Don Harron

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Don Harron bigraphy, stories - Comedians

Don Harron : biography

September 19, 1924 –

Donald H. Harron, (born September 19, 1924 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian comedian, actor, director, journalist, author, and composer.

Selected bibliography

The following works were written as "Charlie Farquharson," with titles spelled in the character’s idiolect:

  • Charlie Farquharson’s Histry of Canada (McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1972) ISBN 0-07-092530-5
  • Charlie Farquharson’s Jogfree of Canda (Gage, 1974)
  • Charlie Farquharson’s K-O-R-N Filled Allmynack (Gage, 1976)
  • Olde Charlie Farquharson’s Testament: From Jennysez to Jobe and After Words (MacMillan of Canada, 1978) ISBN 0-7715-9900-5
  • Yer Last Decadent: 1972-1982 (MacMillan of Canada, 1982)
  • Cum Buy The Farm (MacMillan of Canada 1987)
  • Charlie Farquharson’s Unyverse (MacMillan of Canada, 1990)
  • Charlie Farquharson’s History of Canada: ReeVised and More Expansive (MacMillan of Canada, 1992)
  • Charlie’s A Broad: Travails In Fern Parts (MacMillan of Canada, 1994)
  • (Dundurn 2012)

Career

Don Harron graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto.

Harron was one of the writers on the first English-language dramatic series broadcast in Canada, Sunshine Sketches, which aired in 1952-53 on CBC Television. Harron also co-wrote the script for the 1956 television musical Anne of Green Gables, which he also directed. Harron later adapted the production for the stage in 1965 as Anne of Green Gables – The Musical. According to Harron in an interview with the Calgary Herald published in March 2008, the stage show has provided work for more than 10,000 actors since its inception.

In 1965, he appeared in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as an Australian U.N.C.L.E. agent named Kittridge in an episode called "The Four-Steps Affair". He made one appearance on the CBC Television show Adventures in Rainbow Country in 1969 in the episode "The Frank Williams File." He has also been a host and interviewer on Canadian television and radio, hosting CBC Radio’s Morningside from 1977 to 1982, and subsequently hosting an afternoon talk show for CTV. He had a featured role in the American film The Hospital, written by Paddy Chayevsky. Harron also appeared on The Red Green Show.

In 2000, Harron’s contribution to the Canadian entertainment industry was recognized with his being named a member of the Order of Ontario. He was invested as member of the Order of Canada in 1980. Harron was also appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. In recent years, he has also been a high-profile advocate for the interests of older people. He also continues to write books, most recently (2008) publishing a retrospective work on the history of the Anne of Green Gables musical to tie in with the 100th anniversary of the original novel.

Harron was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010.

Charlie Farquharson

Harron is known for the character Charlie Farquharson , a personality he first portrayed in 1952 on the CBC series The Big Revue and used as part of the cast of the U.S. country music television show, Hee Haw. Harron reprised the character on The Red Green Show You’ve Got Oil, 2003.

Dressed in an overly well-worn sweater and frayed cap, and sporting a grizzled ‘two-day beard,’ Farquharson is a decidedly rural Ontario farmer from near Parry Sound. He and his wife, Valeda, have a son, Orville. He would deliver his opinion about matters local and worldwide, using many malapropisms in the process that often resulted in both double meanings and increased satire about the events. He was also known for his loud hearty laugh, "Hee! Hee! Hee!". In addition to his television appearances as Charlie, Harron published several books in the character, reproducing the malapropisms in print and including strange photos and woodcuts as illustrations.

Examples of Farquharson’s comments:

  • "Nowadaze Parry Sound looks like most uther towns on this continence, thanks to them branched plants of frenchfrises that has sprung up everywhere–Mickdonald’s, Burglar King, Kernel Kadaffy Frayed Chicken. Noware will ya see a sine "Home Cookin’", cuz all our lo-cal burghers is out eaten them malty-nashnul burgurs. This makes everplace into a no place, and it’s eezy to fergit ware you is if yer jist passin through at snacktime." [from Cum Buy The Farm, 1987, pg. 11]
  • "Every guvmint estimit incloods an extry estimit of how much more it’s gonna cost than yer ferst estimit. That’s how come they always leeve this big deficit on the floor of yer House. And a deficit is what you’ve got wen you haven’t got as much as if you jist had nothin’. If we tried any of this, we’d end up in jail. But the guvmint gits rid of its detts by Nashnullizing them. That’s like the alkyholick who solved his problem by poring the booze in all of his bottles into one big container. Himself." [from Charlie Farquharson’s K-O-R-N Filled Allmynack, 1976, pg. 79]

On May 15, 2011, Don publicly performed the Charlie Farquharson character for the last time in Canada during the 85th anniversary of his Toronto high school, Vaughan Road Collegiate Institute.

Personal

He was married to Canadian singer Catherine McKinnon. Harron’s daughter Mary Harron bio of Mary Harron from an earlier marriage to Gloria Fisher, is a noted independent film director whose credits include I Shot Andy Warhol and American Psycho. Harron is married now to Claudette Gareau, who played the separatist weather girl in Shh! It’s the News with Harron, in 1973.