Lister Sinclair

2021-03-27T02:16:46Z

2001:56A:FA85:3800:29D7:3F2B:99C8:83F8: /* External links */ added links

{{Short description|Canadian actor}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2017}}
'''Lister Sheddon Sinclair''', [[Order of Canada|OC]] (January 9, 1921 – October 16, 2006) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] broadcaster, playwright and [[polymath]].

==Early life==
Sinclair was born in [[Mumbai|Bombay]], [[India]], to [[Scotland|Scottish]] parents.<ref name="Globe_obit"/> His father, William Sheddon Sinclair, was a chemical engineer.<ref name="New2002">{{cite book|author=William H. New|title=Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mkh2vJ_9GpEC&pg=PA1048|year=2002|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-0761-2|pages=1048–}}</ref> He was sent to live with an aunt in [[London, England|London]] when he was 18 months old and did not see his parents again until he was seven.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

He taught himself to read at the age of five and began his formal education at [[Colet Court]]. Though at the bottom of his class, he was gifted at mathematics and won a scholarship to [[St Paul's School (London)|St Paul's School]] in [[London]]. In 1939, assured by a travel agency that there would be no war, he visited North America with his mother to attend the [[1939 World's Fair|World's Fair]] in New York City. He was visiting [[Niagara Falls, Ontario]], when [[World War II]] broke out. Due to a back injury as a teenager, Sinclair walked with a limp and used a cane until well into his twenties and was unfit for military service. He and his mother found themselves stranded on the continent and settled in [[Vancouver]] where his mother had friends. He enrolled at the [[University of British Columbia]]<ref name="New2002"/> where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in math and physics and began a lifelong friendship with classmate [[Pierre Berton]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://torontoist.com/2009/11/historicist_the_city_that_nobody_loves/|title=Historicist: "The city that nobody loves"|first=|last=Torontoist|date=21 November 2009|website=Torontoist.com|access-date=12 January 2018}}</ref> He also joined the Player's Club on campus. In 1942 he moved to [[Toronto]] to study towards a [[Master of Arts]] from the [[University of Toronto]], supporting himself by lecturing in mathematics to undergraduates.

==Career==

Needing to further supplement his income, Sinclair found employment as an actor with the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] (CBC) playing a German in the 1942 pro-Allied broadcast, ''[[Nazi Eyes on Canada]]'', which starred [[Helen Hayes]].<ref name="Globe_obit"/>

He was subsequently cast in the series ''Fighting Navy'' playing the captain of a German [[U-boat]] and performed in various other radio plays.<ref>CBC ''Ideas'', ''Thank you, Mister Sinclair'', part 1, October 16, 2006</ref> He began writing radio plays for the network in 1944 and would go on to write more than 400 plays, many of them for the radio series ''Stage''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-68-1690-11629-11/on_this_day/arts_entertainment/sinclair_obit |title=CBC Archives |publisher=Archives.CBC.ca |date=11 September 2001 |access-date=1 October 2017}}</ref>

In 1945, Sinclair wrote a radio speech that [[Ontario New Democratic Party|Ontario Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]] leader [[Ted Jolliffe]] delivered during the [[1945 Ontario general election|1945 provincial election]] campaign.<ref name="Morley1984">{{cite book|author=J.T. Morley|title=Secular Socialists: The CCF/NDP in Ontario, A Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANavAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51|date=1 January 1984|publisher=MQUP|isbn=978-0-7735-9346-6|pages=51–}}</ref> The speech accused [[Premier of Ontario]] [[George A. Drew|George Drew]] of running a political [[gestapo]] unit out of the [[Ontario Provincial Police]]. The accusations were denied by Drew, and may have hurt the CCF's credibility with voters. However, the charge was proven true in the 1970s by archival documents uncovered by a researcher.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hansardindex.ontla.on.ca/hansardeissue/36-2/l015a.htm |title=Hansard Issue: L015a |publisher=Hansardindex.ontla.on.ca |date= |accessdate=2017-10-01}}</ref>

Sinclair's radio play, ''Hilda Morgan'', broadcast on February 12, 1950, resulted in an uproar in the [[House of Commons of Canada]] over its then-[[taboo]] subject matter of a pregnant, unmarried woman considering [[abortion]] after her fiance is killed in an accident (although the word abortion was never used).<ref name="Miller1996">{{cite book|author=Mary Jane Miller|title=Rewind and Search: Conversations with the Makers and Decision-Makers of CBC Television Drama|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HzwvlHQ7jrAC&pg=PA197|date=15 April 1996|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP|isbn=978-0-7735-6573-9|pages=197–}}</ref> He was referred to as "easily the foremost in Canada's array of postwar playwrights" by critic [[Nathan Cohen (critic)|Nathan Cohen]].
He began to appear on the new [[CBC Television]] service in 1955 appearing on programs such as ''[[Front Page Challenge]]'' and ''Assignment'' as well as the ''[[Wayne & Shuster]]'' comedy show.

In 1964, Sinclair recorded and released an album on [[Folkways Records]], entitled ''Documentary History of Broadcasting: 1920-1950: Radio Before Television.''

After his appearances in wartime propaganda films, Sinclair would go on to spend over six decades with the CBC in various capacities. In addition to playwright he was a radio and television personality, writer, actor, panelist, producer, lecturer, commentator, and, for a brief period in the 1970s, network executive. Sinclair was a panelist on the show ''Court of Opinion'' for twenty-four years, hosted ''Man at the Centre'' and was a guest host during the second season of ''[[The Nature of Things]]'' as well as a frequent contributor to ''[[Morningside (radio program)|Morningside]]'' when [[Don Harron]] was host, but he was best known for presenting the [[CBC Radio]] program ''[[Ideas (radio show)|Ideas]]'' beginning in 1983. Sinclair retired from hosting ''Ideas'' in 1999 after presenting over 2,000 installments, including several hundred produced or written by himself. He continued to contribute to the program until shortly before his death.

In 1972, CBC president [[Laurent Picard]] made Sinclair the CBC's executive vice-president of English-language services as part of an effort to bring creative people into administration. The experiment was unsuccessful and proved frustrating to both Sinclair and CBC administration in Ottawa. He was demoted to a more junior position as vice president of program policy and development in 1974 and in 1976 returned to Toronto to his former role as a producer and writer. [[Dr. Robert Gardner]], later the chair of the School of Radio and Television Arts at [[Ryerson University]], recalled working with Sinclair during that difficult time. "He was astoundingly well informed. We worked together on a script for a CBC television program dealing with [[Dante]]'s ''[[Divine Comedy]]''. Lister had hired me as the writer researcher and--there is no doubt about it--he was a demanding boss. His conversations were constantly sprinkled with classical allusions, phrases in German, French, or Italian, and he was impatient of lesser souls. Working with him was one of the most stimulating experiences of my life ... and one of the most frightening."{{Citation needed|date=January 2018}}

Sinclair served as president of the [[Canadian Conference of the Arts]] from 1980 through 1983.<ref>http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000000154.pdf</ref> He also helped form the [[Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists]] (ACTRA).<ref name="cbc_obit">{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/cbc-broadcaster-lister-sinclair-dies-1.610794 |title=CBC broadcaster Lister Sinclair dies - Entertainment - CBC News |publisher=Cbc.ca |date=2006-10-16 |accessdate=2017-10-01}}</ref> He was named an Officer of the [[Order of Canada]] in 1985.<ref name="can_encyclopedia">{{cite web|author=Donna Coates |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lister-shedden-sinclair/ |title=Lister Shedden Sinclair |work=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |date= |accessdate=2017-10-01}}</ref><ref name="OrderOfCanada">{{cite web|url=http://archive.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=1560 |title=Order of Canada |publisher=Archive.gg.ca |date=2009-04-30 |accessdate=2017-10-01}}</ref> The following year he collaborated with his longtime friend and colleague [[Pierre Berton]] to create Heritage Theatre, a 26 episode drama series, featuring stories from Berton's popular Canadian history books, and broadcast on CBC TV.<ref>{{cite book|title=Film/vidéo Canadiana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fNpkAAAAMAAJ|year=1986|publisher=National Film Board of Canada}}</ref>

In 2002, Lister Sinclair became a MasterWorks honouree for ''Hilda Morgan'' and his body of work by the [[Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada]]. One of his last works was something of a hit after his official retirement entitled ''Lister Sinclair Presents the Masterpieces of Disco Music'' for the radio program [[Go (radio)|Go]].

Sinclair died in a Toronto hospital on the morning of October 16, 2006, aged 85.<ref name="cbc_obit" /><ref name="Globe_obit">{{cite web|url=https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/lister-sinclair/article20415556/|title=Lister Sinclair|date=5 December 2016|website=TheGlobeAndMail.com|access-date=12 January 2018}}</ref>

Former [[Governor General of Canada|Governor General]] and CBC broadcaster [[Adrienne Clarkson]], who shared an office with Sinclair when she joined the broadcaster in the 1960s, remembered him upon his death. "You were the beneficiary of Lister knowing a lot," she said. "He was not only a polymath; he was a prodigy".<ref name="cbc_obit"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/arts-entertainment/media/media-general/lister-sinclair-renaissance-man.html Lister Sinclair, Renaissance man] a vintage CBC Television clip of Sinclair explaining the [[Theory of Relativity]] and discussing [[Albert Einstein]]. Accompanied by a text biography of Sinclair.
*[http://www.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/MT4/mt-search.cgi?search=lister+sinclair&IncludeBlogs=777&limit=20 Video and audio clips featuring Sinclair] from CBC Archives.
*[http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/lister/ IDEAS: A tribute to Lister Sinclair]
*[http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=98372&lang=eng Lister Sinclair Fonds (R4545)] at [[Library and Archives Canada]]
* {{imdb name|id=0801669}}
* {{Discogs artist|Lister Sinclair}}
* [https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lister-shedden-sinclair Entry at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Lister}}
[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:British emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Canadian male voice actors]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Deaths from pulmonary embolism]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:People educated at Colet Court]]
[[Category:People educated at St Paul's School, London]]
[[Category:Male actors from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Male actors from Toronto]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:University of Toronto alumni]]
[[Category:CBC Radio hosts]]
[[Category:Sandford Fleming Award recipients]]
[[Category:Canadian male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian male writers]]

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Lister Sinclair