Don Harron

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Don Harron
Harron in 1961
Birth nameDonald Hugh Harron
Born(1924-09-19)September 19, 1924
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DiedJanuary 17, 2015(2015-01-17) (aged 90)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
MediumTelevision
Years active1935–2013
GenresSatire, character comedy
Subject(s)Current events, rural humour
Spouse
  • Gloria Fisher
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1949; div. 1960)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1960; div. 1968)​
  • Catherine McKinnon
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1969; div. 2003)​
  • Claudette Gareau
    ​
    (m. 2012)​
ChildrenMartha,
Anne of Green Gables – The Musical
  • Morningside

    • Donald Hugh Harron, OC OOnt (September 19, 1924 – January 17, 2015) was a Canadian comedian, actor, director, journalist, author, playwright, and composer. Harron is best remembered by American audiences as a member of the cast of the long-running country music series Hee Haw, on which he played his signature character of Charlie Farquharson.

    Early life

    Harron's parents, Lionel William Harron and Delsia Adah Maud Hunter Harron, owned and operated Harron's Cleaners and Dryers in Toronto.[1] Beginning at the age of ten, he earned extra money for the family during the Great Depression, doing "chalk talks" telling humorous stories while drawing caricatures in coloured chalk at company or club banquets, making $10 or $15 a talk.[1] As a result of his performances, he was invited to audition for, and won, a part in the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission radio series Lonesome Trail in 1935.[1][2]

    As a teenager, Harron spent time working as a

    Second World War, he completed his studies of sociology and philosophy receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree. While at school he performed in amateur and professional productions, won the Victoria College drama award, and composed the music and lyrics for a student musical. He won the gold medal in philosophy and the regent's silver medal and was offered a position teaching literature at the university which he turned down in order to focus on performing.[1]

    Career

    After university, Harron appeared in a number of plays and revues in Toronto, including the annual Spring Thaw revue, giving him national exposure when the 1952 edition was broadcast on the newly launched

    A Streetcar Named Desire and also working for the BBC as a comedy writer, acting in a radio series, playing the part of a clown in the film The Red Shoes (1948), and writing scripts for Gracie Fields.[1]

    Returning to North America in the 1950s, Harron was featured in the inaugural season of the

    Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario as the male lead in All's Well That Ends Well and a minor part in Richard III[3] and on Broadway[1] and was one of the writers on the first English-language dramatic series broadcast in Canada, Sunshine Sketches, which aired from 1952 to 1953 on CBC Television.[4] Harron also co-wrote the script for the 1956 television musical Anne of Green Gables. Harron later adapted the production for the stage in 1965 as Anne of Green Gables: The Musical, which continues to be performed annually during the Charlottetown Festival.[3] According to Harron in a 2008 interview with the Calgary Herald
    , the stage show has provided work for more than 10,000 actors since its inception.

    Harron played Art Harris in the two-part

    SSRN Seaview who could not bring himself to perform his duties to launch nuclear missiles, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ("The Four-Steps Affair", also 1965) as an Australian U.N.C.L.E. agent named Kitt Kittridge, and in 12 O'Clock High ("The Ticket", 1965) as Lt. Crain.[5] He guest-starred in the premiere episode of the television series Blue Light (1966), which was later edited together with the three following episodes to create the theatrical film I Deal in Danger. Harron starred in the original 1965 television pilot of The Man Who Never Was as Mark Wainwright but a change in sponsor led to the new sponsor requesting Robert Lansing in the role.[6]

    He made one appearance on the CBC Television show

    CTV from 1983 to 1985. He had a featured role in Arthur Hiller's film The Hospital (1971), written by Paddy Chayefsky. He replaced Gene Wood as host of the game show Anything You Can Do
    from 1972 to 1974.

    Charlie Farquharson

    Harron as Charlie Farquharson in 2007

    Harron is known for the character Charlie Farquharson /ˈfɑːrkəsən/, a personality he first portrayed in 1952 on the CBC series The Big Revue. For the following half-century-plus, Harron performed the character regularly on stage and on Canadian radio and television. As well, the character received international attention as part of the cast of the U.S. country music television show, Hee Haw during its 23-year run;[3] on that series, which ran from 1969 to 1992, Harron portrayed a rural anchorman for station KORN, and concluded the final story of each newscast with a cutthroat gesture. Harron reprised the character on The Red Green Show in 2003 and 2004.

    Dressed in an overly well-worn sweater along with a frayed cap, and sporting a grizzled "two-day beard", Farquharson is a decidedly rural Ontario farmer from the real-life town of Parry Sound. He and his wife, Valeda, have a son, Orville. Both were usually unseen and unheard, but on occasion (mostly on stage) Harron's wife Catherine McKinnon would play the role of Valeda. Uneducated, but not without a boisterous "school of hard knocks" sensibility, Charlie would loudly deliver his opinion about matters local and worldwide, using many malapropisms in the process which often resulted in both double meanings and increased satire about the events. He was also known for his loud hearty laugh, "Hee! Hee! Hee!". In addition to his television appearances as Charlie, through the 1970s and 80s Harron provided humorous syndicated commentaries to various Canadian radio stations in the Farquharson persona. As well, he published several books in the persona of the character, reproducing the malapropisms in print and including strange photos and woodcuts as illustrations.

    Examples of Farquharson's comments:

    In May 2001, Don performed the Charlie Farquharson character during the 75th anniversary of his Toronto high school,

    Vaughan Road Collegiate Institute
    . His commentary included a reference to former US president Bill Clinton's sexual dalliance with Monica Lewinsky. "He deified yer 11th Commandment - Thou shalt not put thy rod before thy staff."

    Honours

    In 2000, Harron's contribution to the Canadian entertainment industry was recognized with his being named a member of the

    UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
    . In his later years, he was a high-profile advocate for the interests of older people. He also continued to write books, most recently (2008) publishing a retrospective work on the history of the Anne of Green Gables musical to tie in with the 100th anniversary of the original novel.

    Harron was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010.[9]

    Personal

    Harron's first marriage was to Gloria Fisher, his second from 1960 to 1968 was to actress

    Catherine McKinnon in 1969.[1] Harron and McKinnon divorced in 2003.[10] He moved in with and later married his fourth wife, Claudette Gareau, who had played the separatist weather girl in Shh! It's the News (1973) appearing with Harron.[1]

    Harron's daughter Mary Harron[11] from his marriage to Fisher, is an independent film director whose credits include I Shot Andy Warhol and American Psycho.[3] She directed Alias Grace which won the 2018 Canadian Screen Award for Best Limited Series.

    Harron died at 90 surrounded by his family in his Toronto home after deciding not to seek treatment for his cancer. His daughter, Martha, told

    Canadian Press "He was still sharp. He was still capable of being funny even though his voice was barely above a whisper... It's horribly sad, but it's beautiful too."[3]

    Selected bibliography

    Harron authored 17 books – most of them in character as Charlie Farquharson with titles spelled in the character's idiolect, as well as his 2012 memoir:[3]

    Filmography

    Year Title Role Notes
    1952 The Sound Barrier ATA Officer Uncredited
    1959 The Best of Everything Sidney Carter
    1959
    One Step Beyond - Doomsday (TV)
    		 Will Season 2, Episode 4, October 13, 1959
    1965 The Spy with My Face Kittridge
    1966 I Deal in Danger Spauling
    1967 Mosby's Marauders Gen. Stoughton
    1971 The Hospital Milton Mead
    1975 The Human Collision

    References

    1. ^ a b c d e f g h Budman, Alex (January 1, 2006). "The life, loves and regrets of Don Harron". Everythingzoomer.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.
    2. ^ "Don Harron and his alter ego, Charlie Farquharson (Did You Know?)". CBC Digital Archives. October 15, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
    3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Don Harron, Canadian entertainment icon, dead at 90". CBC News. January 17, 2015. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
    4. ^ John Corcelli, Sunshine Sketches, Canadian Communications Foundation, February 2005 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
    5. ^ Title credits as Donald Harron
    6. ^ pp.260-262 Harron, Don My Double Life: Sexty Yeers of Farquharson Around with Don Harn Dundurn, 17 Nov. 2012
    7. ^ Cum Buy The Farm, 1987, p. 11
    8. ^ Charlie Farquharson's K-O-R-N Filled Allmynack, 1976, pg. 79
    9. ^ "Don Harron biography". Canadian Country Music Association. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
    10. ^ Caton, Hilary (February 2, 2013). "Comedian Don Harron, opens up in latest book". Toronto.com.
    11. ^ Canadian Encyclopedia Archived June 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine bio of Mary Harron
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