Gordon Pinsent
One for the Fridge

By Christopher DiRaddo

You would be hard pressed to find a Canadian who doesn’t know who Gordon Pinsent is. The man is a legend, an icon in the Canadian entertainment industry. With a career spanning close to 60 years, Pinsent’s oeuvre reaches far across the gamut of the performing arts. He writes, directs, paints, has taught dance and has performed in film, television, radio and on the stage. He is a living testament to persistence and determination.
Christopher DiRaddo

“We can be as original as we want to be, and young people can be as talented as they want to be, but in fact we don’t really achieve anything if we try to copy what is going on.”

Above left: Gordon Pinsent receiving his Gascon-Thomas Award, with Simon Brault, NTS Director General in the background. © Alain Dufour

At a special ceremony held in Montreal on October 27, 2006, the National Theatre School bestowed upon Gordon Pinsent the 2006 Gascon-Thomas Award. Honouring an artist who has made an exceptional achievement in theatre and whose career serves as an inspiration for NTS students, the Gascon-Thomas Award was a touching tribute for this man in his mid-70s. “Thank you,” he said before the School’s students, teachers, staff and board members. “It keeps the dream going.”

Originally from Newfoundland, Pinsent joked in his address about how long he’d been trying to get through the doors of the National Theatre School. “From the very first year,” he said. “Somebody told me that they were starting up a theatre school and asked me if I’d like to be a part of it. ‘Yes,’ I said... Never heard from them again.”

Laughs aside, Gordon Pinsent has been saying “Yes” all of his career. In fact, he got his first acting job at the age of 17 by saying “Yes” to director Leena Lovegrove who asked him if he had any experience. That of course was untrue, but this little lie got Pinsent’s foot in the door of the Winnipeg Theatre Centre (and a starring role in the play). It would also not be the last time he fibbed in order to land a job. When auditioning for The Last of the Mohicans, Pinsent was asked if he knew how to ride a horse. “Western or English?” was how he responded. It took a lot of chutzpah to pull such things off but Pinsent saw it all as harmless fun and, if anything, it gave him the chance to stretch his chops.

“I’m really glad that Mr Pinsent lied to that director way back when,” said graduating playwright Ryan Griffith. “When he lied to her, he lied for a reason. He saw it as a go for broke opportunity. He had a choice. He could either light the fuse to his dream or forget about acting all together. So he lied and the rest is history.” Griffith had the privilege of introducing Pinsent at the Gascon-Thomas Award ceremony. Also hailing from eastern Canada, Griffith recounted the first time he saw Pinsent’s 1972 film The Rowdyman (which he wrote and starred in). “The Rowdyman was really big in my development as a writer. I saw that writing about what you knew could be very beautiful and moving and truthful. My writing changed drastically and I started focusing on the people around me...”

Griffith is just one of a number of students who had the opportunity of some one-on-one time with Pinsent following the award ceremony. As a tradition, the NTS holds an informal lunch in honour of the Gascon-Thomas Award winners that allow for students to have personal exchanges with the recipients.

“I really enjoyed his speech,” said third-year Acting student Sarena Parmar who also got to speak a bit with Pinsent one-on-one. “I’m graduating from NTS this year and I’m looking for people who’ve been in the industry, senior artists, to tell me about their experiences... It was really interesting to hear him talk about leaving deep footprints for us and how that changes us. You get a sense of what you need to do in your lifetime as an artist.”

Choosing a role that he would most have liked to be remembered for is next to impossible for a man whose life has been one large album of work. “We always blithely say it’s in the next job or the next one... but I’ve been happy with it all.” If any of the roles did come close, it would have to be his most recent, starring opposite Julie Christie in Away From Her, an adaptation of an Alice Munro story by 27 year-old first time director Sarah Polly. “That was an excellent opportunity and you never know when these things are going to come along in the business,” he said. Did it ever occur to him that it might be a risk to star in a film by such a young director? “No,” he said. “I’ve never thought of risk in that sense. That sort of thing doesn’t bother me at all. You just go ahead and you do them.”

On this photo, from left to right: Greg Gale (3rd year Acting), Gordon Pinsent and Bridget Wareham (2nd year Acting). © Alain Dufour

Pinsent is amazed by the number of young people involved in the industry today. “I’ve noticed in the last long while most of the young people that start are not at all keen about going on stage; they head straight for television, for film... A good many of them have just trained themselves on television last week.” Pinsent also finds the American influence huge on the youth of today. “It has entered to such a degree that you’re automatically thought of as being at their beck and call. That is why the youngsters try as hard as they can to get on that wagon,” he said. “We can be as original as we want to be, and young people can be as talented as they want to be, but in fact we don’t really achieve anything if we try to copy what is going on.”

Pinsent thinks that is why institutions like the National Theatre School are so important to Canada. “People say ‘Yes, but who has seen those movies, how many people have been to those independent small theatres to see those new plays,’ as opposed to having the trumpets blaring: these young people are arriving, these are the best, this is our future.”

Pinsent had a lot of advice to transmit to the students in attendance that afternoon. Among other things, he spoke of the viciousness of bad reviews and how, even at a late age, they can still hurt. He shared some advice that he himself had received. “High station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace. So, being fresh for your life’s work, find room on your fridge for that one.” Another one he had for the fridge: “Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pigs love it.”

Pinsent acknowledged that he did seem to get himself in and out of trouble by saying “Yes” a lot. “And now, you’re saying ‘Yes’ to the theatre,” he said to the captive audience before him. “Congratulations on that.”

GORDON PINSENT
Gordon Pinsent has won two Actra Awards, three Genies, a Gemini, a Dora Mavor Moore Award and, in 1978, he was inducted into the Order of Canada (elevated to the highest level, Companion of the Order, in 1999). He has appeared in countless films, plays and television series, and he doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon. “You can have your best ideas tomorrow,” he said. “You can do your best work tomorrow.”

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