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Lorne Greene
Lorne Hyman Greene OC (born Lyon Himan Green; February 12, 1915 – September 11, 1987) was a Canadian actor, singer, and radio personality. His notable television roles include Ben Cartwright on the Western Bonanza and Commander Adama in the original science-fiction television series Battlestar Galactica and Galactica 1980. He also worked on the Canadian television nature documentary series Lorne Greene's New Wilderness and in television commercials.
Greene was born Lyon Himan Green on February 12, 1915, in Ottawa, Ontario, to Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire, Dora (née Grinovsky) and Daniel Green, a shoemaker. He was called "Chaim" by his mother, and his name is shown as "Hyman" on his school report cards. In a biography of him, written by his daughter, she wrote that it was unknown when he began using the name Lorne, nor when he added an "e" to Green.
Greene was the drama instructor at Camp Arowhon, a summer camp in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, where he developed his talents. He acted while attending Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. While there, he acquired a knack for broadcasting with the Radio Workshop of the university's Drama Guild on the campus radio station CFRC.
He initially aimed at a career in chemical engineering, but became interested in theatre, and upon graduation from Queens University moved to New York to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. Relocating to Toronto in 1939, he found a job as a newsreader for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), soon becoming principal newsreader on the CBC National News. He received the unofficial title "The Voice of Canada"; however, his deep, resonant voice and sonorous delivery of the increasingly distressing war news provoked the alternate nickname "The Voice of Doom". Leaving the CBC, Greene served as a Flying officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
During his radio days, Greene invented a stopwatch that ran backwards, i.e., it would start from a given number and count down to zero. This helped radio announcers gauge how much time was left while speaking.
Additionally, Greene narrated documentary films, such as the National Film Board of Canada's Fighting Norway (1943). He left the CBC and became a freelancer after the war when the network ordered staff announcers to turn over a large percentage of any income they earned from film narration. Greene continued to appear on CBC on a freelance basis while becoming the newsreader for private radio station CKEY in Toronto, while also returning to acting work both on stage and in radio plays.
After closing his Academy of Radio Arts in 1952, Greene relocated to the US. Katharine Cornell cast him twice in her Broadway productions in 1953: first, in The Prescott Proposals; then in a verse drama by Christopher Fry, The Dark Is Light Enough. Greene likewise began appearing in isolated episodes on live television in the 1950s. In 1953, he was seen in the title role of a one-hour adaptation of Shakespeare's drama Othello In 1954, Greene made his Hollywood debut as Saint Peter in The Silver Chalice and made several more films and appearances on American television.[citation needed] In 1955, he starred in the British Canadian television series Sailor of Fortune. In 1955, he was Ludwig van Beethoven in an episode of the TV version of You Are There, and also appeared as Marcus Brutus in Julius Caesar at the Stratford Festival. In 1957, Greene played the prosecutor in the feature film Peyton Place.
The first of his continuing TV roles was as the patriarch Ben "Pa" Cartwright in Bonanza, the first one-hour Western series filmed in colour (1959–1973), making Greene a household name. He garnered the role after his performance as O'Brien in the CBS production of Nineteen Eighty-Four.
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Lorne Greene
Lorne Hyman Greene OC (born Lyon Himan Green; February 12, 1915 – September 11, 1987) was a Canadian actor, singer, and radio personality. His notable television roles include Ben Cartwright on the Western Bonanza and Commander Adama in the original science-fiction television series Battlestar Galactica and Galactica 1980. He also worked on the Canadian television nature documentary series Lorne Greene's New Wilderness and in television commercials.
Greene was born Lyon Himan Green on February 12, 1915, in Ottawa, Ontario, to Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire, Dora (née Grinovsky) and Daniel Green, a shoemaker. He was called "Chaim" by his mother, and his name is shown as "Hyman" on his school report cards. In a biography of him, written by his daughter, she wrote that it was unknown when he began using the name Lorne, nor when he added an "e" to Green.
Greene was the drama instructor at Camp Arowhon, a summer camp in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, where he developed his talents. He acted while attending Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. While there, he acquired a knack for broadcasting with the Radio Workshop of the university's Drama Guild on the campus radio station CFRC.
He initially aimed at a career in chemical engineering, but became interested in theatre, and upon graduation from Queens University moved to New York to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. Relocating to Toronto in 1939, he found a job as a newsreader for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), soon becoming principal newsreader on the CBC National News. He received the unofficial title "The Voice of Canada"; however, his deep, resonant voice and sonorous delivery of the increasingly distressing war news provoked the alternate nickname "The Voice of Doom". Leaving the CBC, Greene served as a Flying officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
During his radio days, Greene invented a stopwatch that ran backwards, i.e., it would start from a given number and count down to zero. This helped radio announcers gauge how much time was left while speaking.
Additionally, Greene narrated documentary films, such as the National Film Board of Canada's Fighting Norway (1943). He left the CBC and became a freelancer after the war when the network ordered staff announcers to turn over a large percentage of any income they earned from film narration. Greene continued to appear on CBC on a freelance basis while becoming the newsreader for private radio station CKEY in Toronto, while also returning to acting work both on stage and in radio plays.
After closing his Academy of Radio Arts in 1952, Greene relocated to the US. Katharine Cornell cast him twice in her Broadway productions in 1953: first, in The Prescott Proposals; then in a verse drama by Christopher Fry, The Dark Is Light Enough. Greene likewise began appearing in isolated episodes on live television in the 1950s. In 1953, he was seen in the title role of a one-hour adaptation of Shakespeare's drama Othello In 1954, Greene made his Hollywood debut as Saint Peter in The Silver Chalice and made several more films and appearances on American television.[citation needed] In 1955, he starred in the British Canadian television series Sailor of Fortune. In 1955, he was Ludwig van Beethoven in an episode of the TV version of You Are There, and also appeared as Marcus Brutus in Julius Caesar at the Stratford Festival. In 1957, Greene played the prosecutor in the feature film Peyton Place.
The first of his continuing TV roles was as the patriarch Ben "Pa" Cartwright in Bonanza, the first one-hour Western series filmed in colour (1959–1973), making Greene a household name. He garnered the role after his performance as O'Brien in the CBS production of Nineteen Eighty-Four.