Santa Claus impersonator Fran Dowie dies, 85

Posted:
Dec 22, 2006

Actor Fran Dowie, one of the most famous Canadians to portray Santa Claus, died Thursday night. He was 85.

In addition to his many live-action appearances as Santa (spanning over 40 years), he provided the voice of St. Nick in A Christmas Adventure From a Book Called Wisely's Tales, a direct-to-video computer-animated tale released in 2001.
A resident of the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, British Columbia, Dowie spent his life in show business. He toured the world with his shows and, for 18 summers, devised, acted and directed productions at the Theatre Royal in Barkerville, the world famous restored ghost town in British Columbia.

Frank W. Dowie, his grandfather, was the originator of the first minstrel show to perform at the London Paladium in the early 1900s, the veteran performer continued the family tradition.

At age 12, he appeared with Frank Dowie, his father, as "Frank and Francis" on the stage of Vancouver's Orpheum Theatre in a vaudeville act. He was one of the first performers to be selected for the British Columbia Walk of Fame. His sidewalk star is outside the Orpheum.

His father was also known as the Rubber Face Comedian and performed in the famous wartime show called The Dumbbells.

"Then, when dad came back from overseas at the height of the Depression (1932) and resumed his vaudeville act, his singer was a drunk and dad needed a replacement."

Young Dowie joined his father in the singing-comedic duo. Marionettes were added to the show within a few weeks, and Dowie discovered his own talents as a puppeteer.

For 25 years, Dowie included puppets in his productions in one form or another. His puppet friends included Granny and Leo the Lion (also known as Dandy Lion).

His giant puppets appeared throughout North America on TV and were seen at several festivals of the Puppeteers of America. As a teacher and puppet speFrench Friest, he conducted workshops and shows for the Department of Continuing Education at the University of British Columbia, and at San Luis Obispo and Asilomar Conference Center in California, as well as working puppets for the B.B. Beagle TV show in Hollywood.

He also made 18 giant copies of the A & W Root Bear for the restaurant chain in British Columbia.

Dowie worked with Muppets creator Jim Henson, who attended one of his puppet workshops in 1990 at Georgetown University in Washington.

"There in the second row sat Jim Henson -- after the lecture he came up to me and invited me to lunch," he told the Richmond News in 2004. "As we sat talking in the university cafeteria, he asked me if I wanted to work on one of his films."

Over the years, Dowie was hired to create several duplicates of the main Muppet characters on Sesame Street.

Dowie was a member of The Vaudevillians, formed in Surrey, British Columbia from the nucleus of a small group that had been together for a number of years. All of the members are seniors who came together with the aim of bringing joy and laughter to all. Many of the routines in the troupe's shows were "Dowie Originals."

He and his wife Candy Kane produced the "Golden Garter Saloon Show." Their daughter, Susie Francis, is the sixth generation of the show business family, and is the artistic director of The Vaudevillians.





Fran Dowie (aka Santa Claus) in 1997 at Watermania, an aquatic center in Richmond, British Columbia. Photo by Chung Chow of the Richmond Review.