Toronto — Eric House, a comic actor who was an original member of the Stratford Festival theatre company in 1953, has died after a battle with emphysema. He was 82.
Mr. House was at Stratford for 10 years, where he had lead roles in the acclaimed Tyrone Guthrie productions of HMS Pinafore (1970) and The Pirates of Penzance (1961), which later played in New York, Los Angeles and London.
In London in the mid-'50s, the actor was in a West End production of Mrs. Gibbon's Boys, and over the years he also had stage roles in New York, Boston, Washington, Houston and Dallas.
“After a 15-year hiatus, Mr. House returned to Stratford for the 1986 and 1987 seasons, playing such roles as the first Gravedigger in John Neville's Hamlet” and Calchas in Troilus and Cressida, said a statement from the Stratford Festival.
Comic actor Eric House, shown in this undated handout photo, was an original member of the Stratford Festival theatre company in 1953. (CP)
He also directed plays, and was seen in almost every regional theatre across Canada.
In addition, House had roles in at least six made-in-Canada feature films and guest shots on various CBC series, including A Gift to Last, Seeing Things and The Judge.
At Toronto's Crest Theatre, he was The Fool in King Lear, Archie Rice in The Entertainer and Fancourt Babberley in Charley's Aunt.
In a late 1980s Shakespearean fundraiser for Stratford at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, he appeared as a symbol of Newfoundland wearing a fish hung around his waist.
“What's the matter?” he asked as the audience roared. “Haven't you seen a cod-piece before?”
Mr. House died March 21 and a private service was held March 23.
