Acting

22

Man

16 Apr 1918

Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Murray Westgate

Like most young men at the time with the outbreak of World War Two, Murray Westgate signed up to serve his country. He joined the Canadian navy and was posted to Halifax where he was trained as a wireless operator. On his discharge in 1945, he heard that a repertory company was being formed on the west coast and so he became a member of Vancouver`s first professional theatre company, Everyman Theatre, which had been formed in 1946 by Sydney Risk. A touring company resulted and Westgate and a group of young actors toured the West. He then joined the CBC in Vancouver and was cast in radio dramas for which the CBC Vancouver studios were famous. In 1949 he moved to Toronto where his voice was soon heard in many CBC network radio productions out of the Toronto studios, among them the long-running Sunday series which began as Stage 44, directed by Andrew Allan, and the Ford Television Theatre, produced by Allan Savage. Westgate won an ACTRA Award in 1979 for his work on the made-for-television movie, Tyler. He is probably best remembered by a certain age group for being the spokesman for Imperial Oil, appearing in commercials for 17 years, especially when they were a major sponsor of Hockey Night In Canada on the CBC. Westgate died at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

Knight Rider

26 September 1982

Happy Birthday to Me

15 May 1981

Scanners II: The New Order

3 May 1991

Rituals

21 July 1977

Sunday in the Country

22 November 1974

Running

30 October 1979

Heavenly Bodies

1 February 1984

The Kidnapping of the President

15 August 1980

The House Without a Christmas Tree

3 December 1972

The Courage of Kavik, the Wolf Dog

20 January 1980