Canadian actor and writer, Don Harron, dead at 90

[gsdx]

Rest peacefully, Don.

TORONTO - Canadian entertainment icon Don Harron is dead after a battle with cancer _ he was 90.

Harron entertained generations of Canadians with his comic alter ego Charlie Farquharson and helped bring the Canadian classic novel "Anne of Green Gables" from the page to the stage.

His eldest daughter Martha said her father died Saturday morning surrounded by family at his Toronto home after choosing not to seek treatment for cancer.

The wit and humour that landed him roles on C-B-C radio programs and television programs shows such as the American variety show "Hee Haw" continued to define her father to the very end.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/canadian-press-newsalert-don-harron-dead-age-90-212433052.html

You probably know him best from the classic television show Hee Haw:

 

[rareboy]

I remember Don very well. He was an incredibly gifted humourist and a worthy heir to Leacock.

 

[gsdx]

^ Indeed. Here is another video of Don. The video is crappy, but Don's humour is just as crystal clear as ever:

 

[rareboy]

He should also be remembered for helping to create one of the most successful musicals...Anne of Green Gables.

 

[gsdx]

I was going to mention that, but I didn't think anyone here would have ever heard of Anne, let alone the musical.

 

[ronboy]

Don Harron was a Canadian treasure.
I sure do remember him from "Hee Haw" when I was a kid. His humor (humour) was clean and funny.
Years later, I learned he was Canadian.
I own a copy of a book that was written for Eaton's in the early 1990s (before the original Eaton's declared bankruptcy). called "Keeping A Canadian Christmas" by Don Harron, and his then wife, Catherine McKinnon. It has some nice decorating ideas, customs, and recipes in it.
He entertained us as "Charlie Farquaharson" and celebrated his Canadian heritage. And his comedy was universal. You didn't have to know Canadian "insider" information to enjoy him!
My he rest in eternal peace...

 

[gsdx]

^ 'Charlie' actually gained notoriety in 1952 on a CBC television program called The Spring Thaw. Not many people knew Don Harron, but everybody knew Charlie Farquharson. According to his CBC obituary, Don wrote 17 books and the lyrics to 5 stage musicals as well as an 18 year stint on Hee Haw. Quite the career.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/don-harron-canadian-entertainment-icon-dead-at-90-1.2916802

 

[Keeland]

When he hosted Morningside on CBC radio, didn't he create an over-the-top foppish Samuel Pepys reading his "diaries?" Or was that someone else? It was hilarious.

I can't find any reference to Harron as Pepys, using any of the search engines. I had hoped I could find some recording of his Pepys (but the CBC is notoriously tightfisted with its archives).

Maybe I'm misremembering.