Here’s a highly selective list of CBC-TV luminaries. Thousands of creative people have gone through the doors of the various studios and offices that have housed the CBC over the years. All of them deserve acclaim. This group has created some of the finest moments ever achieved at the CBC and they confer a flavor of the public broadcaster at its best.

Ten who made a difference…

Wayne and Shuster

They didn’t say their most famous line. It was Sylvia Lennick as Caesar’s widow who implored, ‘I told him, ‘Julie, don’t go!” in Wayne and Shuster’s acclaimed film noir parody of Julius Caesar, Rinse the Blood off My Toga. The Toronto-born comedy duo rode the success of that routine on The Ed Sullivan Show to international stardom. They set the record for guest spots on Ed Sullivan, then a broadcast institution, with 67 appearances over a dozen years.

Although younger generations may associate the duo with slapstick routines and an astounding number of bad puns, they were acclaimed at the time for their literary quality. Sullivan referred to them as his ‘Canuck egghead comics’ and philosopher Marshall McLuhan praised their Western satire of Hamlet, The Elsinore Kid, saying, ‘The parallel between the two art forms was most effective in throwing light on the play.’

Starting on CBC Radio in the ’40s, Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster moved on to television in 1954 and remained national icons, producing yearly specials until Wayne’s death in 1990. Despite their success in the U.S. and abroad, the two remained loyal to Canada and the CBC. Once, when they had starred in a hit television show in the States called Holiday Lodge, an agent entreated them to move to Los Angeles. ‘We kept turning him down,’ recalled Shuster, years later. ‘Finally he yelled, ‘There’s more to life than happiness!” Not, it appears, for Wayne and Shuster.

Adrienne Clarkson

The current Governor General of Canada, Adrienne Clarkson, achieved national prominence on CBC in the 1960s. Then known as Adrienne Poy, she broke racial and gender barriers to become the first ‘hostess of Oriental persuasion’ for a North American national broadcaster.

She worked at Take 30, an afternoon arts and information program, for 12 years, first as a book reviewer and then, along with Paul Soles and Moses Znaimer, as one of its hosts. Despite its afternoon slot, Take 30 tackled important issues, including the sexual revolution and the war in Vietnam.

Clarkson’s tough-minded journalistic approach appealed to Peter Herrndorf, who as head of current affairs at the CBC was instrumental in landing her, in 1976, for the fifth estate, his signature investigative series. ‘Adrienne was breathtakingly smart, tireless and very professional,’ recalls Herrndorf.

Departing from the CBC after six years on the multi-Emmy award-winning show, Clarkson became the Agent-General for Ontario in France. She returned to the CBC in the late ’80s, becoming the main beacon for arts programming on the broadcaster through her hosted show Adrienne Clarkson Presents.

As Governor-General, Clarkson still maintains her belief in high culture. ‘We need art. Those who deny this need deny society as a whole its right to live and experience with every fibre as sentient beings.’

Harry Rasky

A great documentarian in a country renowned for its non-fiction directors, Harry Rasky has been called a ‘genius filmmaker’ by the National Arts Club of America. He was on air, reporting for the first News Magazine show, on the inaugural night of CBC-TV in September 1952 and he’s there now, completing his fiftieth film, the autobiographical Nobody Swings On Sunday.

In the mid-’50s, Rasky moved to New York to work with his idol, broadcast journalist giant Edward R. Murrow, on CBS. ‘It’s there I crafted my skills,’ notes Rasky, who returned to Toronto, an Emmy award winner, at the behest of CBC program director Tom Benson in 1971. ‘He told me, ‘Bring the prizes here and do whatever you feel you want to do. Just make them connected as much as possible to Canada and don’t spend too much money!”

It was a perfect arrangement for Rasky, who went on to write, produce and direct such acclaimed films as Next Year in Jerusalem (1974), Homage to Chagall – The Colours of Love (1975), The Song of Leonard Cohen (1981), Degas (1987) and The War Against the Indians (1992). Of his portrait of singer Teresa Stratas, Stratasphere, Roy Shields wrote in the Toronto Star, ‘A work of art…a remarkable film about a remarkable woman.’

A brilliant and irascible talent, his new film about ‘growing up Jewish in Toronto’ has become surprisingly political, given the events of the past year. ‘I didn’t set out to do a film on what’s happening now but I can’t avoid it.’

Knowlton Nash

To many Canadians he’ll always be ‘Uncle Knowltie,’ a sincere and avuncular presence who represents time-honored Canadian manners and values. As the anchor of The National from 1977 through 1988, he was the comfortable, ongoing personality who made the legendary shift of the evening news show from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m come off effortlessly.

For Nash, the first night of the new National was his career highlight. ‘I remember coming down the elevator from the studio and walking into the newsroom and everybody bursting into applause – that was my proudest moment ever, to be saluted by my colleagues.’

Nash is a veteran journalist who began to write for The Globe and Mail in his teens. Moving to Washington, DC in 1951, he contributed pieces on the U.S. for Canadian newspapers, CBC Radio and, starting in 1958, CBC-TV. Working out of an office that ‘was a just a bit bigger than a broom closet,’ Nash became an identifiable figure in the ’60s, reporting on the Kennedy assassinations and the war in Vietnam.

Returning to Toronto in 1968, he was made the director of television news and current affairs until he took on the role of being The National’s anchor. In his typically deferential style, Nash stepped down in 1988 so that Peter Mansbridge, who was being wooed by CBS, would stay at the CBC and replace him as anchor. Since that time, Nash has continued as a broadcaster, most notably as the host of the weekly documentary series Witness.

Don Messer

A reticent personality who believed in letting his fiddle do the talking, Don Messer and his show represent the voice and values of rural Canada.

At its height in the early ’60s, Don Messer’s Jubilee, his weekly folk and country music show, drew three million Canadians and achieved higher ratings than The Ed Sullivan Show. Deliberately non-show-biz in its form and content, Messer’s program depended on the appeal of old-time songs performed by the formidable Charlie Chamberlain and the stately Marg Osborne.

Savaged by novelist and critic Hugh Garner as ‘an amateur presentation,’ the folksy, low-budget show was cancelled by the CBC in 1969. Despite a storm of protest, led by John Diefenbaker among others, the ‘urban elitists’ at the CBC didn’t relent and Jubilee went on to a brief, ill-fated, revival on Hamilton’s CHCH.

The last laugh may be with Messer, whose sincere, down-home style undoubtedly pioneered such other CBC successes as The Tommy Hunter Show and Rita MacNeil and Friends.

Patrick Watson

The greatest iconoclast in the CBC’s history, Patrick Watson’s career has been enmeshed in an intense love/hate relationship with the national public broadcaster.

After being groomed as a journalist and producer on the hard-hitting shows Close-Up (1957-1963) and Inquiry (1960-1964), Watson and Douglas Leiterman made broadcast history with the legendary program This Hour Has Seven Days. Mixing songs and satire with on-the-street journalism, brilliantly researched documentaries and the notorious ‘bear pit’ interviews that cost some politicians their careers, This Hour became the most popular show on the CBC apart from Hockey Night in Canada.

Watson took on management, satirizing the Queen and the country’s political leadership. When the CBC did the expected and cancelled the show, protests were organized across Canada, to no avail.

Unofficially blackballed as a producer for many years, Watson was eventually allowed to return to the fold, most visibly as the interviewer of the Watson Report (1975-1981).

Right around the time that Watson created the highly regarded series The Struggle for Democracy (1988), he was approached by the Mulroney government to take on the position of chair of the CBC. The role was not a good fit, particularly during a time of extreme budget cuts.

After resigning in early 1994, Watson became a harsh critic of the CBC, memorably suggesting in a Maclean’s article, ‘let’s build a public television system. We need one.’ He’s now moderated that view, admitting that under Rabinovitch, ‘The public broadcaster is in better hands than it’s been for a long time.’

Mark Starowicz

The quintessential producer of broadcast journalism, Mark Starowicz has been instrumental in the creation of some of the CBC’s finest news, public affairs and documentary programs. Starting in radio in the late ’60s, he made a reputation for himself through the revamping of As It Happens (1973-1976) and the inauguration of Sunday Morning (1976-1980).

Peter Herrndorf, then the vice-president of CBC radio and television, realized that Starowicz could work on a larger national platform. ‘Although he had no television experience,’ recalls Herrndorf, ‘Mark brings a wonderful swagger to what he does, an intellectual firepower to units he operates.’

Working with Herrndorf, Starowicz began to produce The National in 1979. The move of The National to 10 p.m. in 1982 and the creation of The Journal, cohosted by his colleague from As It Happens, Barbara Frum, cemented Starowicz’s reputation as a key contributor to the network and was the boldest move undertaken by Herrndorf at the CBC.

When Prime Time Live replaced The National and The Journal in 1992 in an unsuccessful experiment to broadcast news at 9 p.m., Starowicz was made the head of documentary programming.

After a few years spent repositioning Witness as a primetime program and launching the Life & Times series, he undertook his greatest project, Canada: A People’s History. At a cost of $25 million and running over 30 hours, this lengthy and brilliant series has been called ‘probably the most remarkable programming achievement in the history of the CBC,’ by Ottawa Citizen critic Tony Atherton.

Peter Mansbridge

The chief correspondent and anchor for The National, Peter Mansbridge is the latest in a line of superb CBC broadcasters and journalists going back to Norman DePoe and Harry Rasky. A Gemini multi-award winner, Mansbridge has been involved in the coverage of such major events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, 9/11, the 1995 Quebec referendum and the Meech Lake Accord.

Hired by the manager of a CBC Radio service in Fort Churchill, MB, who heard his voice on the PA system in the local airport, Mansbridge was a self-proclaimed flop as a music DJ. An admitted ‘political junkie,’ he persuaded his boss to let him write and read the station’s newscasts. Three years later, Mansbridge was allowed to relocate in Winnipeg, and the next year, in 1972, he became a local television reporter.

His rise was meteoric: in 1975, he became The National’s correspondent in Saskatchewan and a year after was transferred to Ottawa’s Parliamentary Bureau. By 1984, he was anchoring his first national election and four years later replaced Knowlton Nash as The National’s anchor. Resisting an offer from CBS of $2 million for a two-year contract in 1987, Mansbridge has stayed loyal to the CBC. ‘They took a chance on me. In spite of a lot of stories people tell about the CBC, they’ve offered me all kinds of opportunities over the 34 years I’ve been working for them. It’s a public service – and it’s fun to be part of it.’

Barbara Frum

An exceptional interviewer and personable host on CBC radio and television, Barbara Frum’s reputation has reached legendary proportions since her untimely death from leukemia in 1992. Mark Starowicz, her friend and producer on radio’s As It Happens and television’s The Journal, has commented, ‘It’s strange to see Barbara become enshrined in books and sculptures…I walk by the Barbara Frum Memorial every morning in the CBC atrium, which is named for her, below the eight-foot portrait of her.’

As a tough but fair journalist, Frum examined current events on a daily basis for more than 20 years. Her forte was an interviewing style which was brisk, engaging and informed. After a period of adjustment to the camera, Frum’s work on The Journal became top notch.

Peter Herrndorf, who along with Starowicz brought her to television, notes, ‘Her personality, intellect, judgment, taste, curiosity and interpersonal skills made her a success.’

Rick Mercer and the 22 Minutes team

The star of the CBC’s darkly humorous sitcom Made In Canada and former ranter on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Rick Mercer has emerged as one of this country’s leading comic voices. His razor-sharp wit and caustic approach to media figures and politicians have won him a large following on the CBC.

Mercer’s special Talking to Americans garnered high ratings in a country all too eager to howl at the ignorance our southern neighbors display when asked to show knowledge of Canada. That show and the best-selling book Streeters are offshoots of Mercer’s long association with the acclaimed comedy series This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

Conceived by Mary Walsh as a weekly news-oriented satirical show, 22 Minutes has become a cult hit, attracting a wide and loyal viewership. Walsh has garnered 10 Gemini Awards in recognition of her creation of such wacky characters as the astonishingly outspoken Marg Delhunty, Prairies reporter Connie Bloor and the stunning Marg, Princess Warrior.

Her fellow CODCO alumni Cathy Jones, another multi-award winner at the Geminis, excels at character-driven comedy as does longtime regular Greg Thomey.

Colin Mochrie, Mercer’s replacement on 22 Minutes, is so noted for his skill at improvisation that he has starred in both the British and American productions of the hit series Whose Line Is It Anyway?

This literate and talented troupe continue two CBC traditions: the wit of the original This Hour Has Seven Days and the comic parry and thrust of Wayne and Shuster.

…and five more…

Norman DePoe

Knowlton Nash comments about legendary newsman Norman DePoe: ‘Norman could out-sing, out-drink, out-smoke and out-write anybody in Ottawa.’

DePoe reached his peak in the early ’60s as the hard-bitten Parliamentary reporter for the CBC. At a time when Conservative leader John Diefenbaker and Liberal Lester B. Pearson fought close federal elections, DePoe constantly enraged Dief with his tough questions. Never one to back down from a fight, DePoe allegedly took a swing at a CBC ‘suit’ before resigning from the public broadcaster.

Norman Campbell

The director of Let’s See, the first show on CBC-TV, Norman Campbell spent 47 years working at the network. A stylish and civilized presence, he was noted for his adaptations of plays from the Stratford Festival and productions from the National Ballet of Canada. Campbell won two international Emmy awards for Cinderella (1968) and Sleeping Beauty (1972).

Another CBCer who remained in Canada, Campbell refused producer Norman Lear’s offer to take on a full season of directing the legendary sitcom All in the Family.

His greatest contribution was on the stage: along with Don Harron, he wrote the musical version of the Charlottetown festival perennial, Anne of Green Gables.

Juliette

CBC viewers from the ’60s will recollect with a smile the opening tag line, ‘Now, let’s meet and greet, your pet…Juliette.’ Like Madonna and Cher, Canada’s female singing star chose one name for her route to stardom. Juliette was hardly a sex symbol, but the blonde-haired singer did wear glamorous party dresses, making a marked contrast to her minimal sets. Her reassuring manner – she called her male singers ‘Fellas’ and greeted viewers with ‘Hi there, everybody’- and conservative song selection made Juliette a huge success in a simpler, more rustic age.

Mr. Dressup

Ernie Coombs, the American who became Mr. Dressup to generations of Canadian children, brought a sincerity and affability to his role in the long-running CBC morning show (1967-1996). With puppeteer Judith Lawrence, Coombs developed a cast of lovable characters including the young British schoolboy Casey and his dog Finnegan.

Few would disagree with Heather Robertson’s assessment of Mr. Dressup in Maclean’s, ‘…he’s quiet, honest and innocent. He treats children with respect.’

Ken Finkleman

The reigning auteur of CBC drama is the bold and controversial Ken Finkleman. As a writer, director and actor he reached his greatest success with The Newsroom, a satirical look at broadcast journalism that cleared the path for Mercer’s Made In Canada. Since then, Finkleman has created less humorous and more artistic fare, including More Tears, Foolish Hearts and Foreign Objects.

While there’s no doubting Finkleman’s talents, it is reassuring to know that his next project is a feature film adaptation of The Newsroom.