William Hutt Funeral Arrangements in Stratford

A public funeral service for the late William Hutt will be held on Monday, July 9 at 2 p.m. in Stratford, at St. James Anglican Church, 41 Mornington St.

Hutt, one of Canada's most acclaimed and respected classical actors, died Wednesday in Stratford. He was 87.

A visitation will also be held on Sunday, July 8, at W.G. Young Funeral Home, 430 Huron St., Stratford.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Stratford Festival of Canada or the Stratford General Hospital. For more information, call the funeral home at (519) 271-7411.

William Hutt, Stratford's Finest dies at 87

Stage actor William Hutt dies at 87


STRATFORD, Ontario (AP) — William Hutt, widely regarded as one of Canada's finest classical actors and a company member at the Stratford Festival for almost four decades, has died at the age of 87.

Hutt died Wednesday of leukemia at Stratford General Hospital, the Festival announced.

At the Stratford Festival, where he was a founding member, Hutt was involved in 130 productions as either an actor or director. Among his more memorable performances were the title characters in "King Lear," "Volpone," "Tartuffe," "Richard II" and "Titus Andronicus," as well as such diverse roles as Prospero in "The Tempest," James Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night," Thomas More in "A Man for All Seasons" and Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest."

"He was our northern star," said Antoni Cimolino, the Festival's general director. "He shone strong, bright and true, helping the rest of us find our way."

On Broadway, Hutt was seen as the lawyer in Edward Albee's "Tiny Alice" in 1964 and four years later in a production of George Bernard Shaw's "Saint Joan," starring Diana Sands, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center.

Yet Shakespeare remained a fascination for the actor throughout his career. When asked about the power of the Bard in a 2006 interview, Hutt said, "First of all, he froze the English language. Nobody has used the English language better than he has. Nobody. ... And also the world that Shakespeare creates with his language, his story lines, his characters, it's an incredible world."

With his rumbling voice and his lion-in-winter mane of white hair, Hutt commanded the stage well into his 80s, winning praise for his last turn onstage at Stratford as Prospero in "The Tempest," in 2005.

In honor of Richard Monette, the Festival's outgoing artistic director, Hutt agreed to return for a role this season in Albee's "A Delicate Balance," which opens in August. He eventually had to withdraw because of ill health.

Born in Toronto on May 2, 1920, Hutt served in World War II, returning home where he attended the University of Toronto, graduating from its Trinity College in 1949. He began his stage career in summer stock and then went to work for the Canadian Repertory Theatre as an associate director.

Hutt joined the Stratford Festival in its inaugural year in 1953 under Tyrone Guthrie's direction. The actor remained with the company for some four decades, except for an absence in the mid-1980s when he moved to the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake for several years.

Despite his command of the stage, Hutt was never a snob about the theater. He won praise for his role as Sir John A. Macdonald in the mid-1970s Canadian television miniseries "The National Dream." And in recent years, Hutt appeared on the acclaimed TV series "Slings & Arrows," in which he played a somewhat grumpier version of himself, an aging Shakespearean master.

There were no immediate survivors.

A funeral will be held at St. James Anglican Church in Stratford.

William Hutt in Slings and Arrows, Season 3, Episode 4


William Hutt, Canadian stage loses a legend

By Laura Cudworth, Staff reporter
Stratford Beacon Herald
Feature
William Hutt: Canadian stage loses a legend

William Hutt, arguably the last true Canadian theatre icon, died peacefully at 5 o’clock this morning. He was 87.

The legend was beloved by his fellow actors at the Stratford Festival and had a reputation for being extremely generous, especially with younger actors.

“He was our northern star,” said Antoni Cimolino, Festival general director. “He shone strong, bright and true, helping the rest of us find our way.”

Mr. Hutt retired from the stage at the end of the 2005 Festival season. He played Prospero in “The Tempest.” At the time, he told The Beacon Herald it was the right part with which to end his career.

“I can’t think of a better one, frankly,” he said then. “I’ve spent many of my years in Shakespeare’s world, and with so many of his characters that to play one that says goodbye anyway is not too much of a stretch.”

Mr. Hutt had intended to return to the stage this season as Tobias in “A Delicate Balance” as a tribute to longtime friend and outgoing artistic director Richard Monette. Unfortunately, health concerns forced him to withdraw.

Quoting Hamlet, Mr. Monette said of his passing this morning, “He was a man, take him for all in all: we shall not look upon his like again.”

Mr. Hutt’s theatre career spanned 57 years and took him to New York and England. But he called Stratford home. Among the British imports like Tyrone Guthrie and Alec Guinness who helped launch the Festival, Mr. Hutt was also part of the inaugural year in 1952.

Since then, he has played King Lear, The Fool to Peter Ustinov’s Lear, Titus Andronicus, Falstaff and Richard II among many others.

Though his Shakespearean performances were unforgettable, he has said he was best known for his performance as Lady Bracknell in “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde, which he first played in 1975 and reprised twice for the Festival.

Mr. Hutt was born in Toronto on May 2, 1920.