William Hutt

William Ian DeWitt Hutt, (May 2, 1920 – June 27, 2007) was a Canadian actor of stage, television and film. Hutt's distinguished career spanned over fifty years and won him many accolades and awards. While his base throughout his career remained at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, he appeared on the stage in London, New York and across Canada. Early life Hutt was born in Toronto, Ontario, the second of three children. A graduate of Toronto's Vaughan Road Collegiate Institute (now Vaughan Road Academy), he served five years as a medic during World War II, receiving a Military Medal for "bravery in the field". After the war, he received his BA in 1948 from Trinity College at the University of Toronto, and subsequently joined the Stratford Festival of Canada for its first season in 1953. About his early life, theatre director Richard Nielsen said, "As a young man, he was openly gay at a time when being openly gay was a very dangerous identity. He shunned violence, but he volunteered as a medic in the Second World War, and he later won the Military Medal for his services; and this I found most fascinating: he committed to a career in theatre when such a thing as the 'Canadian theatre' simply did not exist." Acting career Hutt's acting career was centered around the Stratford Festival where he won acclaim in many roles including those of King Lear (1988), James Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night (1994–1995) (a production which was subsequently filmed), and Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest (1975–1979). He played such Shakespearean roles as Hamlet, Lear, Falstaff, Prospero, Macbeth and Titus Andronicus. He was Artistic Director of the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, from 1976 to 1980, and also performed at the Shaw Festival, Citadel Theatre, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Vancouver Playhouse, National Arts Centre, Chichester Festival, and Bristol Old Vic.