Saskatoon theatre legend Henry Woolf dies at 91
CBC
Saskatoon's theatre community has lost one its most well-known and influential artists.
Henry Woolf was an actor, director, playwright, professor and a recipient of Saskatchewan's Order of Merit.
The British actor died this week at the age of 91.
"He came and stirred the … theatre pot in Saskatoon in a way that very few people, if any, have ever done before," said Saskatchewan actor Kent Allen.
"Knowing him and working with him would be an enlightening experience for anyone."
Woolf and Allen met at Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, where Woolf was artistic director from 1991 until 2001.
Before moving to Canada, Woolf kicked off his successful career in Britain.
At school in England he met future Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter, according to the Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia.
The two became lifelong friends and Woolf directed and acted in Pinter's first play The Room in 1957.
During his time in Britain, Woolf was busy acting in theatre, film and television.
His screen credits include The Rocky Horror Picture Show as well as Doctor Who, while rubbing shoulders with famous artists such as Sir Lawrence Olivier or Orson Welles, according to the University of Saskatchewan.
"He was a man of the theatre in the complete sense of the word," said Allen.
"He was generous, creative, inspirational, all of those things to a lot of students."
After some time at the University of Alberta's drama department, Woolf and his wife Susan moved to Saskatchewan where he started his career at the University of Saskatchewan in 1983.