masters of Noël Coward," Mr. Krawford said.
In addition to his stage work, Mr.
KNEEBONE performed in film
and television, including the movies The Luck of Ginger Coffey
and The Housekeeper.
A proud Canadian, Mr.
KNEEBONE was honoured by his adopted country
with the Order of Ontario, and was named a Member of the Order
of Canada in October, 2002.
He leaves his cousin, Robert
GIBSON, in Australia.
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