Very few Canadian actors have had a life like Gordon Pinsent.
Born in Grand Falls, Nfld., the thespian-to-be quickly outgrew his humble surroundings and headed west. After perfecting his theatre work at Winnipeg’s Theatre 77 (now Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre), Pinsent travelled to Toronto, where the beginnings of Canadian-made TV were starting up. As he says, he was “in the right place at the right time.”
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From there, he went on to an impressive career in theatre, TV and film, even heading south of the border for a little while. But Pinsent has Canada in his veins, and it wasn’t long before he returned to his home country. It’s apparent from footage from The River of My Dreams, a documentary about his life, that Pinsent is a thoroughbred Canadian, something that we don’t see in Hollywood that much anymore.
At age 86, Pinsent is joyful, engaging and impossibly charming. He can recite stanzas and plays on a whim, and it’s a remarkable thing to witness. The River of My Dreams director Brigitte Berman (who also profiled Playboy’s Hugh Hefner in 2009’s Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel) brings Pinsent’s amazing joie de vivre to the screen, and it’s a wonder to behold. The gorgeous shots of Newfoundland and Labrador don’t hurt, either.
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Global News spoke to Pinsent and Berman about the documentary and what it was like for him to revisit so many memories.
The River of My Dreams opens in Toronto on Jan. 27 at the Ted Rogers Hot Docs Cinema. It opens in Calgary, Halifax, Vancouver and Ottawa on Feb. 17. (There’s also a special Canada 150 screening in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre on Feb. 15.)
You can watch the chat in the video, above.
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