Research Guru / Moderator
Posted:
Jun 27, 2010, 10:53 PM
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Toronto Second City alumnus Gerry Salsberg dies
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Character actor Gerry Salsberg, an alumnus of Toronto's Second City troupe, died Tuesday night in Toronto, The Second City announced.
His age was not immediately available.
Salsberg enjoyed decades of success on TV. He voiced Small, Bazooey, Winter, Spruce in the 1974 Leach & Rankin half-hour cartoon special The Gift Of Winter. Also in the voice cast were Dan Aykroyd (in his first screen credit) and Gilda Radner.
He was Bazooey once again in the 1978 Rankin-Bass special Witch's Night Out, which aired on NBC, and which also starred Radner.
Salsberg appeared on the Toronto Second City stage in 1973. From 1972 to 1973, he was in the Toronto production of Godspell, where he portrayed Judas. Among the other cast members were famed Canadian comedic performers Radner, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin and Martin Short.
In 1971, his role of Wolf in the film Wolf Lanigan won him the Best Actors Award at the St. Jean Film Festival. On stage, he was active in productions both in high school and university. He studied acting for three years with Josephine Barrington, performed with a small theatre group at the Poor Alex Theatre, and was with Toronto Workshop Productions for part of its 1969-70 season.
Salsberg also worked as an apprentice actor at the Red Barn Theatre and performed in the pre-Broadway show Touch Kiss. An expert puppeteer, he worked with Dora and Leo Velleman for two seasons.
He was also an avid amateur photographer.
Gerry Salsberg is survived by father Sam; son Zachary and his wife Carly; daughter Danya and her partner Chris; brother Barry and his partner Nancy; brother Stan and his wife Beverley; sister Karen Faith and her husband Bill; and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.
Services were held Thursday at Steeles Memorial Chapel in Toronto. Memorial donations may be made to the Starlight Foundation, (416) 502-9474, or to the Hospital for Sick Children, (416) 813-5320.
(This post was edited by eminovitz on Jun 28, 2010, 12:58 PM)
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