SPECIAL AWARDS
David Gardner Earle
Grey AwardThis award is presented to an actor/actress for a body of work in Canadian television or for significant contribution to the international profile of Canadian television. David Gardner has enjoyed a long and varied career in television and theatre. After performing in close to 100 roles on CBC TV by 1956, the CBC asked him to work on the other side of the camera in 1959. For nine years, Gardner became one of the few Canadian actors who has also directed for television. He directed 75 TV shows including W.O Mitchell's Jake and the Kid, and a spoof on James Bond called The Reluctant Agent. Classic productions included Chekhov's Uncle Vanya starring Bill Hutt, The Applecart and The Doctor's Dilemma by Bernard Shaw as well as major Canadian dramas such as Gratien Gelinas' Yesterday the Children Were Dancing and Timothy Findley's The Paper People (the CBC's first feature-length film) for which he received the 1967 Wilderness Award for Direction. However, Gardner is probably remembered best for the Canadian classic, Quentin Durgens MP. From 1980 to 2000 Gardner played sustaining roles in five major Canadian series: Home Fires, Street Legal, Robocop, The City and Traders in which he won a Gemini in 1997 playing Sonya Smits' father. The 1990s were good for Gardner as well with roles in Counterstrike, with Christopher Plummer, Family Blessings, Road to Avonlea with Sarah Polley, Scales of Justice with David Cronenberg and numerous roles in ENG, Night Heat and Seeing Things. Previous Earle Grey Award Winners: Don Harron (07), Donnelly Rhodes (06), Steve Smith (05), Graham Greene (04), Jennifer Dale (03), The Cast of Codco (02), Jackie Burroughs (01), Royal Canadian Air Farce (00), Jayne Eastwood (99), Al Waxman (98), Kenneth Welsh (98), Gordon Pinsent (97), Bruno Gerussi (96), The Cast of SCTV, Ernie Coombs, Barbara Hamilton, Colleen Dewhurst, Jan Rubes, Sean McCann, Kate Reid, Lorne Greene, and Ed McNamara. |
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