HENRY WOOLF - one of Saskatoon's Cultural Treasures

Henry Woolf

On January 8, 2010, Saskatoon's Henry Woolf turned 80.

Henry is an actor, theatre director, and teacher of acting, drama, and theatre, and a longtime friend and collaborator of Nobel Laureate playwright Harold Pinter — he even stimulated Pinter to write his first play, The Room, in 1956. Here in Saskatoon, Henry has served as a faculty member at the University of Saskatchewan and as artistic director of Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, as well as aiding and abetting countless of the city's freelance theatre artists in their creative pursuits.

Henry has been described as "a living icon of the theatrical avant-garde." During the 60s he acted in theatre companies in London, working alongside such contemporaries as Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles and Ralph Richardson. His film credits include Marat/Sade, The Lion in Winter, the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Gorky Park, Superman III, and All You Need Is Cash, a film by The Rutles (a fictional mock-Beatles band created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes). His television appearances have included the Collector in the Doctor Who serial The Sun Makers.

Henry taught at the University of Saskatchewan from 1983 to 1997, serving as head of its Drama department for some years and receiving the University's Master Teacher Award in 1994. He served as Artistic Director of the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan festival from 1991 to 2001.

Saskatoon's theatre community and its patrons honoured and celebrated Henry's birthday January 8 at a gala event hosted by Persephone Theatre in the Frank and Ellen Remai Arts Centre, where the newly-renamed Henry Woolf Continuing Achievement Award was announced.

Susan Williamson

The many speakers, entertainers and video presentations were ultimately overshadowed by the guest of honour himself, who regaled the audience with hilarious anecdotes about a Life in the Theatre, told as only Henry can tell them. Henry celebrated late into the night — and the next morning — with his extended family of friends and admirers, before heading to Salt Spring Island that weekend to bring his cat to a warmer climate for the winter. Henry himself winters here in Saskatoon with his wife, actor and director Susan Williamson. The cat is a bit more delicate.