Thanks to everyone who has followed my adventures on this blog over the past year.Your support and enthusiasm has made the usually humorous, sometimes painful business of writing these pieces a delight. And many thanks to all the Sanibel Sunset…
Yearly Archives: 2013
Remembering (Again) How I Nearly Killed Peter O’Toole
Since Peter O’Toole left the stage this past weekend at the age of eighty-one, there has been a huge outpouring of sadness and remembrance. It has been pointed out in his many obituaries that O’Toole encountered a few down periods…
Tagged with: David Hemmings, Joan of Arc, Lawrence of Arabia, Martyn Burke, New York Post, Oliver Reed, Peter O'Toole, Power Play, Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Stardust, Stunt Man, The Last Emperor, The Tudors, Troy
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Standing In Dealey Plaza, Thinking . . .
Arriving for the first time at Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, I stood transfixed, thinking, I could have shot President Kennedy. Without knowing much of anything about guns, that’s what immediately crossed my mind at the place where President John F.…
Tagged with: Ambassador Hotel, Bobby Kennedy, Brockville Collegiate Institute, Cocoanut Grove, Dallas, David Halberstam, Dealey Plaza, Grassy Knoll, Jack Ruby, Jackie Kennedy, JFK, John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, Los Angeles, Oliver Stone, Sirhan Sirhan, Texas, Texas School Book Despository, The New York Times, Walter Cronkite, Woody Harrelson
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“I’m Getting A Pulse”: My Brilliant (Acting) Career
Now that awards season is upon us–an Oscar to Robert Redford for his incredible performance in All Is Lost; take the statuette Cate Blanchett for what you accomplished in Blue Jasmine–it is time to reveal the unsung details of my…
Bobby Orr, Me, and the Mystery of Alan Eagleson
The release this week of Bobby Orr’s autobiography, My Story, and his extended appearance on CBC-TV’s The National, brought back memories of a long-ago encounter with Orr and Alan Eagleson, the notorious agent and promoter and one-time close friend who made the hockey great…
Tagged with: Alan Eagleson, Bobby Orr, Bobby Orr: My Story, Boston Bruins, CBC-TV, Chicago Blackhawks, Conservative Party, Hockey Hall of Fame, NHL, NHL Players' Association, Nick Steed, Order of Canada, Paul Henderson, Peter Mansbridge, Quest Magazine, Summit Series, Toros, World Hockey Association
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Goodbye To All That: Reflections On An Ending Summer and Chicken Pot Pie
There will be no more chicken pot pie.The summer of things ending–has ended. I know it’s over because the Toronto Film Festival concludes this weekend. From here on in it’s downhill to bleak winter. So as the weekend approaches, I’m…
Tagged with: Canadian Film Centre, CBC, Chaz Ebert, David Gilmour, Dennis Hopper, Dusty Cohl, Extraordinary, Garth Drabinsky, George Christy, Gina Mallet, Greg Quill, Helena Bonham Carter, Hume Cronyn, Jodie Foster, Norman Jewison, Peter Worthington, Richard Jordan, Roger Ebert, Swoosie Kurtz, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Toronto Star, TIFF, Toronto Film Festival, Toronto Sun
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That Summer Lost In Rome
The apartment opened onto a view of Rome’s storied Via Veneto. As I stood staring down at the street, the Italian producer said, “Where you are standing now, this is the very spot where my friend Fellini stood when he decided…
Tagged with: Deliverance, George Clooney, Hadrian's Wall, Italy, John Boorman, La Dolce Vita, Margeurite Yourcenar, Memoirs of Hadrian, Pantheon, Point Blank, Richard Price, Rome, Spanish Steps, Via Antonio Bertoloni, Via San Zeno, Via Veneto
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Forever, Clinton
We lost a beloved family member yesterday. Clinton was the one with four legs and floppy ears. My wife Kathy and I held him in our arms at 6:15 last evening and told him how much we loved him as he…
Tagged with: Charles Schultz, Clinton, French hound, hound dog, Milton, Montreal, Porcelaine
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Not Fade Away: Brian Vallée Two Years Later
What scares me most about losing the people you love is how they tend to stay lost. Perhaps it is the survival mechanism of the living, the concentration of daily life, the necessity to keep putting one foot in front of…
Tagged with: Brian Vallee, CBC, Nancy Rahtz, St. Michael's Hospital, The War On Women, The Windsor Star
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Gina Mallet Remembered
The first time I heard of Gina Mallet, the Toronto theatre community was trying to get her fired. A press conference had been called to demand that something be done about The Toronto Star’s new drama critic, a former Time magazine writer…
Tagged with: CBC radio, Gina Mallet, Jim Bawden, Last Chance to Eat, Nathan Cohen, Shakespeare, Stratford, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Star, The Toronto Telegram, Time magazine
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Ron Base Writes 