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William Hutt: Soldier Actor (154)
William Hutt showed that it was possible to be a great classical actor without sacrificing his Canadian accent or cultural identity. His imperishable portraits of Tartuffe, King Lear, Lear's Fool, Feste, Khlestakov, Duke Vincentio, Titus Andronicus, Timon, Argan, Lady Bracknell, James Tyrone, Sr., and Prospero ensured that he will be remembered as long as there is cultural memory. Offstage, he could be charming and witty or moody and oppressively grand. He remained the Duke of "Dark Corners" to many who wished to know him more intimately. In this detailed, probing, and thought-provoking biography, Keith Garebian weaves together Hutt's private and public lives, his most intense conflicts, deepest yearnings and anxieties in order to show how Hutt brought his life to his work and work to his life in a manner that left him vulnerable to wounds of the heart yet open to radical re-invention as an actor.
542 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2017
4 people want to read
About the author
Keith Garebian
36 books5 followersKeith Garebian is a widely published, award-winning freelance literary and theatre critic, biographer, and poet. Among his many awards are the Canadian Authors Association (Niagara Branch) Poetry Award (2009), the Mississauga Arts Award (2000 and 2008), a Dan Sullivan Memorial Poetry Award (2006), and the Lakeshore Arts & Scarborough Arts Council Award for Poetry (2003).
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July 26, 2018
WILLAM HUTT SOLDIER ACTOR by Keith Garebian (Guernica) reviewed by Jeffrey Round
Critic Keith Garebian has illumined the life and career of William Hutt, in print, since his 1988 William Hutt: a Theatre Portrait, followed in 1995 by a collection of essays written by Hutt's colleagues, Masks and Faces, and now with William Hutt: Soldier Actor.
Garebian's assertion is that, despite maintaining a career anchored in Canada for more than five decades, Hutt was one of the greatest actors of his time and comparable to the likes of Laurence Olivier (Garebian's favourite thespian.) Indeed, the consensus of both critics and colleagues is that Hutt was a man too big for his time and place, but who went on to enlarge the scope of both with his considerable talents.
As a biography, Soldier Actor is more than comprehensive, with a dazzling array of photographs and personal documents, including letters and notes on Hutt's craft, some of which Garebian calls "unprinted ramblings" made available only after Hutt's death in 2007 at the age of 82.
As evidenced in many ways in this book, Hutt the man was an individual of notable personal integrity. As a soldier, he went to war and earned a medal of honour without firing a shot. (He was in the medical corps, where his bravery was considered exemplary.) What the war taught him, Hutt contended years later, was "the inestimable value of a single human being."
He was also actively homosexual in a time when being openly gay was difficult, if not downright dangerous. His integrity, however, demanded honesty in this as with other regards, and Garebian does not shy away from revealing details of Hutt's personal life.
The body of the book, of course, deals with Hutt's career, from his beginnings as an unschooled actor who went on to work on some of the world's most famous stages alongside many of the most acclaimed actors of his time. The text fairly sparkles with names and anecdotes, but this is not a tell-all exposé. Rather, it is a recounting of the life of a remarkable actor as it unfolded alongside Canada's nascent theatrical scene.
Hutt worked during the debut season of Stratford and was there for many seasons. He was said to have giggled on first hearing that Shakespeare was to be presented in small-town Canada. At the time, Stratford was so small that Hutt had to find a map to locate it, having "heard rumours that it was in Ontario, but that was all I knew."
His colleagues at that auspicious beginning included people like Christopher Plummer, Kate Reid, William Shatner, and Tyrone Guthrie, one of the founding lights of Stratford. The names are impressive and the list grows as Hutt's career flourished and his creative genius expanded with each role he took on. Yet somehow he remained indelibly Canadian and famously never gave up his Canadian accent, even while performing Shakespeare, a revelation in its time.
In what lay his genius? Garebian calls it Hutt's "rare ability to absorb audiences within his circle of illusion," painting a clear picture of how Hutt not only thought as an actor but also how he appeared onstage. Garebian minutely examines Hutt's ability to mine roles for depth and a fresh approach, whether it be in giving Hamlet's Polonius more respect than is often accorded him or in giving Long Day's Journey into Night's James Tyrone a more sympathetic turn as a man brought down by his failures as a human being. It is at this point, Garebian writes, that "acting ceases to look like acting."
On meeting the author, and learning he was writing a book on Hutt, actor Sigourney Weaver told Garebian that he "couldn't have a better subject." She might just as easily have said that Hutt couldn't have had a better biographer.
Jeffrey Round is an award-winning author. His latest book is The God Game (Dundurn).
Critic Keith Garebian has illumined the life and career of William Hutt, in print, since his 1988 William Hutt: a Theatre Portrait, followed in 1995 by a collection of essays written by Hutt's colleagues, Masks and Faces, and now with William Hutt: Soldier Actor.
Garebian's assertion is that, despite maintaining a career anchored in Canada for more than five decades, Hutt was one of the greatest actors of his time and comparable to the likes of Laurence Olivier (Garebian's favourite thespian.) Indeed, the consensus of both critics and colleagues is that Hutt was a man too big for his time and place, but who went on to enlarge the scope of both with his considerable talents.
As a biography, Soldier Actor is more than comprehensive, with a dazzling array of photographs and personal documents, including letters and notes on Hutt's craft, some of which Garebian calls "unprinted ramblings" made available only after Hutt's death in 2007 at the age of 82.
As evidenced in many ways in this book, Hutt the man was an individual of notable personal integrity. As a soldier, he went to war and earned a medal of honour without firing a shot. (He was in the medical corps, where his bravery was considered exemplary.) What the war taught him, Hutt contended years later, was "the inestimable value of a single human being."
He was also actively homosexual in a time when being openly gay was difficult, if not downright dangerous. His integrity, however, demanded honesty in this as with other regards, and Garebian does not shy away from revealing details of Hutt's personal life.
The body of the book, of course, deals with Hutt's career, from his beginnings as an unschooled actor who went on to work on some of the world's most famous stages alongside many of the most acclaimed actors of his time. The text fairly sparkles with names and anecdotes, but this is not a tell-all exposé. Rather, it is a recounting of the life of a remarkable actor as it unfolded alongside Canada's nascent theatrical scene.
Hutt worked during the debut season of Stratford and was there for many seasons. He was said to have giggled on first hearing that Shakespeare was to be presented in small-town Canada. At the time, Stratford was so small that Hutt had to find a map to locate it, having "heard rumours that it was in Ontario, but that was all I knew."
His colleagues at that auspicious beginning included people like Christopher Plummer, Kate Reid, William Shatner, and Tyrone Guthrie, one of the founding lights of Stratford. The names are impressive and the list grows as Hutt's career flourished and his creative genius expanded with each role he took on. Yet somehow he remained indelibly Canadian and famously never gave up his Canadian accent, even while performing Shakespeare, a revelation in its time.
In what lay his genius? Garebian calls it Hutt's "rare ability to absorb audiences within his circle of illusion," painting a clear picture of how Hutt not only thought as an actor but also how he appeared onstage. Garebian minutely examines Hutt's ability to mine roles for depth and a fresh approach, whether it be in giving Hamlet's Polonius more respect than is often accorded him or in giving Long Day's Journey into Night's James Tyrone a more sympathetic turn as a man brought down by his failures as a human being. It is at this point, Garebian writes, that "acting ceases to look like acting."
On meeting the author, and learning he was writing a book on Hutt, actor Sigourney Weaver told Garebian that he "couldn't have a better subject." She might just as easily have said that Hutt couldn't have had a better biographer.
Jeffrey Round is an award-winning author. His latest book is The God Game (Dundurn).
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